Playoff Watch 2021

[MissouriMook]

By my count we have 11 games left against Vegas and Colorado. If we can scrape together some combination of 10 points in those 11 games we should be fine as long as we can outpoint Minnesota by a few points in the 8 games we have left with them.

If we manage 10 points against Vegas and Colorado and 10 more against Minnesota that puts us at 57 plus what we manage in the last 4 against Anaheim and single games against LA and Arizona. I’d like our chances at that point to finish 3rd or 4th.

 

[Ted Hoffman]

If the number is really 62, Anaheim is fast approaching elimination.

The number could be 50 and I think Anaheim doesn't get within 7 of it.

My guess remains: we need 25 points in the final 26 games to get to 62 and a likely playoff spot. Doable, we'll need to find an advantage against someone. Also, we need to get our shit together on home ice. Not worried about Arizona unless/until they rear their head and play their way into the 4-spot.

Los Angeles is up 2-0 on Vegas at the moment; that would move them to 5 back of us with a game in hand.

 

[TruBlu]

I don't see us making the playoffs.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

I don't see us making the playoffs.

That doesn’t sound like way I would expect from someone who really is trublu.

 

[TruBlu]

That doesn’t sound like way I would expect from someone who really is trublu.

Sorry, I just don't see it.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Sorry, I just don't see it.

You may be right, but with your lack of faith you ain’t really true Blue.

 

[TruBlu]

You may be right, but with your lack of faith you ain’t really true Blue.

okay...

 

[Ted Hoffman]

That doesn’t sound like way I would expect from someone who really is trublu.

Sorry, I just don't see it.

You may be right, but with your lack of faith you ain’t really true Blue.

Sorry, I'm going to call this out.

Who the hell are you to judge who's "true Blue" and who's not? There's ample reason to look at the rest of the schedule and how we're playing and the gap we have and say, "you know what, I don't think we make it." I'd put us at 55/45 to get in right now. Am I not "true Blue?" Am I not a "real Blues fan?" It would be different if this was "I don't want us to make the playoffs" and one was actively rooting against us. But to say "look, I don't think we'll do it?" What's so wrong with that? It's being a realist.

TruBlu might be wrong. If so, shit happens. People were wrong about us getting in 3 years ago; I don't see those remarks getting dragged out and people's faces getting rubbed in it. If you want to disagree, fine - disagree, roll on. But don't ever go saying that anyone here "ain't really true Blue" merely because that person doesn't think we may not make the playoffs in the face of admittedly challenging circumstances.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Sorry, I'm going to call this out.

Who the hell are you to judge who's "true Blue" and who's not? There's ample reason to look at the rest of the schedule and how we're playing and the gap we have and say, "you know what, I don't think we make it." I'd put us at 55/45 to get in right now. Am I not "true Blue?" Am I not a "real Blues fan?" It would be different if this was "I don't want us to make the playoffs" and one was actively rooting against us. But to say "look, I don't think we'll do it?" What's so wrong with that? It's being a realist.

TruBlu might be wrong. If so, shit happens. People were wrong about us getting in 3 years ago; I don't see those remarks getting dragged out and people's faces getting rubbed in it. If you want to disagree, fine - disagree, roll on. But don't ever go saying that anyone here "ain't really true Blue" merely because that person doesn't think we may not make the playoffs in the face of admittedly challenging circumstances.

Definition of TRUE-BLUE

 

[Ted Hoffman]

Definition of TRUE-BLUE

Loyalty is not cultism.

 

[Stealth JD]

I think @Blueston was merely pointing out the irony between the poster's username and discordant sentiment.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

Blues have a hard schedule
Hardcore fans may still have doubts
They are not True Blue

 

[BlueKnight]

Prior to the start of the season i predicted that the Blues miss the playoffs i still stand by that. There's problems outside of the injury excuse.

 

[Bobby Orrtuzzo]

Prior to the start of the season i predicted that the Blues miss the playoffs i still stand by that. There's problems outside of the injury excuse.

Any particular problem come to mind?

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Any particular problem come to mind?

Some folks on here would be happier, I think, if Blues fail rather than succeed without their favorite player.

 

[Ted Hoffman]

Some folks on here would be happier, I think, if Blues fail rather than succeed without their favorite player.

You should start a poll about this. Then you don't have to think you know what anyone else thinks; they can go on record about it and you'll know for sure.

I think @Blueston was merely pointing out the irony between the poster's username and discordant sentiment.

That's fine. Point out the irony, don't go aggressive with it. It's fair to say "I don't think we make the playoffs." It's delusional to say "there's no way we won't make the playoffs" and I don't get the need to go after someone for thinking we won't make the playoffs for whatever reason, whatever their username is.

Using an example from way back in high school: it's fair [even if somewhat misguided] to think "we'll beat [cross-county rival] at tonight's basketball game" even knowing you've only beaten them once in the last 27 years and that one was a game where you slowed it down to a crawl and needed a last-second miss by them to seal the win. It's delusional to be down 76-11 in that game midway through the 3rd after yet another thunderous 2-hand slam by their 6' 9" center caps off a 21-0 run, and your cheerleaders start up "we'll catch up, we'll catch up! We'll catch up, we'll catch up!" and you believe it.

 

[MissouriMook]

You should start a poll about this. Then you don't have to think you know what anyone else thinks; they can go on record about it and you'll know for sure.


That's fine. Point out the irony, don't go aggressive with it. It's fair to say "I don't think we make the playoffs." It's delusional to say "there's no way we won't make the playoffs."

Using an example from way back in high school: it's fair [even if somewhat misguided] to think "we'll beat [cross-county rival] at tonight's basketball game" even knowing you've only beaten them once in the last 27 years and that one was a game where you slowed it down to a crawl and needed a last-second miss by them to seal the win. It's delusional to be down 76-11 in that game midway through the 3rd after yet another thunderous 2-hand slam by their 6' 9" center caps off a 21-0 run, and your cheerleaders start up "we'll catch up, we'll catch up! We'll catch up, we'll catch up!" and you believe it.

Looks like the Hyperbole Police needs an internal investigation.

 

[Ted Hoffman]

Looks like the Hyperbole Police needs an internal investigation.

True story from my past. Happened multiple times. Every time it happened, opposing fans would break out in laughter.

On the topic of the thread: Los Angeles gets 2 points, so they sit 5 back with a game in hand. We're even on RWs, we're +1 to them on ROWs. If somehow we get to head-to-head they've won that 11-5 even with a game remaining between us. I think we may end up having to win outright on points.

 

[Brian39]

The Kings are currently on pace for 59.7 points through a 56 game schedule. However, for all the talk about our upcoming hard schedule, it is probably worth noting that the Kings have earned 11 of their 32 points against us. They have earned 21 points in their other 23 games and still have 8 remaining games against the Knights/Avs (who they are a combined 2-6-0 against). We already have 5 points agains tthe Knights/Avs through 5 games, which is 1 more point than the Kings have built in 8 games vs those teams. Earning 2-3 points over our next 3 games vs those teams would go a long way towards clawing back some of the points we gave the Kings in our 7 games head-to-head.

The Kings absolutely have an "easier" remaining schedule, but they are also rivals with the two other CA teams that are supposed to be easy points. It is a small sample size, but they are a combined 2-1-2 against the Ducks/Sharks and we are already at the point where hurting the Kings' playoff chances is about the only thing the Ducks have left to play for. The Blues have banked 20 points in our 12 games vs the Ducks/Sharks and I'm not at all confident that the Kings will do that.

Beating up on the Blues has kept the Kings in playoff contention and now they are going to have to go 6 weeks without playing us. I'm starting to feel more confident in that 62 point number being a good estimate of the actual cutoff line.

 

[Brian39]

Let's hope Quick continues his string of mediocre play tonight. The Kings are on the tail end of a back-to-back, had to travel from LA to SJ and Petersen faced 42 shots last night. I'd be very surprised if they didn't play Quick tonight and he has allowed 3+ goals in 4 straight. Hopefully the Sharks make it 5 straight and keep the Kings at 32 points.

Meanwhile, Fleury played last night in LA and Lehner is back from injury for Vegas. I'm guessing he will play tonight. Let's hope we can take advantage of a tired Vegas team. We're both playing our 3rd game in 4 nights, but we were off yesterday while they played and then had to travel.

 

[Total Bender]

Settle down Ted

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

The Kings are currently on pace for 59.7 points through a 56 game schedule. However, for all the talk about our upcoming hard schedule, it is probably worth noting that the Kings have earned 11 of their 32 points against us. They have earned 21 points in their other 23 games and still have 8 remaining games against the Knights/Avs (who they are a combined 2-6-0 against). We already have 5 points agains tthe Knights/Avs through 5 games, which is 1 more point than the Kings have built in 8 games vs those teams. Earning 2-3 points over our next 3 games vs those teams would go a long way towards clawing back some of the points we gave the Kings in our 7 games head-to-head.

The Kings absolutely have an "easier" remaining schedule, but they are also rivals with the two other CA teams that are supposed to be easy points. It is a small sample size, but they are a combined 2-1-2 against the Ducks/Sharks and we are already at the point where hurting the Kings' playoff chances is about the only thing the Ducks have left to play for. The Blues have banked 20 points in our 12 games vs the Ducks/Sharks and I'm not at all confident that the Kings will do that.

Beating up on the Blues has kept the Kings in playoff contention and now they are going to have to go 6 weeks without playing us. I'm starting to feel more confident in that 62 point number being a good estimate of the actual cutoff line.

Just wanted to point out from an LA perspective that this is a really good analysis and we typically either struggle mightily vs. the Ducks/Sharks and lose or we absolutely blow them up and there's no in between. I don't think we go better than a game or two over 500 vs. those two.

 

[Ted Hoffman]

The Kings are currently on pace for 59.7 points through a 56 game schedule. However, for all the talk about our upcoming hard schedule, it is probably worth noting that the Kings have earned 11 of their 32 points against us. They have earned 21 points in their other 23 games and still have 8 remaining games against the Knights/Avs (who they are a combined 2-6-0 against). We already have 5 points agains tthe Knights/Avs through 5 games, which is 1 more point than the Kings have built in 8 games vs those teams. Earning 2-3 points over our next 3 games vs those teams would go a long way towards clawing back some of the points we gave the Kings in our 7 games head-to-head.

I can dissect this a number of ways with various breakouts showing it's not that favorable for us. Doesn't matter. Los Angeles is within striking distance, and a "safe" lead could disappear quickly given everyone's remaining schedule and then everyone feels the pressure. It's going to be playoff-style hockey for us for 6 weeks, and we're going to get a taste of how much (whether) we're ready for the playoffs in that stretch; the more we can do to help ourselves out, the less we have to worry about what others are doing and the less we have to root for someone else to do what we couldn't do for ourselves.

 

[Mike Liut]

Can Kostin come over after he’s done and be on Blues playoff roster?

 

[Brian39]

I can dissect this a number of ways with various breakouts showing it's not that favorable for us. Doesn't matter. Los Angeles is within striking distance, and a "safe" lead could disappear quickly given everyone's remaining schedule and then everyone feels the pressure. It's going to be playoff-style hockey for us for 6 weeks, and we're going to get a taste of how much (whether) we're ready for the playoffs in that stretch; the more we can do to help ourselves out, the less we have to worry about what others are doing and the less we have to root for someone else to do what we couldn't do for ourselves.

Oh for sure. I wasn't trying to say that the Kings are cooked. But a .500 point pace for us puts us at 62 points and my post was to illustrate that a 62 point cutoff line is fairly realistic given the Kings' remaining schedule and their performance in games that aren't against the Blues. We probably won't earn 25 points in our remaining 25 games if we don't improve to some degree, but we also won't have to play like a top 5 NHL team to bank 25 points in our remaining schedule. We're probably not going to back in to the playoffs if we go sub .500 (points percentage), but even with the remaining schedule .500 isn't a massive ask.