GDT #28: 12/8/11 > Blues vs Ducks > 7:00PM > FSMW/KMOX

[Oaklandblue]

Halak looks pretty good tonight. The D is really sloppy, I'm sorry, I meant JACKMAN. *coughs*

[glen a richter]

4 goals in a game? Holy shit!

[dmiles2186]

Home run TJ Oshie!

[sseagle]

Wooooo!

[Oaklandblue]

ONE. MORE. GOAL! ONE. MORE. GOAL!

[dmiles2186]

Halak, Oshie, and Sobotka all played their balls off tonight. Great effort all around, but those guys were big in the win.

[goon attack]

Great win.

[PGABluesFan]

IT'S NOT WORTH WINNING IF YOU CAN'T WIN BIG!

Defensively we weren't as sharp as usual tonight, but still nice to get the W.

[STLADOGG]

IT'S NOT WORTH WINNING IF YOU CAN'T WIN BIG!.

Love it.

[Hotaru_Sobi17]

Every win the Blues get is a good feeling, regardless of how they get it

[theohall]

Thoughts on this game:

1) Has Oshie finally arrived? Need to see if he can maintain playing the way he has since Hitchcock arrived for more than a 10-15 game stretch.
2) Halak finally made the big saves which kept the Blues in the game. Anaheim had some outstanding chances and not until late in the 3rd period did he start giving up the "iffy" rebounds. He had zero chance at stopping either of Anaheim's goals. Their 2nd goal was some serious luck with the way that thing bounced.
3) Berglund is using his size again to keep the puck, make space, and make plays.
4) Sobotka's ability to maintain possession in spite of bigger guys trying to mash him is amazing.
5) Cole is better than he looked in that first game. Zero minus games since he started playing this season and is matching up against opponents top lines whenever he plays.
6) Stewart - still not performing the way we think he should. He just seems to lose too many battles.
7) Perron - looks great. Waiting as long as they did appears to most definitely have been the right thing. See Sidney Crosby already missing games with a mysterious injury. And Perron's hands are sick (in the good way).
Kris Russell needs his regular partner. He looked very uncomfortable this game. Would make a good play to get the puck, then darn near immediately turn it over with a weak pass. Not having Shattenkirk in the lineup made Hitch change the defensive pairings and Russell struggled adjusting, IMO.

One other general thought (10-2-3 since Hitchcock took over):
The Blues have played 6 non-shootout games decided by 1 goal. Blues are 4-2. Anaheim game had the empty netter, so it could be considered 7 games and 5-2 in "1 goal" games. I don't recall the Blues having this kind of success in 1 goal games before. They were 2-2 in 1 goal games under Payne this season, which wasn't cutting it when a team will likely need 97 points just to make the playoffs. Last season, the Blues were 10-17 in 1 goal games (excluding shootouts). This, IMO, explains why Payne was fired. Meanwhile, Hitchcock has them winning the close games, outside of shootouts. Blues were 4-6 in shootouts last season. We shall see what happens the next time they reach a shootout with the addition of Perron.

Like where the team is heading and hope Halak can continue playing like he did in this one. This game he had the form which led the Blues to their hot start last season. If he keeps that up, with the way Elliott is playing, the Blues should be sitting pretty before the Feb/March road trip of doom starts.

[thedoc]

@theohall

A lot of excellent points.

1) I have always said Oshie is not a superstar outside of St. Louis. I have always said that he is the kinda "blue collared" guy that you want on your team that plays descent two way hockey. I am still not ready to change my mind on that statement. That being said I love the way he is playing right now and the energy he is bringing. If he can keep it up I will happily eat crow on the above statements.

2) I was happy to see Cole have a good game. I would really like to see us develop some home grown talent especially on the blue line.

3) Berglund and Sobotka are playing great and I really think Berglund's point total at the end of the year is going to be where we all thought it should be.

[kodos]

Oshie is such an odd player.

I've been watching hockey for about 20 years now and I've never seen a player quite like Oshie. The amount of hustle and energy he puts into every single shift is unprecedented. I'm not sure what kind of projections you can put on a player like that.

[Oz-iz-God]

How much like crap did Halak look on the 2 goals so far?

Halak won that game for us last night, IMO.

The Ducks had 3-5 premium scoring chances that he stoned. The 2 goals he gave up were a result of his defense not doing a good job of clearing out the crap around him. That said, he was a little bit lazy w/ his technique on the 2nd goal when he seemed to make himself a little smaller than he needed to as he came across looking for the puck; it still would've been a pretty spectacular save.

That was as strong a game as I've seen from Halak this year; he played really well.