It was a gigantic joke. Mason got left hanging out to dry more than my great-grandmother's laundry. Larue was his usual, "No loose body part, no foul" refereeing, while the other striped idiot continued his one-man campaign against the Blues by swallowing his whistle in the Blues offensive zone, while looking for ANYTHING he could call against the blues. (Check his stats.)

But, in the theme of the night, here's one for you:

Why are Imperial Storm Troopers like St. Louis Blues hockey players?

They both shoot a lot and can't hit a damn thing.

via superchargedcamira.files.wordpress.com

OK, the refereeing sucked. Anytime you don't allow someone to defend themselves against an intent to injure,  it's BOGUS. Ott... dead man! Barch... he's a dead man! Fistric... dead! Unfortunately, the Blues designated hitter is marked as a goon, and so he is treated like one by the refs, while a turd like Ott is free to hit very late and hit low without retribution. We need an Ott-type player who can get away with shit. Winchester... Beej...?

Still all that aside, except for the first ten minutes, we weren't in this game. This team reacts too much, we haven't initiated. It's time to name names:

Winchester, Crombeen and Backes need to start attacking people in the corners of the offensive zone.

Paul Kariya hasn't done jack shit. He looks like he's forgotten how to play.

Polak's a big guy. When opposing forwards go into the corner, he needs to physically separate them from the puck.

Brad Boyes, you need to watch tape of Mike Bossy and Brett Hull until you get the fucking idea of a goal scorer. Repeat after me:  "I will drop the puck to another forward and then get into shooting position instead of trying to drive to the net. I am a trigger man. My job is to shoot first, ask questions later."

Power play unit 1: MOVE THE GODDAMN PUCK AROUND THE PERIMETER AND MAKE THEM CHASE YOU SO YOU CAN GET THEM OUT OF THE BOX! Everybody in the NHL knows that your favorite play is that diagonal across the box to the top of the circle for a one-timer. Ya think they don't practice breaking that up?

Patrik Berglund: DO something in the offensive zone dammit! Don't just skate around cluelessly playing whack-a-mole with the puck.

Feel free to pile on. Anybody else bug you with their lack of play so far this year?

Oh, the one bright light from tonight is Petro. I was impressed with his defensive positioning (except on the Stars third goal), his assertiveness and puck sense, and I give him high marks for defending his teammate Coliaccovo after that late low bridge, if not much sense, going after the bigger Ott. We need to see more of him.

And does it really matter at this point, in this season? The Six Million Dollar Disappointment has disappeared at times over the past season-and-a-half, even when he was on the ice.  Things looked better early, because this team was downright scary on offense. Then he left after 11, and the offense suffered, but when  McDonald went down, we had effort guys out the yotz where other teams had skill players. Sound eerily familiar?

http://msn.foxsports.com/nhl/story/8994878/Kariya-to-undergo-hip-surgery

OK Sean, I'll bite. Ever since Keenan ran Curtis Joseph off (and left the Blues without a goalie coach-a situation which would haunt them for YEARS), the team philosophy was to draft backups and pick up a #1 netminder through free agency. Good goalies are a dime-a-dozen on the FA market, and if you have a good team, a good goalie will get you fairly deep into the playoffs. (Sound familiar?)

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