The Kings are still an abrasive Sutter team and can be knocked off their game if provoked. It's way too unlikely to beat the Kings in 3, let alone 4 straight by letting STL play "their game". They have to resort to the tactic that I resent most in the game, and that's by knocking the opposition off of theirs. Perspective may have changed for the Kings, they've been riding the "underdog" label for a while now. Things change when they're a favorite with most teams, and this has been a problem area for Sutter teams in the past.
I can't wait to see how the Blues come out and play, but I think just trying to play like they did before won't be good enough.
Agreed Hockeybob. Definition of insanity applies here. Gotta do something different or its the same result. And then add in a lucky bounce or two and viola...game 5 baby.
I can't believe how bad this team has played.Is Hitch not telling his team to just dump the friggin puck out of there end no matter what just get it out.They are trying to make perfect passes out of there own end and failing horribly.Sobotka even sat in his end just standing along the boards waiting for the Kings to come steal it from him, almost as if he did it on purpose.Hitch did a great job all year but unless this team just isn't listening to him he has been a huge disappointment in the playoffs and has not adapted at all to the Kings play.Lazy is the best word to describe how they have played.There is nothing more frustrating to me than when we as fans can easily spot what needs to be done but the coach can't.
One more thing, I am not one to complain about refs but did they really not see Brown leave his feet to hit Rusell in the first? I find that hard to believe.
I don't care who they have to give up (not Pietrangelo obviously) to get a goal scorer but they better do it.6 goals in 4 games.That is a joke and a pee-wee team could put up half that.In the playoffs you face good goalies all the time, you can't rely on these 20 goal a year guys to score against top tier goalies with any kind of consistency.I am not going to pretend that I know if the Blues had a chance to acquire a talented goal scorer but just like the Rams at WR it has been an obvious weakness for quite a few years so why haven't they addressed this issue?
stlsportsguy: i posted several valid reason why the blues getting swep after u claim i go on about nothing? u attack me, claim i dont read other posts when i made direct comments to stlouissportfan post. the only worthless fool posting here are u stlsportsguy. YOU ARE THE 1 THAT IS A IDIOT AND DOES NOT READ POST AND GOES ON ABOUT NOTHING! JUST BECAUSE I STATE FACTS THAT YOUR LITTLE BOY MIND CANT HANDLE OR WANT TO BELIEVE, DOESNT MEAN I AM RIGHT! its uninformed people like yourself that gives the blues a bad name!
not only did the blues get swept, but they only had the lead for only 7 minuets the entire series! talk about domination! the shorthanded goals, the bad penalties and the awful goaltending is what sunk the blues. they were manhandled by the kings and cried to the refs instead of doing anything about it. the blues are too good of a team to get swept but yet it happend anyway. very disappointing.
damansports, it sure doesn't help but every team deals with injuries and 90% of these guys on the ice at this point are dealing with some sort of ailment.Great teams find a way to fight through it.IMO Hitch just didn't adapt to the Kings aggressive fore-checking and it killed the Blues with turnovers in there own end and the neutral zone.People are saying the Kings played great hockey which is absolutely wrong.The Blues were just so bad (compared to the previous series and the regular season) this series that the Kings could have won it with 50% of the effort they showed.
blues continued to play conservative, defensive minded hockey, even as they went down by multiple goals (sometimes only 1 goal) to LA. can you really complain about a season where most of the overly-optimistic fans thought we would be fighting for a playoff spot, and the team was fighting for the presidents trophy? I say no way. Good season bluenote, now lets do even better next year!
and lets see what the Russian Tank can do before wasting a bunch of the new owners' money on a goal scorer. If they arent scoring more next year after 1/4 to 1/3 of the way through the season, then go land a big fish that can put away 30-40 per season. Why ruin the system that is in place now -- developing youth from within organization, adding a couple vets that are past their prime but have been there before. I like that formula over trying to sign a big time goal scorer right off the bat.
They do need a Left handed D-man to play with Pietrangelo. There are 3 options out there that i could possibly see working. Matt Carle, Jason Garrison, and of course Ryan Suter, but i doubt we get him. Garrison would be a big boost to the Power Play, and Carle had 34 assists this season. and has put up pretty much identical numbers the past couple years, with only his +/- taking a hit this year because of TB being bad, and Philly not having much better goaltending. Garrison would be a bit more of a risk, only because he put up his numbers for only this year.
I see where someone mentioned acquiring Matt Carle.........that would be super ! Also, either get his teamate Danny
Briere or someone exactly like him. He is the Eveready Bunny reincarnated ! Anxious to see what the off season has in store for Blues fan.
