Round 2 : Dallas v St. Louis

[sseagle]

April 29 St. Louis v Dallas 7pm NBCSN
May 1 St. Louis v Dallas 2pm NBC
May 3 Dallas @ St. Louis 8:30pm NBCSN
May 5 Dallas @ St. Louis 7pm NBCSN
May 7 St. Louis v Dallas TBA TBA
May 9 Dallas @ St. Louis TBA TBA
May 11 St. Louis v Dallas TBA TBA

[theohall]

This headline photo makes me laugh. Joel Edmundson standing in front of the Dallas goaltender.

[midgensa]

I am just so happy to see this thread exist!!

[gaijin]

[Krigloch the Furious]

Seriously think Backes, Steen, Berglund, and Brouwer will be huge against Dallas.

Sent from my R2 unit

[glen a richter]

I'm mainly concerned that they sapped their emotional side by going 7 against Chicago. This could be a huge letdown series, so it's very important they take game 1. Reclaim home ice then go from there.

If the Blues play the way they're capable of, it's a 5 game series. If they give up a million 2nd period shots like they were against Chicago, it's also a 5 game series, but Dallas' favor instead.

[midgensa]

I'm mainly concerned that they sapped their emotional side by going 7 against Chicago. This could be a huge letdown series, so it's very important they take game 1. Reclaim home ice then go from there.

If the Blues play the way they're capable of, it's a 5 game series. If they give up a million 2nd period shots like they were against Chicago, it's also a 5 game series, but Dallas' favor instead.

I agree. We definitely need to be on our game. Dallas has serious firepower, but I think top-to-bottom we are definitely a clear favorite.

If we give away a ton of shots though, they are going to make us pay.

I really like our chances. And I am super excited to be watching second round playoff hockey for a change.

[ecbm]

Definitely agree that the Stars scoring prowess needs respecting and yet...their defense is ropey and hasn't been tested at all. Minnesota without Parise or an effective Vanek is an absolutely toothless team. Minus those two, their forwards scored 133 goals all season; Charlie Coyle was their top non-Parise goal scorer. Blues forwards scored 180, despite Stastny, Schwartz, Steen, Fabbri and Berglund missing a combined 132 games. And I agree that we'll likely see at least Backes and Steen improved as frankly neither looked over their injuries completely to me. Would be nice to have the series start Friday so that those two specifically can get in another skate.

[dmiles2186]

I'm mainly concerned that they sapped their emotional side by going 7 against Chicago. This could be a huge letdown series, so it's very important they take game 1. Reclaim home ice then go from there.

If the Blues play the way they're capable of, it's a 5 game series. If they give up a million 2nd period shots like they were against Chicago, it's also a 5 game series, but Dallas' favor instead.

I don't know about game 1 but definitely a split on the road is huge. It won't be series ending if we go down 2-0, but getting at least 1 in their barn will go a long away.

[dmiles2186]

I was in person for this....a reminder that this is the goalie tending the Stars' net:

[Misc. Blues]

I was watching the CBC (Canada) feed for game 7 and they said the Blues all stayed at a hotel the night before. I guess they didn't want any home/family distractions for the game. Forth in the league in away games compared to 11th being at home. So home ice don't mean squat until game 7...Let's tip some cows in Texas...

[theohall]

Dallas Defense: Jason Demers, Alex Goligoski, Stephen Johns, John Klingberg, Johnny Oduya, Kris Russell, and Jordie Benn,

Blues Defense:
Alex Pietrangelo, Jay Bouwmeester, Kevin Shattenkirk, Joel Edmundson, Colton Parayko, Carl Gunnarson, with Bortuzzo as the depth guy in case of injury.

That alone could be the deciding factor in this series. Which defenseman from the Stars would you take over any of the Blues defenseman.

The other one, Ruff won't pick a goaltender with both Niemi and Lehtonen being iffy for awhile now.

One playoff preview mentioned Dallas not being able to hold leads. Seems kind of funny the Blues weren't given the same criticism since it happened multiple times vs Chicago.

Tarasenko should get more ice time vs the Stars where matchups aren't as important as they were vs Chicago.

[gaijin]

I'm mainly concerned that they sapped their emotional side by going 7 against Chicago. This could be a huge letdown series, so it's very important they take game 1. Reclaim home ice then go from there.

If the Blues play the way they're capable of, it's a 5 game series. If they give up a million 2nd period shots like they were against Chicago, it's also a 5 game series, but Dallas' favor instead.

I don't know about game 1 but definitely a split on the road is huge. It won't be series ending if we go down 2-0, but getting at least 1 in their barn will go a long away.

Also, we don't want to give Seguin more time to recuperate and return to the Stars. I'd rather beat them sooner.

[glen a richter]

I may be way off base here, but it seems to me that Edmundson is a fairly important guy to the overall D. Game 5 and 6, no Edmundson, both losses. Game 7, he comes back--sure, he didn't log a lot of ice time, but they also won the game. He does bring a certain toughness to the blueline that can make all the difference.

[theohall]

I may be way off base here, but it seems to me that Edmundson is a fairly important guy to the overall D. Game 5 and 6, no Edmundson, both losses. Game 7, he comes back--sure, he didn't log a lot of ice time, but they also won the game. He does bring a certain toughness to the blueline that can make all the difference.

Edmundson playing has everyone playing on their correct stick-handed side.

[glen a richter]

I may be way off base here, but it seems to me that Edmundson is a fairly important guy to the overall D. Game 5 and 6, no Edmundson, both losses. Game 7, he comes back--sure, he didn't log a lot of ice time, but they also won the game. He does bring a certain toughness to the blueline that can make all the difference.

Edmundson playing has everyone playing on their correct stick-handed side.

True. That makes a huge difference. Have to keep him healthy and in the lineup.

[ecbm]

Also, as mentioned above-Dallas has two goalies who played in round one and played to sv% of .911 and .879 respectively. I submit that they're the ones who need to worry about shot prevention in this game.

And it looks like Seguin's definitely missing at least one game of this series...

[Portland Blues]

Hitch called in to some show on the NHL Network last night and was hinting around that Jake may be in goal in the Dallas series. He seemed most excited talking about that Barn show he loves on TV.

[SteveO]

Allen in net?

Gtfo.

[Kerfuffle]

Hitch called in to some show on the NHL Network last night and was hinting around that Jake may be in goal in the Dallas series. He seemed most excited talking about that Barn show he loves on TV.

I think it's just strategy to throw off Dallas. I think if you really see Allen in net Friday it means Elliott is hurt.