GDT Game 65: 2/28/18|7:00 PM CT|vs Red Wings|NBCSN/KMOX

[theohall]

ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Blues' downward spiral continued at Minnesota on Tuesday night.

The Blues dropped their seventh straight in an 8-3 drubbing against the Wild. A team that had a firm grasp on a playoff spot a couple weeks ago is now on the outside looking in for a wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

Even a roster shakeup didn't change the team's fortune as the Blues played for the first time without center Paul Stastny, who was traded to Winnipeg on Monday.

The losing streak is the worst for the team since a 0-5-2 run from Dec. 26, 2009 to Jan. 7, 2010.

"It's embarrassing," forward Vladimir Tarasenko told NHL.com after the game.

The one highlight was Tarasenko's 25th goal of the season, which broke a team scoreless streak of 150:23.

The Blues will look to turn things around when they host the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday at Scottrade Center.

"This is our group," Blues coach Mike Yeo told NHL.com after Tuesday's morning skate. "I think that there's a lot of people around the league, whether it's in the game, out of the game, I think that a lot of people are sort of ready to determine how our story ends here, but the beauty of the game is we're the ones that get to decide that. We've got obviously a big stretch coming up here and every game is going to be a challenge, but we still believe we've got the group to do it."

Forward Alexander Steen said the time for talk is over.

"We're in a good division," Steen said last week. "We're going to play some good teams, but I think we need to find that swagger, that confidence in us again and get back to our game. There's a lot of points on the table, but this needs to turn around next game."

St. Louis won at Detroit 6-1 on Dec. 9 and has a seven-game points streak (3-0-4) against the Red Wings.

The Blues will face a rested Red Wings squad, which hasn't played since beating the New York Rangers 3-2 on Sunday. Detroit comes in on a two-game winning streak.

It will be the first game for the Red Wings since the club sent forward Tomas Tatar to Vegas for a trio of draft picks.

"Luckily we've been in a good situation where we've mostly gotten pieces (at the trade deadline)," alternate captain Niklas Kronwall told NHL.com. "Very few times have we had to say goodbye to people. Tats and Petr (Mrazek) two weeks ago, those are guys that have been here for a long time. Of course, you're going miss them. Definitely going to miss Tats' laughter and just the way he is, a guy that everyone enjoyed being around."

Forward Tyler Bertuzzi figures to get a spike in playing time with the trade.

"Obviously, a loss as a player," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill told NHL.com. "But I've said this lots, we're going to have 20 guys good enough to win tomorrow night (Wednesday in St. Louis) and that's going to be our focus."

[glen a richter]

Getting closer to baseball season! Let's go Mets!

[gaijin]

Being on National TV tends to suck for the Blues. But then again, is it possible to suck worse than they currently are?

I love the "Even a roster shakeup didn't change the team's fortune" line in the preview. Yeah- our roster is SO different without one guy who hasn't been a significant impact for a couple years.

[ibldbl]

When we played Detroit in early December, we won pretty big, but we lost Schwartz.

I'm praying for the guys to wake the F up and play a full 60.

But they won't so....

Dead Things - 3
Blues - 2

[gaijin]

Wild Card 28 Feb.jpg (28.58 KiB) Viewed 2273 times

Wild Card update: If the Blues win tonight, they will be tied with the Ducks (idle today) with 74 points for the 2nd wild card spot (although the Ducks will have played one less game so they would technically be ahead).

The wrench in the works is that the Flames also play tonight, and if they beat Colorado, they will have 75 points, pushing both Ducks and Blues out of wild card position.

Colorado will also push hard, because with only 62 games played, they are realistically within easy striking distance of the Flames, Blues, and Ducks for that last wild card spot.

Oh, the drama.

[tjk002]

Anyone see Yeo's post game last night? Said he saw good things from 10 of the 12 forwards (he listed them by name). So he called out Sobotka and Berglund without mentioning their names.

On Bernie's show this morning, Armstrong seemed upset that Yeo did called those two out. Then Bernie asked the specific question about Sobotka not showing up this year, and Armstrong for the most part ignored the question.

[glen a richter]

Armstrong is the imbecile who makes mistakes but is too self conscious to admit them. Extending Berglund was a mistake, giving Steen and Bouwmeester the contracts he did was a mistake, bringing Sobotka back was a mistake. Admitting it is the first step towards fixing it but if he won't admit it then we can simply expect the same lunacy next season.

Doug, everyone makes mistakes. It happens, but for crying out loud do something to correct them.

[theohall]

Armstrong has some faults for a sports GM.

1) Too much emphasis on loyalty.
2) Too attached to players he was responsible for acquiring.
3) Basically too rewarding to players who've been with the Blues since he took over as GM.
4) Overly rewarding of players he acquired regardless of their actual market value.

I don't know how much say Armstrong has over what happens at the AHL level, because that has been a disaster in terms of developing players in the Armstrong era.

And I suspect, because of all of the above, Armstrong over-valued Berglund, Sobotka, Steen and company at the trade deadline, when at least 2 of the 3 should have been moved.

Just to add one possible positive:

I don't know how much say Armstrong had over the Blues current scouting staff, because that group has done very well the past few years finding excellent prospects. Listening to the Doug McLean at noon, they were saying the one who makes the calls at the draft as to who is chosen is the Head Scout, not the GM. The GM's job is to manage available picks - making trades and stuff.

[theohall]

Anyone see Yeo's post game last night? Said he saw good things from 10 of the 12 forwards (he listed them by name). So he called out Sobotka and Berglund without mentioning their names.

On Bernie's show this morning, Armstrong seemed upset that Yeo did called those two out. Then Bernie asked the specific question about Sobotka not showing up this year, and Armstrong for the most part ignored the question.

NHL Network is about to talk about this. The sidebar headline was "Called Out"

[theohall]

OK. This is laughable. The lineup change is putting in Thorburn for Berglund. Yes, Berglund needs to sit down, but Thorburn??? Seriously?? Call someone up!!!

[flyingnote38]

just trying to get the Flyers the 11th overall pick

[glen a richter]

just trying to get the Flyers the 11th overall pick

Oh, that would be the biggest bucket of bullshit of all if they play this half-assed and end up not even getting the pick back.

[Robb_K]

Upshall knocks in Parayko's rebound!!! Blues lead 1-0!!!

[Robb_K]

Great kill, especially by Upshall!

[Robb_K]

Pietrangelo buries it!!! After a super play by Schwartz!! Blues lead 2-0!!!

[Robb_K]

Blues win!!! Blues win!!!

[theohall]

Great. Now let's see if they can beat a Central Division team and Western Conference playoff teams and contenders.

[Robb_K]

I liked seeing that Tarasenko and Parayko played hard most of the game like they really wanted to win badly. That's a good sign. I hope The Blues win a bunch of games and make the playoffs. But I hope that doesn't save Yeo's job.

[Robb_K]

Great. Now let's see if they can beat a Central Division team and Western Conference playoff teams and contenders.

Exactly. The Blues played with confidence and passion. But that might not be enough on the road against Dallas and the California teams.

[gaijin]

Great. Now let's see if they can beat a Central Division team and Western Conference playoff teams and contenders.

Exactly. The Blues played with confidence and passion. But that might not be enough on the road against Dallas and the California teams.

I don't know if I agree with the confidence and passion part. Yes, they played with more of it than in other recent games, but I wasn't overly impressed. I would say they played acceptably and didn't lay an egg. Which is a good start to getting things back on track, considering how bad they've been.

On the downside, last night's game was probably the easiest one the Blues will have over the next two weeks.