This team is trending south.

Elliott looks the worst he has all year.

Oshie has been terrible for a month.

Backes is becoming invisible lately.

Berglund is standing out for his effort compared to other forwards!!!

I might be reading waaay into things, but the exchange with Hitch and Tarasenko was really odd to me. First, Tank waves off coming off the ice. Then he goes back to the bench and it isn't a trainer around tank. Instead, we see Hitch tell tank to go. At that exact moment, you see berglund roll his eyes, and tank head down the runway.

Might be just telling him to go check the knee. But usually a trainer would be involved in that discussion. Could be a benching for not coming off the ice when first asked. For about 3 shifts after that, the team played angrier......but then it died out again.

Overall, the lack of pushback by this team is very scary. They look timid, out of sync, sloppy, and predictable....

Bring back Lindbohm and Bertuzzo.....at leadt they had fight in them!!!

I don't even know what to think anymore. Really we all should have seen this coming. Our two best players get hurt in back to back games. We suddenly forget how to score goals. Our goaltending suddenly starts letting in back breaking goals. We are watching the same movie hoping for a different ending.

I can't even look at the standings tonight because with how the Blues are playing right now, they have already beaten themslves.

After reading some tweets by JR, sounds like Tank went off with a trainer, so my conspiracy on that falls through.

However, Oshie's comments are quite revealing.....

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Short version, he talks about having the flu and not thinking it would be good for him....but not having to sit through same meetings and practices, he felt good mentally.

Better to read all the tweets yourselves, but it is alarming.

I have been very resistant, but I am now on the side of Hitch Needs To. Go. Likely not the only one, but it is not working at all.

Just depressing to watch the Blues collapse again.

Teams are really playing all out since it's crunch time and the Blues have trouble keeping up.

Relying on Backes, Oshie, Steen as the top line playing so many big minutes every night for 82 games a year really continues to hurt this team. That's a shut down line that shouldn't be playing 20+ minutes every night. Every year they get worn down at the end of the year, that's on the coaching staff. The Blues need better management/performance from their bottom six forwards, IMO Oshie/Backes should have been playing down the lineup a lot more this year the whole point of bringing in Stastny/Lehtera was to give the lineup more depth and yet we still play the shit out of SOB every night and wonder why they're dead come April.

Mph6689 wrote:This team is trending south.

Elliott looks the worst he has all year.

Oshie has been terrible for a month.

Backes is becoming invisible lately.

Berglund is standing out for his effort compared to other forwards!!!

I might be reading waaay into things, but the exchange with Hitch and Tarasenko was really odd to me. First, Tank waves off coming off the ice. Then he goes back to the bench and it isn't a trainer around tank. Instead, we see Hitch tell tank to go. At that exact moment, you see berglund roll his eyes, and tank head down the runway.

Might be just telling him to go check the knee. But usually a trainer would be involved in that discussion. Could be a benching for not coming off the ice when first asked. For about 3 shifts after that, the team played angrier......but then it died out again.

Overall, the lack of pushback by this team is very scary. They look timid, out of sync, sloppy, and predictable....

Bring back Lindbohm and Bertuzzo.....at leadt they had fight in them!!!

Your other points may be valid, but I agree wholeheartedly with this one:

"Bring back Lindbohm and Bertuzzo.....at leadt they had fight in them!!!"

I think if the Blues win next time those guys are in the lineup...

They don't come out.

Battra wrote:I think if the Blues win next time those guys are in the lineup...

They don't come out.

I'm not sure why Bortz was ever taken out of the lineup in favor of anyone other than Petro, Shatty and JBo.

StL Dan wrote:

Battra wrote:I think if the Blues win next time those guys are in the lineup...

They don't come out.

I'm not sure why Bortz was ever taken out of the lineup in favor of anyone other than Petro, Shatty and JBo.

I wouldn't have too big a problem putting Bertuzzo in and taking out Bouwmeester. The latter can't win a race to a puck 3 feet away from him with an opponent 12 feet away. He doesn't even bother to try those, knowing he CAN'T get there, and may worsen his injury trying to do so. He avoids any contact for the same reason. Bortuzzo and his relative slowness, and proclivity to make judgement errors, is likely to be better than Bouwmeester at 70%. The latter's coverage problems and mobility problems have put a large strain on his shift partners, and caused tonnes of odd-man shifts and breakaways. I'm wondering if his better knowledge of positioning is worth 2 breakaways per game?

Robb_K wrote:

StL Dan wrote:

Battra wrote:I think if the Blues win next time those guys are in the lineup...

They don't come out.

I'm not sure why Bortz was ever taken out of the lineup in favor of anyone other than Petro, Shatty and JBo.

I wouldn't have too big a problem putting Bertuzzo in and taking out Bouwmeester. The latter can't win a race to a puck 3 feet away from him with an opponent 12 feet away. He doesn't even bother to try those, knowing he CAN'T get there, and may worsen his injury trying to do so. He avoids any contact for the same reason. Bortuzzo and his relative slowness, and proclivity to make judgement errors, is likely to be better than Bouwmeester at 70%. The latter's coverage problems and mobility problems have put a large strain on his shift partners, and caused tonnes of odd-man shifts and breakaways. I'm wondering if his better knowledge of positioning is worth 2 breakaways per game?

JBo is pretty danged slow.

MIZDSP wrote:I don't even know what to think anymore. Really we all should have seen this coming. Our two best players get hurt in back to back games. We suddenly forget how to score goals. Our goaltending suddenly starts letting in back breaking goals. We are watching the same movie hoping for a different ending.

are you predicting schwartz to be injured next game?

Or was he previously to tarasenko's injury?

I try not to panic , but this pattern of colapse at the end of the season is cause for concern. Is the coach no longer getting through? Are the players burnt out? Are there problems in the clubhouse? A winning sreak could cure all the ills, and I like to think that will happen. Another playoff disaster would lead to major changes. Let's, hope that is not the case.
Nick