Bah. This team can not get out of the Wild Card range. A few games over .500 just does not cut it.

What a shame that The Blues lose this game in Regulation, in a game that they played so very well, holding the powerful Avs' offence down in both 5 on 5, AND on The PK. But, I'm glad to see they've been playing well in all games but one under Bannister, so far.

BluesSK wrote: Fri Dec 29, 2023 9:33 pm Bah. This team can not get out of the Wild Card range. A few games over .500 just does not cut it.

If they play MOST of their games the way they played in THIS game the rest of the season, they should get out of The Wild Card, and into the divisional seedings.

Didn't get to watch this one so appreciate those that gave their feedback on the game. Sounds like one of those games where the Blues looked good but lost. Absolutely beaut goal by Thomas! Signs of consistency are there.

Ozzies09tc wrote: Fri Dec 29, 2023 9:09 pm Why tf was that a penalty shot? (No sound)

I actually went to my local bar to watch this game last night, and I have some questions, this being one of them. I was subjected to early ‘90s Aerosmith instead of hockey audio. I have no idea why they got a penalty shot.

I also have no idea what happened to cause the Blues player (was it Scandella, again?) to immediately drop his stick & gloves, hold his face, and literally run off the ice and down the hall. They showed a replay where it looked like a stick caught him high on the visor, but it didn’t look like his reaction, which was “holy shit my face is imploding”.

As far as the game, yes Thomas has incredibly soft hands. Yes, our PP still sucks. Not only do we make too many passes, but you can see them coming a mile away. It’s really inexcusable to play a game as generally well as they did yet not score on so many power plays - and it wasn’t ever close. We must be well into 20-something power play opportunities under the new coach, and while I understand there are specific other coaches for special teams, I also believe the head coach has some input there. So fresh eyes come up here and have no ideas about what’s wrong with our power play? Guess he likes that “interim” title.

I guess the “good” news is that the Avs played well, too, and we generally handled them and limited their chances. Binner was good. Based on what I saw, I think if the Avs took a couple fewer penalties, we may have won this game. Our own PP is such a momentum and morale killer.

Not sure about Scandella (in more ways than one), but Faulk was injured late ... https://www.stltoday.com/sports/profess ... 38140.html

Somebody please tell Lou Korac that the Colorado AHL affiliate is NOT in Colorado Springs ... https://www.nhl.com/blues/news/colorado ... r-29-x3121

DOH ... Dupe ... Cap'n is contagious ...

T.C. wrote: Sat Dec 30, 2023 6:55 amI actually went to my local bar to watch this game last night, and I have some questions, this being one of them. I was subjected to early ‘90s Aerosmith instead of hockey audio. ...

I experienced the 21st Century version of that indignity, when Mrs. JMC & I visited a residential Christmas light display in New Town-St. Charles a couple of weeks ago. The amplified annoyance of tunes from the movie Frozen drowned out Santa singing about his favorite reindeer.

RAFritchey wrote: Fri Dec 29, 2023 8:28 pm

Robb_K wrote: Fri Dec 29, 2023 7:41 pm But Thomas grabs the loose puck, skates up ice all alone and makes a deke that makes the goalie lean, and makes no mistake, popping th puck in, by him for the shorty!!!! Blues tie it up at 1!!!!!

That's The Blues' 10th shorthanded goal this season, leading The NHL!

I think it's only 9 short handed goals, which still ties us for first in the NHL, with fewer times on the PK.

Still:

The Blues have scored 11 goals on 101 PP opportunities. 10.89%

They've scored 9 goals on 93 penalty kills. 9.68%

If our PP were even AVERAGE (around 20%), we'd have another 10 goals or so, and most likely easily be in a wild-card spot.

Sadly true.