GDT: St Louis Blues vs Vegas - 8/6 - 5:30 TV:FSMW/NHL

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Bobby Thomas is questionable. If he sits out, it's expected Kyrou will jump in.

Vegas 1-0-0, St. Louis 0-1-0

The Vegas Golden Knights and St. Louis Blues each will play their second game of the round-robin portion of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Thursday.

The Golden Knights scored four third-period goals Monday in a 5-3 win against the Dallas Stars in Edmonton, the Western Conference hub city. The Blues lost 2-1 to the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday when Nazem Kadri scored the winner with 0.1 seconds left in the third period.

The round-robin will set the top four seeds for the West in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Avalanche are 2-0-0 in the round-robin; the Stars are 0-2-0.

Here are 3 keys to the round-robin game:

1. Complete game needed
Vegas played poorly in the first and second periods against Dallas before outshooting the Stars 16-6 in the third in their comeback win. Coach Peter DeBoer said he expects the Golden Knights to play a more complete game against the Blues.

"The way we won I think was good because most nights when you only play 20 minutes you're not going to win, so we learned a lesson without it costing us two points," he said. "Those nights are rare that you get away with that. We'll take it, we showed some confidence and some resiliency to come back and to fix some of the things that were wrong with our game and found a way to get two points."


2. Blues look to jump-start offense
Including a 4-0 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in an exhibition game July 29, the Blues have not scored an even-strength goal since arriving in Edmonton. Their goal against Colorado came on a power play. The top line of Jaden Schwartz, Brayden Schenn and Vladimir Tarasenko combined for three shots on goal -- two on the power play -- and was minus-3. Tarasenko, who had two shots, hadn't played a meaningful game since he dislocated his left shoulder Oct. 24.

"They need to have the puck a lot more than they had," coach Craig Berube said. "They never had the puck enough in that game. They never possessed it enough in the offensive zone and did enough things with it. They know that, and they'll be better."


3. Make do without Pacioretty
Chandler Stephenson scored a goal against the Stars while filling in for injured forward Max Pacioretty on Vegas' top line with center William Karlsson and right wing Mark Stone. Karlsson, Stone and defenseman Nate Schmidt each had a goal and an assist.

DeBoer said he expects Pacioretty to join the Golden Knights soon. Pacioretty, who was Vegas' leading scorer with 32 goals and 66 points in 71 games, was injured in training camp and hasn't practiced since July 19.

"He's getting a lot closer," DeBoer said. "I'm sure he'll get an appearance soon."


https://www.nhl.com/news/vegas-golden-k ... 2019030014
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Re: GDT: St Louis Blues vs Vegas - 8/6 - 5:30 TV:FSMW/NHL

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Dave's a mess wrote: Thu Aug 06, 2020 9:24 am I'm not too worried about the seeding specifically right now since the matchups are still unclear, but it'd be reassuring to see the Blues play well for the first time in 5 months.
A loss tonight would lock the Blues into the 3 or 4 seed.

Right now both the 11 and 12 seeds lead their series so if the Blues lose tonight and those things hold true the Blues are looking at a likely matchup with Calgary or the winner of the Vancouver/Wild series and honestly I don't hate either of those matchups for the Blues.

As you said, it's all about just getting dialed in at this point.
Just a Russian propaganda account

Re: GDT: St Louis Blues vs Vegas - 8/6 - 5:30 TV:FSMW/NHL

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Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote: Thu Aug 06, 2020 9:39 am
Dave's a mess wrote: Thu Aug 06, 2020 9:24 am I'm not too worried about the seeding specifically right now since the matchups are still unclear, but it'd be reassuring to see the Blues play well for the first time in 5 months.
A loss tonight would lock the Blues into the 3 or 4 seed.

Right now both the 11 and 12 seeds lead their series so if the Blues lose tonight and those things hold true the Blues are looking at a likely matchup with Calgary or the winner of the Vancouver/Wild series and honestly I don't hate either of those matchups for the Blues.

As you said, it's all about just getting dialed in at this point.
To me, Calgary has the highest ceiling of any of the Western play-in teams, but I don't think they've come close to that ceiling all year. All of the play in teams are flawed enough that I'll like the Blues chances in the first round regardless of opponent. After that, all bets are off. I wonder if Allen starts tonight.
...but whatever, the Blues won the Cup!!!!!

Re: GDT: St Louis Blues vs Vegas - 8/6 - 5:30 TV:FSMW/NHL

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Dave's a mess wrote: Thu Aug 06, 2020 9:51 am
Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote: Thu Aug 06, 2020 9:39 am
Dave's a mess wrote: Thu Aug 06, 2020 9:24 am I'm not too worried about the seeding specifically right now since the matchups are still unclear, but it'd be reassuring to see the Blues play well for the first time in 5 months.
A loss tonight would lock the Blues into the 3 or 4 seed.

Right now both the 11 and 12 seeds lead their series so if the Blues lose tonight and those things hold true the Blues are looking at a likely matchup with Calgary or the winner of the Vancouver/Wild series and honestly I don't hate either of those matchups for the Blues.

As you said, it's all about just getting dialed in at this point.
To me, Calgary has the highest ceiling of any of the Western play-in teams, but I don't think they've come close to that ceiling all year. All of the play in teams are flawed enough that I'll like the Blues chances in the first round regardless of opponent. After that, all bets are off. I wonder if Allen starts tonight.
Binnington was great last game so I would stick with him, but I would start Allen against the Stars.

Re: GDT: St Louis Blues vs Vegas - 8/6 - 5:30 TV:FSMW/NHL

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On avoiding the 4 seed, it is not so much about who we play in Round 1 as it is about avoiding COL from the 4 seed if the first round goes chalk. Seeding #2 or #3 avoids COL until the WCF. Seeding #1, which is only possible if we beat VGK in regulation and DAL (regulation or OT) and VGK beats COL in regulation, would allow us to avoid needing to beat both VGK and COL to get to the SCF. That would put them against each other in Round 2 unless one of them is upset in Round 1.

Re: GDT: St Louis Blues vs Vegas - 8/6 - 5:30 TV:FSMW/NHL

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MissouriMook wrote: Thu Aug 06, 2020 2:45 pm On avoiding the 4 seed, it is not so much about who we play in Round 1 as it is about avoiding COL from the 4 seed if the first round goes chalk. Seeding #2 or #3 avoids COL until the WCF. Seeding #1, which is only possible if we beat VGK in regulation and DAL (regulation or OT) and VGK beats COL in regulation, would allow us to avoid needing to beat both VGK and COL to get to the SCF. That would put them against each other in Round 2 unless one of them is upset in Round 1.
We are going to have to beat Colorado eventually. I don’t care who we play in any round. I’m over the matchup thing. I don’t think the Blues care either. Berube is like Brind’Amour in that sense...not worried about the other team...only worried about his team.
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