GDT #55: 2/4/14 > Blues vs Senators > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMOX

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GDT #55: 2/4/14 > Blues vs Senators > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMOX

Post by dmiles2186 »

2 points. Two pts. 2 pts. Two points. Dos pointes. Win.
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Season series: The Ottawa Senators beat the St. Louis Blues 3-2 in overtime Dec. 16 in the first of two games between the teams this season. Rookie defenseman Cody Ceci scored the game-winner, his first NHL goal, at 3:59 of overtime.

Big story: Ottawa will be looking to improve on its 1-5-2 record this season in the second game of back-to-back sets. The Senators played the Eastern Conference-leading Pittsburgh Penguins on the road Monday before flying into St. Louis early Tuesday.

The Blues, who have won four of their past five games, practiced Monday but otherwise had two days off in St. Louis to wait for the Senators to come to town.

Team Scope:

Senators: Ottawa has lost two in a row and four of six (2-2-2) following a 2-1 overtime loss to Pittsburgh. Craig Anderson made 46 saves, but it wasn't enough to get the Senators a win against Marc-Andre Fleury and the Penguins, who earned the victory when James Neal scored 1:55 into overtime.

Coach Paul MacLean was pleased with the way his team responded to a lopsided 6-3 road loss against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.

"We had a lot of guys that played real well," MacLean said. "I thought our competition level was good, and when you get to overtime against [the Penguins], things can go wrong in a hurry and they did."

The Senators will play two of their three remaining games before the Olympic break on the road.

Blues: St. Louis has a chance to enter the Olympic break in first place in the Central Division. The Blues, who beat the Nashville Predators 4-3 in a shootout at Scottrade Center on Saturday, trail the Chicago Blackhawks by three points for the division lead entering Tuesday.

The Blues host the Senators, Boston Bruins and Winnipeg Jets before the NHL shuts down for 16 days for the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

"We have three tough opponents coming in here," Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk said, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "Ottawa, there's a little bit of a bad taste in our month from them. We know who Boston is; they're obviously a monster. And Winnipeg is a divisional opponent. We have a chance to gain some games on Chicago and move up in the standings, and I think that that's our goal."

The Blackhawks, who won 5-3 at the Los Angeles Kings on Monday, play on the road against the Anaheim Ducks and Phoenix Coyotes to wrap up the pre-Olympics portion of their schedule.

Who's hot: Senators center Stephane Da Costa has three goals in 10 games since he was called up from Binghamton of the American Hockey League. He scored Ottawa's goal Monday, two games after the first two-goal game of his career against the Columbus Blue Jackets. … Blues center David Backes has at least one point in four of the past five games. He has two goals and three assists over that span. Right wing Vladimir Tarasenko has three goals and two assists in the past six games.

Injury report: Ottawa defenseman Chris Phillips (lower body) is day-to-day. He has missed the past four games. Right wing Mark Stone (upper body) is on injured reserve. … St. Louis center Vladimir Sobotka (left leg) is on IR.
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Re: GDT #55: 2/4/14 > Blues vs Senators > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMO

Post by gaijin »

I second that motion. Second, as in two. As in, 2 points, please. :letsgoblues:
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Re: GDT #55: 2/4/14 > Blues vs Senators > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMO

Post by sseagle »

3 goals! 2 Points! Today has sucked so far, I hope they play!
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Re: GDT #55: 2/4/14 > Blues vs Senators > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMO

Post by dmiles2186 »

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Re: GDT #55: 2/4/14 > Blues vs Senators > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMO

Post by cardsfan04 »

Reaves and Smith are both starting. I sense a fight coming.
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Re: GDT #55: 2/4/14 > Blues vs Senators > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMO

Post by cardsfan04 »

Shitty (Franking) loss.
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Re: GDT #55: 2/4/14 > Blues vs Senators > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMO

Post by Oaklandblue »

I'm not going to blame this one on Halak, Hitch should have yanked him and put in Ells.

Seriously Hitch, what kind of ethic are you instilling in these guys? This wasn't a loss due to skill, this was a loss due to lack of heart.
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Re: GDT #55: 2/4/14 > Blues vs Senators > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMO

Post by Nyghtewynd »

Screw Miller, right?
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Re: GDT #55: 2/4/14 > Blues vs Senators > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMO

Post by Oaklandblue »

Nyghtewynd wrote:Screw Miller, right?
For the right price, I'd consider Miller.

Halak and Elliott are good netminders, nothing great, nothing clutch. Miller =this season= would be an upgrade and that's the truth.

The problem is, it's not our netminding we're having issues with, it's the other jokers in front of him and the ridiculously stupid lines Hitch has been throwing onto the ice lately. There's this complete lack of discipline out there. You got half the team working hard and the other half Fuc-ing things up. Yet we're ok with putting those Fuc-ups on the First Line or in situations where they shouldn't even be wearing the Note which has to be discouraging the hard workers out there.

And in these last dozen games or so, WTF is up with Pie?

EDIT: It was really apparent to me that Halak wasn't doing too well and you could see it. Hitch should have done his job as coach and yanked him, that is HIS job and why I'm absolutely not placing blame on Halak. Halak kept trying to play between the pipes when he should absolutely not have been and that to me shows that he's at least trying. I'm not going to fault someone for trying. I am, however, going to blame Hitch for not doing his job and handling the situation the way a coach would have, and iirc he is the coach. So..
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Re: GDT #55: 2/4/14 > Blues vs Senators > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMO

Post by dmiles2186 »

That was the longest, weirdest game of the year by far. That 2:35 stretch in the 3rd where Ottawa scored 3 goals was reminiscent of some of those not terrible, but not good teams from about '06-'11 where they would just crumble for a short stretch and it would doom them. The Blues were in control of that game up until that point. We're lucky to have gained a point.

I've defended Halak, but I can't defend him for last night. He fell asleep on several of those goals and couldn't make a save in the shootout (2 posts certainly helped). I'm not saying we need to go out and get Ryan Miller because Halak had a down game, but it was a frustrating night, especially after it looked to be a typical Blues win before the crumble started.

Also...it seems that almost every time the Blues fail to get pucks deep or clear the zone, they get burned for it. They have to be better than that. Stop trying to be fancy with the puck and just fire it in, or get it out.
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Re: GDT #55: 2/4/14 > Blues vs Senators > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMO

Post by ViPeRx007 »

Oaklandblue wrote:
Nyghtewynd wrote:Screw Miller, right?
EDIT: It was really apparent to me that Halak wasn't doing too well and you could see it. Hitch should have done his job as coach and yanked him, that is HIS job and why I'm absolutely not placing blame on Halak. Halak kept trying to play between the pipes when he should absolutely not have been and that to me shows that he's at least trying. I'm not going to fault someone for trying. I am, however, going to blame Hitch for not doing his job and handling the situation the way a coach would have, and iirc he is the coach. So..
You're really pushing this "Fire Hitchcock" thing aren't you? Of course, you're going to say that you don't actually want him fired, or maybe you will, I don't know. You bounce back and forth on the idea. Could it be that Hitch was trying to give Halak a chance to pick up his game? He is our supposed #1 goalie after all. It didn't really work, obviously, and maybe Hitch should have pulled him, but to say it's entirely his fault and excuse Halak entirely is ridiculous. Players have off games. Coaches have off games. This was a team loss.
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Re: GDT #55: 2/4/14 > Blues vs Senators > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMO

Post by sseagle »

Seems that Ottawans? are upset over officiating.
Interesting story, but they won?

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Re: GDT #55: 2/4/14 > Blues vs Senators > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMO

Post by cardsfan04 »

ViPeRx007 wrote:
Oaklandblue wrote:
Nyghtewynd wrote:Screw Miller, right?
EDIT: It was really apparent to me that Halak wasn't doing too well and you could see it. Hitch should have done his job as coach and yanked him, that is HIS job and why I'm absolutely not placing blame on Halak. Halak kept trying to play between the pipes when he should absolutely not have been and that to me shows that he's at least trying. I'm not going to fault someone for trying. I am, however, going to blame Hitch for not doing his job and handling the situation the way a coach would have, and iirc he is the coach. So..
You're really pushing this "Fire Hitchcock" thing aren't you? Of course, you're going to say that you don't actually want him fired, or maybe you will, I don't know. You bounce back and forth on the idea. Could it be that Hitch was trying to give Halak a chance to pick up his game? He is our supposed #1 goalie after all. It didn't really work, obviously, and maybe Hitch should have pulled him, but to say it's entirely his fault and excuse Halak entirely is ridiculous. Players have off games. Coaches have off games. This was a team loss.
No, I think he has a point. Halak had allowed 1 goal in 2 periods. Who DIDN'T see that meltdown coming? It's clearly Hitch's fault for Halak's meltdown, not Halak's.
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Re: GDT #55: 2/4/14 > Blues vs Senators > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMO

Post by not_a_wings_fan »

Obviously, when the team pees down their collective legs like that there will be plenty of blame to go around.

You hope your netminder can bail you out of those breakdowns. You hope the d can figure out how to not have those breakdowns. You hope the forwards can pot enough goals to overcome those breakdowns. You hope the coach can figure out which buttons to push to fix it.

None of that happened and we crapped away a point. Plenty of blame here.

If we end up in the cup final and we play Ottawa, then we can revisit this idea. Otherwise, thank God we didn't dump that point to a Western Conference team.

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Re: GDT #55: 2/4/14 > Blues vs Senators > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMO

Post by glen a richter »

Oakland has had a vendetta against Hitch since forever. Evidently he won't feel satisfied until he's fired and replaced by someone who's capable of coaching such ragtag bunch as the Blues are. You know, we do have a pretty rotten record. Totally Hitch's fault. Can we have Andy Murray back?
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Re: GDT #55: 2/4/14 > Blues vs Senators > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMO

Post by sseagle »

glen a richter wrote:Oakland has had a vendetta against Hitch since forever. Evidently he won't feel satisfied until he's fired and replaced by someone who's capable of coaching such ragtag bunch as the Blues are. You know, we do have a pretty rotten record. Totally Hitch's fault. Can we have Andy Murray back?
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Re: GDT #55: 2/4/14 > Blues vs Senators > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMO

Post by Oaklandblue »

Chris Stewart on the first line and we scratch Jaskin and Cole. Do we even want to win?
Shutdown D? Do we even stll do that?

We going to blame the entire team all the time when something goes wrong? Yes? Alright, absolutely! I'm all for that! Problem is you got jokers like, oh, I don't know, Chris Stewart going from 4th line and no minutes to the #1 LINE. So we award jokers like Stewart but scratch Jaskin and Cole. I don't get that.

Hitchcock is a master tactician but I really don't like his style of coaching and holding players responsible. He doesn't bench players save that short time he sat Stewart which shocked me. When Hitch was first signed up, I thought we were getting Dallas Stars Hitchcock, the guy who got Brett Hull to play D. That alone is an achievement.

I don't want him fired, I want to see him be more of a coach. He walks around pissed, I'm sure he lays into players, but you can't just run your mouth and then put your problem children on lines. I've said it before and I'll say it again, he goes with veterans, whether they're sucking hard or not, over younger players who want to play and are willing to give more than they got. I know, I know, we're developing players, but I'd have played Jaskin and Cole and went a different way with things. We may have still lost, but maybe we would have at least play a full 60.

I said it earlier on this forum that Halak and Elliott are =this year= both are average and nothing special. The Sens game I saw our own D giving up the game for a 3 minute stretch in the 3rd period and tied it up. 3 goals on 10 shots. I'm not willing to entirely lay blame on Halak because of that, and to me it looked like he started struggling after that second goal/third overall in the third. The Sens had our number and we played like utter shit. I know Hitch wants to believe in his starter, but if we had a starter, maybe I would, but we don't. Swapping goalies may have been the way to go and the way I would have gone when the Sens tied it up.

If we lose a game as a team, who gets blamed? It's not Pie. It's not Halak. It's not even Backes, even though he'll probably get talked to about it, it's Hitch. If we have players we have issues with, why are they still eating Ice time? We have depth and alternatives. Why not use those?

From what I've seen it's due to lack of experience. And yeah, this single game is just that, a single game and we fell apart. In the last 10 game before this one, we're 6-4. Which means the system we got works enough to win the bulk of them. I'm of the mind that opposing teams have found a way through Hitch's system and is using it against us. If so, then the problem IS Hitch and he needs to analyse it and close up the gaps. One again, that's his job. The players play his system, they run his routes, he needs to be on top of that and he needs to make players be accountable.

Personally, and I apologize for bouncing back and forth, I think we need a minor shakeup. Stewart for Callahan and bring in another goalie and maybe send one of our goalies for firepower. I think we can win, but not with what we've been seeing the last handful of games.
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Re: GDT #55: 2/4/14 > Blues vs Senators > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMO

Post by cardsfan04 »

I think we sometimes get too caught up in what line a player is on in terms of it being a reward. One thing that's been consistent about Stewart is that is hot streaks have coincided with linemates playing really well. Given that, I don't mind trying him on the first line. Steen and Backes are as consistent as they come, so I don't mind trying it in hopes that it would spark a hot streak by Stewart.

And, I don't think you'll find too many coaches that would play Jaskin over Stewart. Cole is irrelevant to Stewart. I've grown tired of Stewart like everybody else. He's still pretty young, but I would have liked him to have stepped up his game on a more consistent basis by now. Unless something drastically changes, he's in his last contract with us. But, if Stewart is still on the team, he's going to play over Jaskin.

Also, another thing I think it's easy to get caught up in is players underachieving vs players underperforming their replacement. Stewart production vs Stewart potential is awful. He's nowhere near it. And that's what makes him infuriating. But, Stewart production vs AHL replacement production probably favors Stewart. And as frustrating as he and Berglund can be, that's a really important distinction to make. It makes him expendable on the trade market for sure and pretty much guarantees that he won't be back past this contract. But, let's not get our hopes up for what Jaskin would do replacing Stewart. Longterm, he'll be better (I hope anyway). But, today, I don't think Jaskin would outperform Stewart.
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Re: GDT #55: 2/4/14 > Blues vs Senators > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMO

Post by ViPeRx007 »

Hitchcock is the most disappointing Blue so far.

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