GDT: Blues @ Avalanche|Round 1, Game 2| Blues down 1-0|

[i aint Dunn yet]

our d is soft ... even more now

 

[Tvillewr419]

So assuming Dunn, Faulk, walman and Borts are out…who else do we have available? Santini and? I’m forgetting someone right?

 

[Zachary Hines]

So assuming Dunn, Faulk, walman and Borts are out…who else do we have available? Santini and? I’m forgetting someone right?

You might have to play 5 dmen and and extra foward i would like to see Dak Joshua, Mac Mac, and De La Rose, mostly cause there gritty cycle game

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

So assuming Dunn, Faulk, walman and Borts are out…who else do we have available? Santini and? I’m forgetting someone right?

Reinke

 

[simon IC]

Reinke

Oh no ....

 

[Davimir Tarablad]

What’s Petteri Lindbohm up to these days and can we get him to StL on time for game 3?

 

[AjaxManifesto]

Schenn called out Jost's elbow. Called it "gross".

oh boy game 3 gonna be FUN!

Even if the Blues go out I hope they soften up the Avs. May they never touch the Cup in the near future...same with Vegas.

The "you suck" chants (hate that stuff), picks, and cheap headshots have put me decidedly negative on that team. I went into this playoff with respect for them, I guess the playoffs brings out the hate....like the dark side of the force.

 

[Thallis]

Faulk has been capable of handling Parayko’s minutes, but only when not paired with Krug.



I don’t think our lack of speed would be as noticeable if we maintained our structure more. But when it breaks down, we don’t have the speed to skate out of a jam.

Teams as fast and as skilled as the avalanche are designed specifically to cause structure to break down and find seams in the ice. We don't typically play 5 tight in the D zone, so passing lanes are going to open. Our players need to have the awareness to recognize the opposition's movements as they happen and the quickness to disrupt the play and take it the other way. We've done it a few times, but the lack of speed absolutely has made it hard for us.

 

[Reality Czech]

Our defense just isn't fast enough to keep up with the Avalanche. I find it interesting that more than one poster has called out Bortuzzo for this, when in fact he isn't even our slowest defenseman. Bortuzzo's problem is that he often makes poor decisions under pressure. That has more to do with hockey sense than it does with his skating, but with the limited minutes he gets, he is really the least of our problems. A much bigger problem is that Faulk, Scandella, and especially Krug, are also not fast enough to deal with the Avs. They can't deal with their fast forecheck, and we can't get out of our zone. I am hoping that Dunn and Walman return soon because they are our fastest defenders, I am not hopeful, though.

I don't think many teams are fast enough to deal with the Avs, if any. I honestly don't think our D group is much worse than Colorado's (defensively at least, offensively COL is clearly better). The difference is that Colorado's offense is so good that they spend so much time in their offensive zone. It's a lot easier to defend when your team dominates possession and keeps the puck out of your D zone.

It's disappointing sure, but honestly I don't know if any team can stop Covidrado this year. They've been knocking at the door for awhile now and everything needs to go right for the Blues to have a chance in this series. Kadri is a real scumbag, he's shown over and over again that he has no regard for his fellow competitors out there. For all the talk of Wilson, Kadri seems like a dirtier player to me. Hope he gets what's coming to him, if not in this series than in the future.

 

[Stlblue50]

Embarrassing display by the spoiled brats of CO and the refs that pamper them. The integrity of this season and the covid summer cup already has my excitement at an all time low.

Kadri just dragged this series in the gutter. Gutless coward [mod].

 

[Stlblue50]

I really don’t think CO played good at all tonight. The idiot announcers kept talking about the shots but they clearly have a strategy to throw any puck on net for a whistle. Didn’t get the bounces or the calls tonight. Double deflection goal, Landeskov boarding on ROR goal, and forgot the other

 

[Robb_K]

we need to try to squeeze hoffman in next year

ABSOLUTELY! Make it a priority! Imagine where The Blues would be just without his power play and 6 on 5 goals!

 

[TheDizee]

I really don’t think CO played good at all tonight. The idiot announcers kept talking about the shots but they clearly have a strategy to throw any puck on net for a whistle. Didn’t get the bounces or the calls tonight. Double deflection goal, Landeskov boarding on ROR goal, and forgot the other

they played better than us again but their goaltending is really suspect. i dont think the blues earned 2 of their 3 goals, they got gifted em by bad goaltending. atleast the schenn goal they made a decent play to force a initial save. a squeaker win at home over a team without the other teams top scorer and playing 4 dmen isnt something to be happy about though. if not for officiating, they could have easily lost it even with blues piss poor effort.

i think we'll see a much diff effort these next 2 games. this is gonna be a long series.

 

[Ranksu]

How did Mikkola play?

 

[Ranksu]

I'm confused. Do you think this is a championship caliber defense if 100% healthy? Or what is our working definition of "good" here?

I think it's pretty obvious at this point that it's not a championship caliber defense. The health issues are definitely exacerbating that, but I don't think they're causing it. This defense doesn't have the top end talent the championship team did, and it's a lot more exploitable.

+1

Aamen.

 

[TheDizee]

How did Mikkola play?

not good. to be fair entire team looked like shit tbh cept Kyrou and Binnington

shot totals were misleading again, avs just throw random no traffic at the net all the time that have no chance at going in on a nhl goalie. blues evened em up after they sat back after game was out of hand. refs impacted game with bad calls and allow picks from avs all night. Chief called them out in press conf after game.

blues did not deserve to win tonight but avs were not great. same ol same ol, one line team with suspect goaltending that gets carried by pp goals

 

[Captain Creampuff]

Krug is like Shattenkirk, he a mess defensively

Krug is worse than Shatty. At least Shatty could QB a PP and actually shoot the puck.

 

[Majorityof1]

aint it odd how only Vegas and STL had these false flags? Very interesting.............

Why though? Lets assume you are right and there is a league wide agenda to help the Avalanche. Assume the favorable calls and the fake COVID tests were directed by the NHL. OK, but why?

What does the NHL have to gain? Denver is not one of the top 10 NHL markets. Toronto, Dallas, Montreal, and TB all get better TV ratings and attendance. Why not help those teams out? The Blues and Vegas both get better TV ratings over the last few seasons. The NHL is literally hurting their own interests by screwing those teams over in favor of the Avalanche.

What does the testing company have to gain by faking Covid tests? Is the NHL paying them extra to falsify results? Their reputation is on the line if they make mistakes. They'd have to be paid a lot to risk that. Why did they also mess up tests in the NBA and MLB as well? Was that to throw people off the trail? Well, they messed up. They can't fool Dizee.

Why does the team the NHL favors always change every year to the team we play in the playoffs? They must really hate the Blues. That must be it.

Or maybe, as Occam's Razor suggests, the simplest answer is the correct answer. You as a fan wearing Blues colored glasses are seeing agendas that aren't there. You are missing the fact that we just aren't as good as you think, and Colorado isn't as bad.

 

[TheDizee]

Why though? Lets assume you are right and there is a league wide agenda to help the Avalanche. Assume the favorable calls and the fake COVID tests were directed by the NHL. OK, but why?

What does the NHL have to gain? Denver is not one of the top 10 NHL markets. Toronto, Dallas, Montreal, and TB all get better TV ratings and attendance. Why not help those teams out? The Blues and Vegas both get better TV ratings over the last few seasons. The NHL is literally hurting their own interests by screwing those teams over in favor of the Avalanche.

What does the testing company have to gain by faking Covid tests? Is the NHL paying them extra to falsify results? Their reputation is on the line if they make mistakes. They'd have to be paid a lot to risk that. Why did they also mess up tests in the NBA and MLB as well? Was that to throw people off the trail? Well, they messed up. They can't fool Dizee.

Why does the team the NHL favors always change every year to the team we play in the playoffs? They must really hate the Blues. That must be it.

Or maybe, as Occam's Razor suggests, the simplest answer is the correct answer. You as a fan wearing Blues colored glasses are seeing agendas that aren't there. You are missing the fact that we just aren't as good as you think, and Colorado isn't as bad.

explain to me why only vegas and stl had these false flags. one that happened on game day and included our starting goaltender (who is playing insane). They are all in the same division so clearly all the teams sent their results there. So why is it that the two biggest threats for Colorado just happen to have some "false positives". this comes a week after army said the walman covid issue was likely a false flag on walman. And we havent heard a peep about dp57 so who knows whats up there.

I dont believe in coincidences, something fishy is going on here.

Ofcourse, also keep in mind when Colorado had TWO players on the covid list last month, they postponed almost the entire division for a week to pander to them. We have 3 and its the playoffs, they dont care. Instead they tell us 2 more of our top players have it and they cant practice or skate with the team. The coaching staff spends hours getting our backup goalie ready for his first playoff start.

As to why they want to help the Refalanche. It doesnt take a rocket scientist. they want to market their top players and getting them to the finals is the best place to showcase it. if the Oilers actually had a decent team, they'd be doing the same shit for them. They did it for the wings in the 90s, Hawks in the 2000s. Its not anything new. who knows if this shit would make a difference or not but the league has set a different standard for their team and anyone with half a brain can see it. They lose 2 players, entire division canceled TWICE. You lose 3 players, play on!

Post Dispatch says it pretty clearly here:
"And it’s hard to know just how much, but the Blues must’ve been affected by the infuriating unfairness of inaccurate COVID test results.
For the second postseason in a row, COVID, and all that comes with it, affected the St. Louis Blues. After last season’s bubble debacle, general manager Doug Armstrong said that some players weren’t at their best because they were still recovering from COVID-19. This postseason, of course, the Blues have been without top point man Perron. And then came Wednesday’s unnecessary stress.
The goalie Binnington and forward Tarasenko missed morning skate and were kept in isolation because of inaccurate COVID test results. What a mess. The league later said the “initial reported test results were in error.”
But that wasn’t announced until after lunch. Coach Craig Berube and his staff had to deal with something their opponents didn’t — having to put together revised lines and special teams matchups, while also preparing to have a rookie backup (Ville Husso) start Game 2 in net. It was particularly unfair for Binnington, Goalies, similar to baseball pitchers, are creatures of habit. They thrive off the routine. And the morning skate is a way for the goalie to get in some work in the crease, to get a feel for it all. There are conversations and breakdowns of the opponent. It’s important prep work. And on the day of the biggest game of the season, Binnington didn’t get his morning skate."

 

[Majorityof1]

explain to me why only vegas and stl had these false flags. one that happened on game day and included our starting goaltender (who is playing insane). They are all in the same division so clearly all the teams sent their results there. So why is it that the two biggest threads for Colorado just happen to have some "false positives". this comes a week after army said the walmart covid issue was likely a false flag on walman. And we havent heard a peep about dp57 so who knows whats up there.

I dont believe in coincidences, something fishy is going on here.

Ofcourse, also keep in mind when Colorado had TWO players on the covid list last month, they postponed almost the entire division for a week to pander to them. We have 3 and its the playoffs, they dont care. Instead they tell us 2 more of our top players have it and they cant practice or skate with the team. The coaching staff spends hours getting our backup goalie ready for his first playoff start.

As to why they want to help the Refalanche. It doesnt take a rocket scientist. they want to market their top players and getting them to the finals is the best place to showcase it. if the Oilers actually had a decent team, they'd be doing the same shit for them. They did it for the wings in the 90s, Hawks in the 2000s. Its not anything new. who knows if this shit would make a difference or not but the league has set a different standard for their team and anyone with half a brain can see it. They lose 2 players, entire division canceled TWICE. You lose 3 players, play on!

Post Dispatch says it pretty clearly here:
"And it’s hard to know just how much, but the Blues must’ve been affected by the infuriating unfairness of inaccurate COVID test results.
For the second postseason in a row, COVID, and all that comes with it, affected the St. Louis Blues. After last season’s bubble debacle, general manager Doug Armstrong said that some players weren’t at their best because they were still recovering from COVID-19. This postseason, of course, the Blues have been without top point man Perron. And then came Wednesday’s unnecessary stress.
The goalie Binnington and forward Tarasenko missed morning skate and were kept in isolation because of inaccurate COVID test results. What a mess. The league later said the “initial reported test results were in error.”
But that wasn’t announced until after lunch. Coach Craig Berube and his staff had to deal with something their opponents didn’t — having to put together revised lines and special teams matchups, while also preparing to have a rookie backup (Ville Husso) start Game 2 in net. It was particularly unfair for Binnington, Goalies, similar to baseball pitchers, are creatures of habit. They thrive off the routine. And the morning skate is a way for the goalie to get in some work in the crease, to get a feel for it all. There are conversations and breakdowns of the opponent. It’s important prep work. And on the day of the biggest game of the season, Binnington didn’t get his morning skate."

The Blues and Vegas were most likely effected because the tests were run in bunches, and Vegas and St. Louis both got tests from the faulty batch or the same lab tech who was messing up ran their tests. There were also mistakes in the MLB and NBA, so it wasn't just the Honda West NHL division. It happened outside of hockey too.

As for the difference between the postponements, we did not lose 3 top players. Walker is a black ace and wouldn't have played. Walman isn't a top player, but a borderline guy who might not have gotten in. Yes, losing Perron sucks, but that is 1 guy. More importantly, the Colorado games got postponed before the Vaccine was made available. The league set aside extra time to make up games knowing that it would need to postpone some games before the vaccine. It didn't expect to have to postpone playoff games, and players had the option to take the vaccine. Its either really bad luck or consequences from their own decision if they get it now. Its not an inevitability like it was then.

Finally, if the league wants to market the top players, why aren't they helping the team with the reigning MVP and likely next MVP in Edmonton? You say if Edmonton had a decent team they'd do the same for them. But according to you, the Avs are only good because of the refs. So wouldn't Edmonton be good if they had refs help? Well if not the Oilers, how about helping league leading goal scorer Matthews with #4 point-scorer Marner in Toronto? Or helping TB who have the guy that won the Hart before the Edmonton boys, a Vezina winner and a Norris winner? Or the Wild who have the rookie of the year shoe-in? OR Pittsburgh/Washington who still have Crosby and Ovechkin? MacKinnon wasn't even a top 10 jersey mover last year...



Your argument makes no sense to anyone with half a brain who isn't looking for a half-baked excuse.

 

[TheDizee]

The Blues and Vegas were most likely effected because the tests were run in bunches, and Vegas and St. Louis both got tests from the faulty batch or the same lab tech who was messing up ran their tests. There were also mistakes in the MLB and NBA, so it wasn't just the Honda West NHL division. It happened outside of hockey too.

As for the difference between the postponements, we did not lose 3 top players. Walker is a black ace and wouldn't have played. Walman isn't a top player, but a borderline guy who might not have gotten in. Yes, losing Perron sucks, but that is 1 guy. More importantly, the Colorado games got postponed before the Vaccine was made available. The league set aside extra time to make up games knowing that it would need to postpone some games before the vaccine. It didn't expect to have to postpone playoff games, and players had the option to take the vaccine. Its either really bad luck or consequences from their own decision if they get it now. Its not an inevitability like it was then.

Finally, if the league wants to market the top players, why aren't they helping the team with the reigning MVP and likely next MVP in Edmonton? You say if Edmonton had a decent team they'd do the same for them. But according to you, the Avs are only good because of the refs. So wouldn't Edmonton be good if they had refs help? Well if not the Oilers, how about helping league leading goal scorer Matthews with #4 point-scorer Marner in Toronto? Or helping TB who have the guy that won the Hart before the Edmonton boys, a Vezina winner and a Norris winner? Or the Wild who have the rookie of the year shoe-in? OR Pittsburgh/Washington who still have Crosby and Ovechkin? MacKinnon wasn't even a top 10 jersey mover last year...



Your argument makes no sense to anyone with half a brain who isn't looking for a half-baked excuse.

Vaccine has been available since before the season started. They shut down the division twice for one team and one team only.

 

[Majorityof1]

Vaccine has been available since before the season started. They shut down the division twice for one team and one team only.

It was available for at risk individuals, not pro sports teams. The Avs did not get vaccinated until last month. We played them the next day. We all talked about how they should be lethargic. They kicked out ass anyway.

Avalanche get vaccinated

 

[Grigowski]

They shut down the division twice for one team and one team only.

Don´t wanna go into much detail, but that´s wrong. And you should know it by now.

The first time was on Minnesota, by the way.

Speaking about Minnesota:
NHL shuts down Wild after 5 players were placed into COVID-19 protocol

So please, with all due respect, stop with that "conspiracy" nonsense or telling everybody the division got shut down for "one" team only.


Beside that, I really hope Faulk is not injured, or even worse, concussed, after that reckless hit by Kadri (who will get suspended for that, no doubt. And deservedly).

Home-Crowd should give the Blues another push. This series is far form over.

 

[Novacain]

This talk is pretty hilarious btw.

Which is more likely: the NHL and Avs are behind some conspiracy against the Blues specifically but that conspiracy went so god damned bad we won the Cup 2 years ago and now they are super doubling down by finding every damned way imaginable to screw us all season and in this series.

oooor.

An accident happened, the NHL adjusted pretty quickly and made it right by the end of the day (a rare case they actually handled a problem quickly, btw) and the reason the Blues are struggling in this series is just that Colorado is significantly more talented then we are?

 

[Eldon Reid]

Saying a d core is bad is not the same thing as saying it's unhealthy. Very different things.

I mean currently have 4 dman out right now. Our d core isn't bad, but they aren't where they were couple years ago. We still have a solid d core WHEN HEALTHY. People just can't get it.