Originally Posted by ThyKingdomCome15: Blues have gone toe-to-toe with arguably the best team in hockey two games in a row now. First game went to OT in favor of the Avs. Tonight the Blues defense was shining bright. Big win for the Blues. The series goes back to STL tied one game a piece.
Late in the year it was clear the Blues were starting to turn it on. The Avs took note of it as they out classed the Blues throughout much of the regular season. But if these first two games showed us anything, it's the dark horse Blues are for real.
This is a red hot series.
I mean... Bennington and the posts went toe to toe with them in game 1, not much else. They were dominated otherwise, didn't even have a SOG in OT, it was so lopsided.
They 100% went toe to toe with them last night after being far better in all 3 zones and I'd expect them to stick to it until the Avalanche adjust... it was a different Blues team than the other night or the series last season. [Reply]
Since it came up earlier in the thread, here's the kind of trash we get to deal with from the Denver Post these days. So yeah, don't take offense if they write something inane about the Blues.
Kiszla | "Is his job as coach of the Avalanche nothing more than to look as handsome as Ken doll on the team bench? Or should Jared Bednar be held responsible for Colorado being asleep at the wheel?" https://t.co/muf6DYlV2L
And the Avs are basically the NHL's version of the GSW 1.0, while the Blues are like the Jazz from that period. Watching the Avs a couple times in the first series was eye-opening for any hockey fan. They are just the most talented team in hockey, and they don't have any weaknesses in any phase. The Blues are outmatched, but so is just about every other team.
But t's hockey, and literally anything can happen in the playoffs. Just like it did the other night. The Avs had a bad game and a couple bad bounces, plus the Blues changed up their lines and made some other adjustments that threw CO off.
Consequently, the Blues stole a game in CO so they have a chance if they can at least split the next two games in STL.
I still think the Avs will probably prevail vs. my Blues, but right now the Blues are holding their own. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Bearcat:
I mean... Bennington and the posts went toe to toe with them in game 1, not much else. They were dominated otherwise, didn't even have a SOG in OT, it was so lopsided.
They 100% went toe to toe with them last night after being far better in all 3 zones and I'd expect them to stick to it until the Avalanche adjust... it was a different Blues team than the other night or the series last season.
So what you're saying is the Avs far outplayed the Blues in game 1 and still needed OT? Then the Blues out classed the Avs in game 2? Better brace for impact, friend. :-) [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
Since it came up earlier in the thread, here's the kind of trash we get to deal with from the Denver Post these days. So yeah, don't take offense if they write something inane about the Blues.
I still remember the first times reading his bullshit... almost 20 years ago, talking about how the Avalanche should run the Wild out of the arena. The Avalanche were so much better and the Wild were practically a junior hockey team.
I had caught a Wild game in Minneapolis that year and watched them buzz around much like the Knights, and knew that series would be a bitch, and it pretty much ended their run of the 90s/early 2000s.
Hopefully he's gained efficiencies and just copies/pastes the same tripe every 5 years or so.
That said... reading the discussion the other day, I do wonder how much chess match type of stuff happens. The Avalanche obviously knew they were going to get a much better game from the Blues, but wonder what they were expecting.... and maybe it was similar to the thoughts here, where the expected the Blues to forecheck the shit out of them, except they got the 1-4 and did what they could to dump and chase. :-) [Reply]
Originally Posted by Monticore:
He makes NHLers look like beer league guys .
It would be a damn shame for him to not make some deep playoff runs because of Mike fucking Smith. I don't feel like they're quite there yet, but then again it's the same Flames team that took 7 to beat the Stars and are playing the exact opposite of Sutter hockey right now. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
Weird period. Two injuries on mildly questionable but clean hits. Two goals on kind of fluky bounces. Guess we'll see how it goes from here.
I think the Girard one was fine... he's just a small guy and it's going to happen.
Kadri will of course get all the scrutiny. I've watched it several times and I think the play was innocent enough. He wasn't charging the net from several strides or anything.... he saw the rebound chance and went for it. He also got hit as he was going down by the other guy falling over.... definitely didn't look desperate to avoid Binnington, but even slowing down the replay it happens pretty quickly. [Reply]
Idiots completely stopped playing defense after the 3rd goal... several good chances by the Blues and no surprised they took advantage of one. :-) [Reply]
