Follow @stlgoalie Well, Sunday went as poorly as Blues fans could have imagined, short of an injury. With the Blues on a winning streak looking for their 1st three game winning streak, facing a team who played a tight, one goal game the day before in another city, the Blues gave their fans their Christmas present, a big steamy pile of Mr. Hankey (for you South Park fans).
I’m not sure that I have I sat through or watched a bigger pile of garbage “hockey… this season than what I watched in the 1st period on Sunday. Given how the Blues have played this season, that’s saying a something.
You can insert all the jokes you want about them thinking it was a 7pm start, how they always take the weekend off, etc. but I think most Blues fans are sick of it at this point. If Sunday’s attendance is any indication (actual attendance not tickets purchased), I’d say the fans are getting sick of it and are starting to tune out the season.
After the game, one of the beat writers asked Coach Berube a question regarding scores getting out of hand. To paraphrase, the writer was comparing big losses in prior years that seemed to usually stop at say 4-1 or so. This year those losses mean giving up 6 or more goals. The writer asked if that mattered. Berube almost seemed offended at the question, answering that it definitely matters or it should and that the team seems to lack pride (my paraphrasing). The question made the implication well and the coach called out his team on it. Unfortunately for Blues fans, I don’t think many of them believe any sort of calling out will have any impact on how the team is playing.
Speaking of Berube, did anyone else notice he seemed to be staring a hole into the wall at the back of the room through the entire interview process. No turning to look at the writer asking the question, etc. He looked infuriated, as he should be.
When you look back at Sunday’s game, you might be able to say that Tyler Bozak, Jordan Nolan, Oskar Sundqvist, Vince Dunn, and Chris Butler had decent games though some of Bozak and Dunn’s better play was long after the game was decided.
The Blues called up Zach Sanford yesterday after sending him down late last week. Sanford played one game for the Rampage and was the #2 star of the game. I surmised that he was called up as a response to the poor effort on Sunday, allowing the coaching staff to bench a regular starter to illicit a response. Based on the Blues own website, it sounds like the Blues may trot out the same players that they used on Sunday only organized on different lines, effectively re-arranging the deck chairs.
As a side note, the Blues penalty kill units have now failed on 4 of their last 6 attempts. The once vaulted Blues scoring is down to 22nd in goals per game and their defense is 6th worst in the league. Their power play is in a free fall already down to 14th and still falling.
Tonight, the Blues will face former coach Ken Hitchcock in Edmonton when they take on the Oilers. Hitchcock has guided the Oilers up the standings and into the 2nd wild card spot, going 7-2-1 in their last 10 games and 9-3-2 under Hitchcock. The Oilers are 10-4-1 at home with Connor McDavid who is 3rd in the league with 49 points in 33 games. Leon Draisaitl isn’t far behind with 42 points in 34 games. Darnell Nurse leads their defense with 15 points in 31 games.
One positive tonight that you should know, they should air a conversation/ between Bob Plager and former Blue and hall of fame goalie Glen Hall who lives outside of Edmonton. Given what I know about Hall and my interactions with his family, I expect it to be a good, very genuine interview. I’m looking forward to seeing the interview, I’m not as certain about how much I am looking forward to the actual game.
The re-arranged deck chairs for the game should start like this: Schwartz - Schenn - Tarasenko Steen - O'Reilly – Perron Maroon - Bozak - Thomas Nolan - Barbashev - Sundqvist Edmundson - Parayko Bouwmeester - Bortuzzo Dunn - Butler Allen
NHL Champions for Charity We’ve gotten some traction on the charity wager among the Central Division bloggers. More on that to come.
It’s a great day for hockey.