Let's Go Blues

Yet another great save by Allen! He's keeping The Blues in this game.

Tarasenko should have had a goal there.

Blues HAVE to capitalise on this power play!

The Blues, trailing 1-0, will need to come out strong in The 3rd, storming the net.

Slow and sloppy


Sent from my R2 unit.

VERY BIG PP for The Blues now. They've absolutely GOT to score on this one and tie it up.

Another fantastic save by Allen!

The Blues seem to be skating in mud in this game. They just couldn't get back and gave up a 3 on 2 leading to the 2nd goal.

Man. They look god awful
Would not be surprised if the Hawks run over this team tomorrow, starting a streak of their own.

Sent from my R2 unit.

Not surprised to see The Blues' injuries finally catch up with them. But I hate to see it happen at home against The Kings, and in a shutout by their backup goalie.

Just looked a step behind the entire game, which isn't a complete surprise with the shell of a roster we're rolling out right now. But still, we got shut out by Jhonas effin' Enroth. We've gotta be able to pot at least one against him, right? Just no sustained offensive zone time, hard to win that way.

Jake Allen came to play at least. I'm sure there's a faction of Blues fans that are blaming him for this game (because the Blues goalie ALWAYS gets the blame by some people), but man, what more can you ask for on a night when the Kings are setting up camp and firing pucks at you for 60 minutes?

We were just sloppy all game long. It's as simple as that.
It was a hugely frustrating game to watch...and they have actually been playing pretty sloppy overall for a while now, but the only difference is they have been able to sneak a couple by the opposing goalie and we eek out the win.
Ugh.

Passes weren't connecting. The Kings were getting sticks in the passing lanes and we couldn't seem to miss them.

Players were making bad decisions with the puck (looking at you Steen...seriously, WTF is it with you this year?).

Pietrangelo is Pietrangelo. He'll have a stellar sequence with the puck, then 10 seconds later badly mishandle the puck which leads to a great scoring chance for LA.

Too many shots wide on good chances. Steen, Bouwmeester and Tarasenko had a few golden chances in the slot...but put the puck wide/high. And Tarasenko passed up a couple great chances to let a shot go in prime scoring territory, but he passed.

Allen was outstanding.
The first goal against wasn't very good...and the 2nd looked awkward, but not necessarily a bad goal.
But if not for him, the Blues lose this game 6-0.

Such a frustrating game to watch...and the injuries to key players is certainly noticeable.

So...I made that before the game.
And during the game this happens:
Reaves must have seen my post.

cprice12 wrote:

So...I made that before the game.
And during the game this happens:

kopitar-head-bleed.jpg

Reaves must have seen my post.

haha. He just got fined for it though. 3K and change, whatever the current max fine is. I'm ok with that though. That was a bit of a cheap shot.

I thought both goals Allen allowed could have been stopped, but he was definitely the best player on the ice for us last night. The natural progression of Allen and Elliott is for Allen to take over as the number 1. I think we might be seeing that happen for good right now. I've thought that in the past without it happening, so take it for what it's worth. But, I think he's establishing himself as our top guy.

cardsfan04 wrote:I thought both goals Allen allowed could have been stopped, but he was definitely the best player on the ice for us last night. The natural progression of Allen and Elliott is for Allen to take over as the number 1. I think we might be seeing that happen for good right now. I've thought that in the past without it happening, so take it for what it's worth. But, I think he's establishing himself as our top guy.

I think someone must have said something similar to him a few games back because the last couple games he's looked like someone who got a pat on the back or something. Just seems to be more in command of the net; more aggressive, etc.

It needed to happen though. No knock on Elliott, but it's Allen's time.

ViPeRx007 wrote:

cardsfan04 wrote:I thought both goals Allen allowed could have been stopped, but he was definitely the best player on the ice for us last night. The natural progression of Allen and Elliott is for Allen to take over as the number 1. I think we might be seeing that happen for good right now. I've thought that in the past without it happening, so take it for what it's worth. But, I think he's establishing himself as our top guy.

I think someone must have said something similar to him a few games back because the last couple games he's looked like someone who got a pat on the back or something. Just seems to be more in command of the net; more aggressive, etc.

It needed to happen though. No knock on Elliott, but it's Allen's time.

I never really understood the sentiment that people seem to have and the comments they make that say "Allen needs to play like a #1 and he needs to be the #1".
Why?
Why Allen?
What's the difference if it's Allen or Elliott, so long as the "#1" is playing lights out?
Why does it "need to be Allen?" Because he was/is labeled "the future"?

Sure, he is younger...but personally, I don't care who is the #1 and who is playing lights out, as long as someone is.

Would people be upset right now if Elliott had a .940 save% and a 1.80 GAA and Allen had so-so numbers?

cprice12 wrote:

ViPeRx007 wrote:

cardsfan04 wrote:I thought both goals Allen allowed could have been stopped, but he was definitely the best player on the ice for us last night. The natural progression of Allen and Elliott is for Allen to take over as the number 1. I think we might be seeing that happen for good right now. I've thought that in the past without it happening, so take it for what it's worth. But, I think he's establishing himself as our top guy.

I think someone must have said something similar to him a few games back because the last couple games he's looked like someone who got a pat on the back or something. Just seems to be more in command of the net; more aggressive, etc.

It needed to happen though. No knock on Elliott, but it's Allen's time.

I never really understood the sentiment that people seem to have and the comments they make that say "Allen needs to play like a #1 and he needs to be the #1".
Why?
Why Allen?
What's the difference if it's Allen or Elliott, so long as the "#1" is playing lights out?
Why does it "need to be Allen?" Because he was/is labeled "the future"?

Sure, he is younger...but personally, I don't care who is the #1 and who is playing lights out, as long as someone is.

Would people be upset right now if Elliott had a .940 save% and a 1.80 GAA and Allen had so-so numbers?

I actually might be a little upset if that were the case. If Elliott was playing lights out and Allen was playing well, I'd be ok with that. But, I think it's better for the franchise longterm if Allen pans out as a top goaltender. Allen playing lights out has a bigger impact I think.

cardsfan04 wrote:

cprice12 wrote:

ViPeRx007 wrote:

cardsfan04 wrote:I thought both goals Allen allowed could have been stopped, but he was definitely the best player on the ice for us last night. The natural progression of Allen and Elliott is for Allen to take over as the number 1. I think we might be seeing that happen for good right now. I've thought that in the past without it happening, so take it for what it's worth. But, I think he's establishing himself as our top guy.

I think someone must have said something similar to him a few games back because the last couple games he's looked like someone who got a pat on the back or something. Just seems to be more in command of the net; more aggressive, etc.

It needed to happen though. No knock on Elliott, but it's Allen's time.

I never really understood the sentiment that people seem to have and the comments they make that say "Allen needs to play like a #1 and he needs to be the #1".
Why?
Why Allen?
What's the difference if it's Allen or Elliott, so long as the "#1" is playing lights out?
Why does it "need to be Allen?" Because he was/is labeled "the future"?

Sure, he is younger...but personally, I don't care who is the #1 and who is playing lights out, as long as someone is.

Would people be upset right now if Elliott had a .940 save% and a 1.80 GAA and Allen had so-so numbers?

I actually might be a little upset if that were the case. If Elliott was playing lights out and Allen was playing well, I'd be ok with that. But, I think it's better for the franchise longterm if Allen pans out as a top goaltender. Allen playing lights out has a bigger impact I think.

But... the Blues are deep with goaltender prospects. So it isn't necessarily Allen's job for the future. Unless a goaltender is absolutely head and shoulders above his backup - like Roy, Hasek, Quick, Vanbiesbrouk, Richter, etc - I think the "#1" should feel pressure to perform from the "#2" goalie. Otherwise, what's the motivation beyond just winning and a paycheck? Neither Elliott nor Allen are clearly better than the other. At times one or the other seems to be better and through the Montreal game, when Allen played like a backup, Elliott was clearly playing better.

The Blues don't have a superstar goalie, so they need to play whoever has the hot hand, IMO. Allen has had a hot hand recently. Tonight, Elliott should get the nod with the back-to-back games thing and with a solid effort could take back the "#1" thing.

If the Blues had a goalie like Quick - different story. But they don't, so the team just deals with it.

One more edit - consider when Ryan Miller was here. Hitchcock just gave Miller the job, period, and there was zero pressure at all to perform from the backup, Elliott, because he was just given the job as a #1 even though he hadn't earned it.

theohall wrote:

cardsfan04 wrote:

cprice12 wrote:

ViPeRx007 wrote:

cardsfan04 wrote:I thought both goals Allen allowed could have been stopped, but he was definitely the best player on the ice for us last night. The natural progression of Allen and Elliott is for Allen to take over as the number 1. I think we might be seeing that happen for good right now. I've thought that in the past without it happening, so take it for what it's worth. But, I think he's establishing himself as our top guy.

I think someone must have said something similar to him a few games back because the last couple games he's looked like someone who got a pat on the back or something. Just seems to be more in command of the net; more aggressive, etc.

It needed to happen though. No knock on Elliott, but it's Allen's time.

I never really understood the sentiment that people seem to have and the comments they make that say "Allen needs to play like a #1 and he needs to be the #1".
Why?
Why Allen?
What's the difference if it's Allen or Elliott, so long as the "#1" is playing lights out?
Why does it "need to be Allen?" Because he was/is labeled "the future"?

Sure, he is younger...but personally, I don't care who is the #1 and who is playing lights out, as long as someone is.

Would people be upset right now if Elliott had a .940 save% and a 1.80 GAA and Allen had so-so numbers?

I actually might be a little upset if that were the case. If Elliott was playing lights out and Allen was playing well, I'd be ok with that. But, I think it's better for the franchise longterm if Allen pans out as a top goaltender. Allen playing lights out has a bigger impact I think.

But... the Blues are deep with goaltender prospects. So it isn't necessarily Allen's job for the future. Unless a goaltender is absolutely head and shoulders above his backup - like Roy, Hasek, Quick, Vanbiesbrouk, Richter, etc - I think the "#1" should feel pressure to perform from the "#2" goalie. Otherwise, what's the motivation beyond just winning and a paycheck? Neither Elliott nor Allen are clearly better than the other. At times one or the other seems to be better and through the Montreal game, when Allen played like a backup, Elliott was clearly playing better.

The Blues don't have a superstar goalie, so they need to play whoever has the hot hand, IMO. Allen has had a hot hand recently. Tonight, Elliott should get the nod with the back-to-back games thing and with a solid effort could take back the "#1" thing.

If the Blues had a goalie like Quick - different story. But they don't, so the team just deals with it.

One more edit - consider when Ryan Miller was here. Hitchcock just gave Miller the job, period, and there was zero pressure at all to perform from the backup, Elliott, because he was just given the job as a #1 even though he hadn't earned it.

My point is that I think we're better off if Allen pans out as a top goalie than if he doesn't. I'm not saying to hand him the job or anything. But, it is better for us if he is playing as a top goalie and living up to his potential. Elliott is what he is. Allen is still showing what he is. If that's better than Elliott, I think that's a good thing.