Chip McCleary: 2/6, Blues vs. Red Wings - Recap: Time to Get a Little Desperate Not time to hit the panic button, but at this rate every game will be "must win" pretty quickly.

Brian Elliot seems to unfortunately look like the regular Brian Elliot again instead of that weird "good" version last year...

a) I wish my team had either Brian Elliott or Halak.

b) The Blues roster is set to play a tight board game with super heavy wing play. Detroit is just good enough these days with the puck to punish that system. The face-offs lead to a few of the goals as well.

c) Detroit is uniquely good at taking up ice and cancelling all four major means of entering their zone. It's the #1 reason they have the puck all the time. That and setting picks all over the place, but that's nothing new.

Keep the faith, your team is going to be a major, major problem in the playoffs. I can't see anyone but Chicago or the Wings dealing well with the Blues.

a) I wish my team had either Brian Elliott or Halak.

b) The Blues roster is set to play a tight board game with super heavy wing play. Detroit is just good enough these days with the puck to punish that system. The face-offs lead to a few of the goals as well.

c) Detroit is uniquely good at taking up ice and cancelling all four major means of entering their zone. It's the #1 reason they have the puck all the time. That and setting picks all over the place, but that's nothing new.

Keep the faith, your team is going to be a major, major problem in the playoffs. I can't see anyone but Chicago or the Wings dealing well with the Blues.
- Gian_Carlo

but, i thought detroit was a bad team now and on their way to the lottery for many years to come. ive been told this by many fans from other teams on this site. not all of them could be wrong,right?

but, i thought detroit was a bad team now and on their way to the lottery for many years to come. ive been told this by many fans from other teams on this site. not all of them could be wrong,right?
- wingz4life

The Wings, if that is the case, have been getting old for 20 years.

Boy I am wishing for the Lockout .... apparently the Blues think its STILL going on. They are look like a they are in a pick up game vs the Alumni.

PATHETIC, SELFISH, LACK of DISCIPLINE!!

I've seen people female dog about Schwartz and how he sucks/is overrated/needs to GTFO. OK, fine - if you really think he's one of the biggest problems we have, send him to Peoria and let him develop there, and call up Adam Cracknell or Chris Porter in his place. (Probably Porter, because he's perfect for the 3rd line and it would let Sobotka kick up to the 3rd line.) I'm not sure how that fixes Perron dancing around with the puck ad nauseum, or guys failing to cover the opposition around the net, or shoddy goaltending, or a general lack of compete for pucks, or an inability to generate pressure in the offensive zone seeing as how most plays have been "get along the boards, keep the puck on the outside, wait for the opposition to finally take it away and then work up the middle of the ice that's now wide open because 3 of our guys are over along the boards" - but hey, if putting Schwartz down in Peoria makes some people feel better, have at it.

Dear St. Louis Blues Hockey Organization,

SHOOT THE PUCK!!


Sincerely,

bcallaway

I wish the Wings could play the Blues every night......easy 2 points.)

Seems like the Blues just crumble if ya play them physical......wat happened to their big bad defence? Wont even make the playoffs

a) I wish my team had either Brian Elliott or Halak.

b) The Blues roster is set to play a tight board game with super heavy wing play. Detroit is just good enough these days with the puck to punish that system. The face-offs lead to a few of the goals as well.

c) Detroit is uniquely good at taking up ice and cancelling all four major means of entering their zone. It's the #1 reason they have the puck all the time. That and setting picks all over the place, but that's nothing new.

Keep the faith, your team is going to be a major, major problem in the playoffs. I can't see anyone but Chicago or the Wings dealing well with the Blues.
- Gian_Carlo

No. Detroit gets the calls their way and the Blues have a coach that continues to play a defenseman that sucks and a goaltender that is back to his old self. Can we trade a third round pick and/or Elliott to get Bishop back?

Dear St. Louis Blues Hockey Organization,

SHOOT THE PUCK!!


Sincerely,

bcallaway
- bcallaway

Your right and it is exactly what Hitch said in the post game

One year the coach is a heroe and a year later not so much
His goalies made him look like a genious last year this year not so much
Hitch is a candidate for nutri system

Have another Burger Hitch!

Blues will be in the playoffs hang in there

I've seen people female dog about Schwartz and how he sucks/is overrated/needs to GTFO. OK, fine - if you really think he's one of the biggest problems we have, send him to Peoria and let him develop there, and call up Adam Cracknell or Chris Porter in his place. (Probably Porter, because he's perfect for the 3rd line and it would let Sobotka kick up to the 3rd line.) I'm not sure how that fixes Perron dancing around with the puck ad nauseum, or guys failing to cover the opposition around the net, or shoddy goaltending, or a general lack of compete for pucks, or an inability to generate pressure in the offensive zone seeing as how most plays have been "get along the boards, keep the puck on the outside, wait for the opposition to finally take it away and then work up the middle of the ice that's now wide open because 3 of our guys are over along the boards" - but hey, if putting Schwartz down in Peoria makes some people feel better, have at it.
- Chip McCleary

I wouldn't understand that one either. I have not heard anyone complain about Schwartz yet so I don't know where you are seeing this. He might not be producing or winning all the battles but he back checks and usually gets in the right places to stop goals. I fast forwarded through the third and saw Detroit scored yet again and the Blues didn't. Before that I did not see Perron dance around with the puck. SO I am guessing he did in the third.

The BIG problem is Russell. The second problem is Elliott is back to being a terrible goaltender. I mean the Red WIngs could have shot a beach ball into the net many times. I saw Russell lose at least two battles out of position in front of the net that allowed the Red WIngs players to get two or mores whacks at the puck to score. The second time he slid across trying to block a pass or a shot, missed and took himself out of the play. He's terrible. That said how about some rebound control from Elliott and covering the puck some.

We need Bishop back or a real starter. Maybe we should trade for Luongo. I think we could offer McDonald and Stewart and maybe a second rounder or dig deeper. Stewart while not the big problem does not do it for me. Not enough for three million.

McDOnald is back to being a semi effective player, not able to win defensive battles.

Things are a mess. There is a lack of discipline as far positioning and playing the entire sheet. I would seriously look at some of the personnel and evaluate how they fit on the team or don't.

We lack:

-A starting goaltender(sorry Halak is not the kind I mean, I am taking about a guy who can play 60 or more games).
-It could be as easy as playing Cole and not Russell but we seem to be lacking a real effective left side D.
-We lack a true number one centerman. Though I thought as the game went on Berglund, Schwartz and Tarasenko looked real good. It would help if they had a better defensive pair to work with as too often I saw them out there with Polak and Russell. Btw Russell was floating shots up high that goaltender caught and killed usually strong momentum forechecks.

That's it really. Backes and Oshie should be a really strong second line not a number one line.

I've seen people female dog about Schwartz and how he sucks/is overrated/needs to GTFO. OK, fine - if you really think he's one of the biggest problems we have, send him to Peoria and let him develop there, and call up Adam Cracknell or Chris Porter in his place. (Probably Porter, because he's perfect for the 3rd line and it would let Sobotka kick up to the 3rd line.) I'm not sure how that fixes Perron dancing around with the puck ad nauseum, or guys failing to cover the opposition around the net, or shoddy goaltending, or a general lack of compete for pucks, or an inability to generate pressure in the offensive zone seeing as how most plays have been "get along the boards, keep the puck on the outside, wait for the opposition to finally take it away and then work up the middle of the ice that's now wide open because 3 of our guys are over along the boards" - but hey, if putting Schwartz down in Peoria makes some people feel better, have at it.
- Chip McCleary

This is true enough. Very poor puck support. What made this team great fun to watch was they were tenacious on the puck. One player might get caught up by two but the next guy would be right there and they would win the battle. Or when the other team got it and started moving it out of their zone through the neutral zone they would steal it or beak the play up and be on the counter attack with a quick transition.

They were able to over commit and another player would cover the position. They might come out as center, left wing, right wing, left D, right D but then they could reshuffle at will. Now it's you have forwards floating in no one's land not covering the point or the guy drifting in the slot especially on the back door.

But again you are not seeing that from Schwartz so I fail to understand how he is being blasted. My only concern is he's struggling with his one on ones but he's not losing the puck easily, he's buying more than enough time for a support player to bail him out or help he create space with a quick give and go. Again you have to give young players a chance to grow and learn. Especially creative players like Schwartz who will be a force in this league.

You can't expect your goaltender to bail you out all of the time but you can expect them to do so 92 times out of a hundred if they are good. If they are great that's closer to 93 times out of a hundred. Right now Elliott is working at what 86 out of a hundred?

Time and time again you see really good teams that have bad goaltending and the goaltending takes them out of games. It crushes your energy when you battle back or feel the tide turning and boom right there goes another softie. Zap there goes your energy and compete.

So out there you have Bishop, Bernier, Luongo and more... I said it last year and started to feel foolish because of how well Elliott played but we give nearly the same look in net. I would think it would be better to have a big guy there. I thought hell if Elloitt can help Halak that much in the regular season you get a healthy rested Halak into the play offs you never know. Halak is almost a number one but he doesn't take care of himself in the off season like these other guys.

I wish the Wings could play the Blues every night......easy 2 points.)

Seems like the Blues just crumble if ya play them physical......wat happened to their big bad defence? Wont even make the playoffs
- Muskoka88

Because everyone knows extrapolating from a couple games is a perfectly accurate way to measure things - just like people were ready to bury the Red Wings to the draft lottery after Game #1 this season.

On their defense: no one ever claimed it was big or bad. Last year, it was incredibly efficient - something that's missing this year. I certainly have said we need to add there (I'll throw something out in a day or two comparing the Blues defense to the last few Cup winners, to illustrate how far away I think we really are), especially on the "big" and "bad" side.

On playing them physical: Detroit was by no means physical last night (no, spearing a guy doesn't constitute playing physical). If anything, the Blues should thrive in that kind of game because it plays to their strengths. Where the Blues get killed is when the opposing team is able to clog up passing lanes and negate the Blues speed, while exploiting the defense by drawing it out and then feeding the puck down low. The Blues defense has been way too eager to cheat up ice, and they've been burned multiple times this season as a result - and a good passing team that can take advantage of that has a decent shot of running a layup drill on the Blues netminder.