It's not just the shots. It't the total effort. It's what Hitch meant when he would always say there are "too many passengers". Right now, Jake is driving the bus and damn near everyone else is along for the ride.

Guys are losing board battles to smaller players in the offensive zone. Guys are trying to clear the defensive zone with one hand on their stick.

The three Nashville goals today:

1: Steen refuses to sell out to block the shot.

2: All three forwards late getting back, still in neutral zone.

3: Were outworked in their own zone, Eddie with a piss poor clear attempt.


The bright side is that they played like complete ass for all but about 10-15 minutes today, hit three posts and were still in the game until the end.

They are the better team, but they aren't playing like it.
[Reply]

Hard to argue any of that.
[Reply]

No, they aren't the better team.
[Reply]

i'd say they pretty clearly are

the only thing st. louis has on nashville is depth at forward, but, even then, the preds first line is better than any line the blues have. arvidsson-johansen-forsberg is one of the best lines in the league.

not to mention the best top-4 defense in the league.

for the record, i'm not a preds or blues fan, so there's no bias here either way.
[Reply]

:-) Riiiight. They are hot, but they were 4th in the central for fucks sake.
[Reply]

good response.

edit: yeah, regular season standings don't mean that much. the kings were the 8th seed when they ripped through the league in 2012 but they were pretty clearly better than their record.
[Reply]

They're definitely the better team, but I'm not quite sure where I'd place them among the other teams left (West or East)... they've walked the walk the past couple of postseasons though. They should make things interesting in the WCF if they get there.


I'd love to see the Blues with a true first line center... watching Tarasenko is like watching JC on the Chiefs (but like franchise QBs, franchise centers don't grow on trees). And of course Stastny would be a really good 2nd line center. As inept as they've been on offense, that little pipe dream would go a long way towards getting them over the hump.

And WTF, Oilers, let's not make this another 7-0 game.
[Reply]

Yeah the Blues have needed a high end 1C for years, although I don't think Tarasenko needs anyone in particular as he's already incredible. Would help spread the offensive depth a lot, though.

I mean, Tavares is UFA at the end of next year and the Islanders are kind of a mess...i could see the Blues being a great fit for him.

That said, Fabbri is someone I could see being a very good 1C. I know he's mostly played at LW thus far in the NHL, but he was drafted as a center and certainly has the skillset to be a great distributor. He's a big loss for em right now.
[Reply]

All you are saying is they have played a better three game stretch, because at best the teams are even in any metric.
[Reply]

Yeah, that would do it. :-)
[Reply]

Whew.


That McDavid kid is pretty good.
[Reply]

Edmontons defense :-) GOALS so..."Good hockey!"
[Reply]

Ugly defense.
[Reply]

Never been to an NHL game but always wanted to. I am going to be in Nashville this week and see there is game tomorrow night. Is it worth it to go?
[Reply]

Yes, one of the best game experiences you can have. A bit biased since I live here but it's a fun time.
[Reply]