Blues vs. Canucks| 6:30pm, BSMW|

[Linkens Mastery]

You do realize that Kostin averages the 2nd most hits per game by a Blue this year right? The only one with more is Toropchenko, and he’s only played 15 games.

Hits don't mean everything. The Coaches were asking him to drive the net. He did not do that as much as was being asked of him.

 

[Robb_K]

“Comfortable”….I think we’re one point ahead of Nashville for 3rd lol

With 1 game in hand, however. If we win it we are 3 points ahead. But, we need to catch The Wild!

 

[AjaxManifesto]

Next game won't be as forgiving

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

Is anyone going to the game in Vancouver on the 30th?

 

[CaliforniaBlues310]

With 2 games in hand, however. If we win them we are 7 points ahead. But, we need to catch The Wild!

We’re back to being only one game up on them after tonight with a 1 pt lead. I wouldn’t say it’s comfortable at all.

 

[CaliforniaBlues310]

Hits don't mean everything. The Coaches were asking him to drive the net. He did not do that as much as was being asked of him.

I agree that he hasn’t played up to his potential this year, but I still wouldn’t say he’s played exactly a soft/finesse game. Hopefully he can get on a nice little run in Springfield, and come back up with something to prove heading into the playoffs.

 

[Robb_K]

We’re back to being only one game up on them after tonight with a 1 pt lead. I wouldn’t say it’s comfortable at all.

Yes. Sorry. I forgot that they didn't play tonight, and to subtract tonight's game from our games-in-hand total. I won't feel comfortable until we are locked into 2nd in The Central, and at least 3rd in The Conference.

 

[CaliforniaBlues310]

Yes. Sorry. I forgot that they didn't play tonight, and to subtract tonight's game from our games-in-hand total. I won't feel comfortable until we are locked into 2nd in The Central, and at least 3rd in The Conference.

No worries!! Agreed though, we really need a good run here to solidify our spot in the playoffs.

 

[Blueswin]

I will be at the game in Edmonton!

 

[BlueDream]

I will be at the game in Edmonton!

Do you know if any Blues fans are going to the Vancouver game though?

 

[stl76]

Marshal Faulk with a +3. That's right!

@Ranksu was just about to post that. You stole his thunder.

To be fair, one of those pluses was on the empty net goal

 

[Spektre]

Nice effort game for the most part. Parayko has to be physical and aggressive.. stop thinking stick checking is the only way to play D

Blues just have to be consistent now with the effort

 

[AjaxManifesto]

Next game will be a dog fight.

 

[Brian39]

Vladdy was obviously the #1 star. What a game from him.
Husso had a really good bounce back after a rough one two nights ago.
I know he only had 1 assist but Buchnevich was an absolute force tonight.

Thought Perron, Schenn, ROR, Barby and Faulk all had really good games.
Thomas and Kyrou were up and down for me, still some bad habits shown tonight.

Parayko was probably the player I was most frustrated with tonight, I don't know if he is struggling with injury right now or something but he needs to be more engaged.

I agree with all of this except for the bit about Parayko. He was just shy of 18 minutes after 2 periods and finished at 24:32 with only 14 seconds coming on the PP. His 22:28 at even strength was a full 3 minutes more than Faulk's even strength time and he got the defensive assignments all night. He was asked to handle an big defensive load last night and he managed to keep the opposition completely off the board through 24+ minutes. I thought he had a really good game.

Edit: Parayko and Faulk combined for 39:14 of 5 on 5 ice time. They were out there together for 1:37, so that means that at least one of them was on the ice for 37:37 of the 48:03 played at 5 on 5 last night. Vancouver's only goal came when they were both on the bench. Considering that they played most of their minutes with Leddy and Scandella rounding out the top 4, I can't be critical of either. That is absolutely a big accomplishment. The way Berube deploys them really shows the importance of home ice for us. We can absolutely dictate a game using those two when we can deploy them as we like.

Double Edit: Scandella/Faulk looked pretty good together tonight. If they can string together a stretch of play like this, then I think you have to consider (partially) breaking up the Krug/Faulk pair to give the 3rd pair a legit puck mover (with the understanding that Krug/Faulk will still get 5-10 shifts a night together in offensive situations). This was my first game watching the Leddy/Parayko pair and I'm happy with the results. I was in the building and focused most my attention on Leddy when he was on the ice. They didn't strike me as a top 10 NHL pair, but Scandella/Faulk were good enough defensively that I think they can handle a bit more defensive lifting than Krug/Faulk. I see an avenue to being "good enough" defensively if we can run out Parayko and Faulk for 45-50 minutes a night, tailor Faulk's partner to the game situation and let Krug run wild against bottom 6 competition for 10-12 minutes a night on the 3rd pair (plus his PP1 time and 4-7 minutes with Faulk).

 

[i aint Dunn yet]

Nice effort game for the most part. Parayko has to be physical and aggressive.. stop thinking stick checking is the only way to play D

Blues just have to be consistent now with the effort

i cant stress this enough ......

 

[gloria2019]

Let's go Blues! (please win for a change)

Blues fan here from Vancouver. Going to support the blues going to the game tomorrow. Let’s go Blues!