Half-Assed GDT: Blues vs. Shorks

[Fitrix]

That stat about being the first Blues goalie to win his NHL debut in a long time is just wrong, correct? Didn’t Binnington and Allen both win in their debut? Binner had a shutout didn’t he?

In his first “start.”, yes. But his first appearance no. I believe the graphic was worded incorrectly as pointed out, and don’t remember enough to say who won their first appearance that far back. Binner shut out his first start, but appeared in a previous game and I know at least allowed a goal in relief in a loss, again, if memory serves me correctly.

 

[542365]

Didn't get to watch any of the game tonight, anyone got a synopses of how Hofer looked? Heard the first was filled with penalties, and I honestly don't think his sv% from tonight is indicative of his play.

First goal was a PP goal through the 5 hole, second was short handed through the five hole, third was even strength deflected through the five hole. Made some big saves, especially on the penalty kills in the first. He was fine, which is great for a 21 year old making his first NHL start.

 

[parliamentlite]

Long way to go, and I think this team will have some slumps, but I think that if they can work out the kinks Cup contention is a reasonable goal.

 

[i aint Dunn yet]

start the game on a 3 on 5

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

First goal was a PP goal through the 5 hole, second was short handed through the five hole, third was even strength deflected through the five hole. Made some big saves, especially on the penalty kills in the first. He was fine, which is great for a 21 year old making his first NHL start.

I like him. He gave us what we needed. Shows real promise and I think this experience will benefit him. But he’s not ready to be an nhl goalie.

 

[i aint Dunn yet]

I like him. He gave us what we needed. Shows real promise and I think this experience will benefit him. But he’s not ready to be an nhl goalie.

he is 6 4 and can play .... you cant teach size

 

[Joshuar56]

That stat about being the first Blues goalie to win his NHL debut in a long time is just wrong, correct? Didn’t Binnington and Allen both win in their debut? Binner had a shutout didn’t he?

Binnington's first game was in relief. He did win his first start.

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

Inauspicious start for Hofer, but 5v5 he held up pretty well especially for a 21-yo tendie. I think we’ll look back on tonight as the start of something special for him. If he can get used to the big leagues, learn to keep his 5-hole closed, I don’t think there’s anything he isn’t capable of at this point. Dave Alexander, work your magic

 

[EL Bandito]

Hofer was very solid in his debut. Ever since he was drafted the guy he reminds me of is Hellebuyck in style and potential.

 

[Thallis]

The good news is we're banking points and winning games. The bad news is the way we're doing it is a textbook case of a team that regresses pretty hard by mid year. Nice win for Hofer, good 3rd, but hopefully at some point we stop relying on these goals of the rush from the top of the circles

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

he is 6 4 and can play .... you cant teach size

He has what you can’t teach, and you can teach what he doesn’t have.

 

[i aint Dunn yet]

He has what you can’t teach, and you can teach what he doesn’t have.

 

[Blanick]

Hofer seems like a good kid, going to be fun watching him develop.

 

[i aint Dunn yet]

keep stacking those points

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

The good news is we're banking points and winning games. The bad news is the way we're doing it is a textbook case of a team that regresses pretty hard by mid year. Nice win for Hofer, good 3rd, but hopefully at some point we stop relying on these goals of the rush from the top of the circles

I thought we dominated last 2 periods. We had numerous point blank shots we failed to covert. Thomas had like 3 and tank at least 1 that were highway robbery.

 

[Robb_K]

Great win. It never felt like we were in any danger of losing in the 3rd.

I thought Thomas, Bozak and Barbashev were all awesome tonight. The three center icemen, after Schenn left. They were all over the place and stepped up big in both zones. We knew what Bozak and Barbie could do but Thomas has improved his all-around game this year which is nice to see.

Yes, he has! He shoots a lot more , too, which I like to see. But, I would still like Hully to work with him on his shot.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Other than when he had shift in 1st with multiple slappers I didn’t notice Mikkola tonight. Which is good. He and Walman had quiet game, which for 3rd pairing is what I want.

 

[rumrokh]

Ivan Barbashev is good at hockey.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Ivan Barbashev is good at hockey.

But not at face offs. He lost 9/10.

 

[rumrokh]

But not at face offs. He lost 9/10.

ok

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

ok

Didn’t mean to be so negative. You are right about him. He has been really good this year and was key part of our Cup.

 

[BlueDream]

The good news is we're banking points and winning games. The bad news is the way we're doing it is a textbook case of a team that regresses pretty hard by mid year. Nice win for Hofer, good 3rd, but hopefully at some point we stop relying on these goals of the rush from the top of the circles

The games have gotten sloppy a lot. I’m hoping things will settle down once we can get our guys back and develop some continuity with our lines. We’ve had ROR, Saad, and Buch all in and out, and Sunny obviously hasn’t played yet. I know every team is going through it, but those are 4 guys I consider to really play to our identity and we’ve just had too many different line combos going on. Neal, Kostin and Neighbours have also been kind of a revolving door of up and down play.

Saad-ROR-Perron
Kyrou-Thomas-Tarasenko (I liked this line tonight)
X-Schenn-Buchnevich
Barbashev-Bozak-Sundqvist (good checking line)

That X probably being Kostin, is something I’d like to see in a week.

 

[Robb_K]

First goal was a PP goal through the 5 hole, second was short handed through the five hole, third was even strength deflected through the five hole. Made some big saves, especially on the penalty kills in the first. He was fine, which is great for a 21 year old making his first NHL start.

I was sure the first goal went under Hofer's left blocker, and that's what showed up on the replay, if I'm remembering it correctly. He was determined to not leave juicy rebounds. He made a point to jump on most of them. He did look good (poised and calm, for a rookie in his first game. And he's quite big. He looks like he could be a decent bet to be a solid NHL goaltender.

 

[rumrokh]

Didn’t mean to be so negative. You are right about him. He has been really good this year and was key part of our Cup.

Nah, it's cool. It's a small sample size and he's been historically better at faceoffs. Closer to 45% over the last couple years and he's still the 6th guy in line to take a faceoff when Sundqvist is healthy. He's basically a wing filling in at center these days. He's going to face much better faceoff opposition with O'Reilly and Schenn out. If Barbashev happened to be a 100% career winger and they stuffed Buchnevich or Perron or somebody in, everybody would just laugh and be happy if they won a single faceoff. It's basically not a thing as far as I'm concerned.

Plus, as important as any given faceoff can be, they mean very little for your chance of winning a game as far as anyone can tell. The best faceoff teams in the league get possibly a couple extra wins per season. And not all faceoffs are equal, as neutral zone faceoffs are like 30-40% as impactful. Barbashev could lose his next hundred faceoffs and it'd likely only mean a couple goals difference, if that. Not unimportant, but less important in a macro sense than we've been conditioned to believe.

 

[shpongle falls]

Man Hofer looked legit tonight, still pretty green obviously but played really well. Hopefully Schenn isn't dinged up too bad.