GDT: Game 38: Columbus at St. Louis | 4/5 8:00 PM EDT | The most critical edition of them

[Robert]

Hey Wisniewski and Aucoin, take your $8M of contracts and GTFO of town! Unreal that Wiz makes $5.5 mil a year. It aggravates me even more that Richards even considered pairing the two and trusting them to play quality defense, I guess we saw the result of that..

For all those dogging on Prout, yes he had a bad night tonight and hasn't been very consistent lately. Don't forget though, he is a rookie playing in games that carry more meaning than any he has ever played. Is it acceptable for an NHL defenseman to have the type of game he had tonight? No. Is it understandable in Prout's case compared to guys like Wiz and Aucoin? Hell Yes.

I've not been a fan of Wiz's defense since we got him, but I will admit for the archive folks here I suggested we try to get him...

That said, so far with his games played numbers, defense and scoring value he duped me... I'd take Prout to defend Bob over him any day, screw the defensive points...

 

[Robert]

This is like one of those barfights where folks calm things down fairly quickly, and then some drunk runs in from the bathroom and starts socking people.

I respect the Blues. The only thing I thought tonight was that they were giving us some golden chances, which is kind of ridiculous when they have the defence of:

Pietrangelo-Bouwmeester
Shattenkirk-Leopold
Polak-Jackman

That should be Stanley defence, but tonight they were the Keystone Cops.

Leopold is not that good..... that's why he was traded..

 

[CBJWerenski8]

Leopold is not that good..... that's why he was traded..

So was Marian Gaborik.

 

[Robert]

So was Marian Gaborik.

But I watched Leopold a lot more than Gabby.... trust me, Leopold is not that good..

 

[major major]

I've not been a fan of Wiz's defense since we got him, but I will admit for the archive folks here I suggested we try to get him...

That said, so far with his games played numbers, defense and scoring value he duped me... I'd take Prout to defend Bob over him any day, screw the defensive points...

I'll also freely admit I wanted us to sign him, though I wasn't on this site at the time.

I'm still expecting Wiz to recover some more from his broken foot. His mobility is nowhere near where it is supposed to be. His worst games of the year have been coming back from injuries. The Edmonton game he just about single-handedly lost, was right after he was concussed.

So he'll be better than this. But dear god was he awful tonight.

 

[ca5150]

I'm happy to have Gaborik, but I think they will regret giving up Dorsett very much. I personally would have parted with the Kings #1 pick instead of Dorse. They were physically dominated that game and St. Louis took liberties on every single play and there was no push back. They pushed around Vinny, Gaborik, Tyutin, etc. And that's the kind of games playoff games are. All the people that love to put down fighting or say Boll and Dorse have been expendable, they are the equalizers in that type of game. Those visor wearing "tough guys" on St. Louis aren't running around out there if those guys are in the lineup. Disappointed someone didn't step up and push back. Refs were BRUTAL as well. But that's not why we lost...

 

[ca5150]

I'll also freely admit I wanted us to sign him, though I wasn't on this site at the time.

I'm still expecting Wiz to recover some more from his broken foot. His mobility is nowhere near where it is supposed to be. His worst games of the year have been coming back from injuries. The Edmonton game he just about single-handedly lost, was right after he was concussed.

So he'll be better than this. But dear god was he awful tonight.

Can't blame Wiz on either goal, Prout screwed up and left Stewart alone in front on that goal, and the other goal was just a fluke..he was on his back, can't ask much more of the D

 

[ca5150]

I've not been a fan of Wiz's defense since we got him, but I will admit for the archive folks here I suggested we try to get him...

That said, so far with his games played numbers, defense and scoring value he duped me... I'd take Prout to defend Bob over him any day, screw the defensive points...

Prout was the direct cause of the Stewart goal...

 

[ca5150]

If we can win the next three we will be 4 games over .500, that will put us in the hunt again regardless of what other teams do.... That said, we need points and we need to win almost every night...

St. Louis is a lock, with 2 games in hand on us and 1 or 2 games in hand on almost everyone else, plus they have a lot of outright wins so they win tiebreakers. The way I look at it, our only hope is the 8 seed and we need Detroit to tank along with Edmonton, Dallas, Phoenix and Nashville...doesn't look good with that 6 game roadie and home games against really tough teams...

 

[Robert]

Prout was the direct cause of the Stewart goal...

And the refs where the direct cause for the Calvert goal being over turned... In the end the OVERALL defense I'm seeing from Prout puts Wiz on the bench .

And, if Jack Freaking Johnson doesn't start contributing to winning efforts he will be next on my list....

 

[CBJWerenski8]

Sharks win

 

[ca5150]

And the refs where the direct cause for the Calvert goal being over turned... In the end the OVERALL defense I'm seeing from Prout puts Wiz on the bench.

I do like Prout, wish he would have been a little more physical tonight though, we could have used someone to drop the gloves and calm down the BS. Wiz is what he is, he has a good shot when he's wide open, which we need for now....I don't think he's as big a defensively liability as Aucoin and Nikitin, even Tyutin has been garbage in our end a lot of games.

 

[Robert]

I do like Prout, wish he would have been a little more physical tonight though, we could have used someone to drop the gloves and calm down the BS. Wiz is what he is, he has a good shot when he's wide open, which we need for now....I don't think he's as big a defensively liability as Aucoin and Nikitin, even Tyutin has been garbage in our end a lot of games.

Not to belabor this topic to much because I hate arguments but one of the reasons we signed both Johnson and Wisniewski was to score goals on the power play... The power play is a critical element to overall team scoring and winning games... yet we are ranked 26th in the power play...

If defenseman can't defend and can't score points when expected what's the use.. There must be a reason our PP is ranked one of the worst in the league... Fix the power play and you fix many losing 2-1 goal efforts. The CBJ will never be a threat to win the SC if they continue to be ranked so low in the PP...

 

[CBJWerenski8]

NBC Sports network said this game is only the 3rd time in 19 games where we havent earned a point. You'd think a streak like that would be an easy playoff clinch. shows how bad we were at the start.

 

[Robert]

NBC Sports network said this game is only the 3rd time in 19 games where we havent earned a point. You'd think a streak like that would be an easy playoff clinch. shows how bad we were at the start.

Very true Brass... I hate this short 48 game season schedule, it magnifies the weakness of having 3 point games....

Regardless of the CBJ outcome they have played (overall) one hell of a second half... playoffs or not we have a team that can win...

I'm just upset we lost tonight, I hope Nationwide is a sellout when the Blues come to town in a few days.... we need to crush them, especially with Hitchcock on the bench.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

Very true Brass... I hate this short 48 game season schedule, it magnifies the weakness of having 3 point games....

Regardless of the CBJ outcome they have played (overall) one hell of a second half... playoffs or not we have a team that can win...

I'm just upset we lost tonight, I hope Nationwide is a sellout when the Blues come to town in a few days.... we need to crush them, especially with Hitchcock on the bench.

I have tickets to that. So we have at least 2 people there.

 

[Robert]

I have tickets to that. So we have at least 2 people there.

Lead the crowd, if I could make that game I would.... One thing I do know, the players feed off of the fans... I will be watching on crappy Time Warner...

 

[ca5150]

Not to belabor this topic to much because I hate arguments but one of the reasons we signed both Johnson and Wisniewski was to score goals on the power play... The power play is a critical element to overall team scoring and winning games... yet we are ranked 26th in the power play...

If defenseman can't defend and can't score points when expected what's the use.. There must be a reason our PP is ranked one of the worst in the league... Fix the power play and you fix many losing 2-1 goal efforts. The CBJ will never be a threat to win the SC if they continue to be ranked so low in the PP...

Agreed about the power play and Johnson hasn't provided the offense he needs to but he's a sound guy in our own end. The problem with getting too much on Wiz is he's been out so much it's hard to give him a fair grade, the PP does look better when he's out there, though not nearly where it needs to be but he has the best shot from the point we have so until they find someone better, we are stuck. I think Nikitin and Tyutin have been far bigger disappointments defensively and offensively this year...

 

[Finnpin]

I'm happy to have Gaborik, but I think they will regret giving up Dorsett very much. I personally would have parted with the Kings #1 pick instead of Dorse. They were physically dominated that game and St. Louis took liberties on every single play and there was no push back. They pushed around Vinny, Gaborik, Tyutin, etc. And that's the kind of games playoff games are. All the people that love to put down fighting or say Boll and Dorse have been expendable, they are the equalizers in that type of game. Those visor wearing "tough guys" on St. Louis aren't running around out there if those guys are in the lineup. Disappointed someone didn't step up and push back. Refs were BRUTAL as well. But that's not why we lost...

Columbus isn't the only team that will get pushed around by St. Louis. That team can do it.

How was Blake Comeau btw? I only saw the game condensed. And I like to say that name Blake Comeau. Such a cool name. ...Blake Comeau.

 

[Jyrki]

I've not been a fan of Wiz's defense since we got him, but I will admit for the archive folks here I suggested we try to get him...

That said, so far with his games played numbers, defense and scoring value he duped me... I'd take Prout to defend Bob over him any day, screw the defensive points...

I'm proud to say I loathed the Wiz signing from Day 1.

 

[Hooks]

We missed Boll in this game.

I love Prout. He didn't have the best game but he is a big strong dman that we will need in the years to come. I'm also very disappointed in JMFJ and Wiz. I love their attitudes but their play is horrible and they try to do to much. We need some more large and mean shutdown dman.

I thought that Dubi was awesome last night. I never really seen what the big deal was with him until last night. He was just awesome. His injures must have really been slowing him down earlier in the season.

I also hated losing Dorse and I didn't like the trade. I never like trades where 3 people are dealt for 1. Don't care who the one person is.

That is all

 

[JacketsDavid]

Well it was a good game, and a heck of a run. If we could have gotten 2 points we would have been in the race. Mission Impossible to get in now - we have to play well on the road, we have to hope a team collapses (St Louis or Detroit) and we have to hope noone else arounds us (like and Edmonton) gets hot either.
The overturned goal for us was the correct call. The game was very physical and we did miss Boll and/or Dorsett, we got pushed around and the officials let alot of it happen. After we tied it I was excited - for about 8 seconds. That 3rd goal was a heart breaker. Neither team played a great game early, but in this case Hitch got his guys to grind it out. Congrats to him, always been a fan of his.
This team is about where I expected them to be in the standings - BUT after a terrible start, it's easy to be excited about next season. I'm still not sure on Gabby - but he has the skills we need - plus it's his contract year so he could easily score 30-40 goals next year looking for another contract. Most importantly we found our Goalie in Bob. Again don't want to bet the farm on him yet but he deserves the opportunity to be our #1 next season.

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

Unable to solve Allen, and unable to apply enough pressure on their shutdown game in the third.

Getting pushed around didn't take the Jackets off their game. That's the Blues' intent with all the cheap stuff. You overreact to it, and they win. And those beamoaning Dorsett... I love the guy too but he's out fo the season and wouldn't have been any help last night. Foligno, Dubinky, Umberger, Mackenzie, Letestu, Prout. These are all stout individuals who were in the middle of scrums last night.

Aucoin, Wiz, Prout, Nikitin -- all culpable for the two goals. But still it was only two. I do think it would behoove Richards to rethink the pairings, and to consider sitting someone for Erixon. (Nikitin's possible injury notwithstanding.)

 

[EspenK]

Columbus isn't the only team that will get pushed around by St. Louis. That team can do it.

How was Blake Comeau btw? I only saw the game condensed. And I like to say that name Blake Comeau. Such a cool name. ...Blake Comeau.

After one game my impression was change his name to Blake Gowet.
I thought he was supposed to bring a physical presence? Not much of an impression on me. But its only one game,we'll see.

 

[JACKETfan]

We had our chances.

I thought Foligno and Wiz were sub-par.

But credit to STL, they played harder.

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OT: Anybody else notice we don't block shots anymore?

The last player we had among the 40 top shot blockers was Jan Hejda.