I'm only in this job for another couple of days, so what are they going to do, fire me for straying from the kiddie pool?

1) Just a quick note on last night's Kings goaltender (pun not intentional): Does this guy channel Roman Turek when he plays against the Blues or what? First time we see him this year, he's coming off a 50-shot shutout of the Dead Things, he has this incredible .950 save percentage in his last five games, and he gives up two Turek-esque (much worse than Mason-esque) soft goals. Last night, the Johnson shot. He was in perfect position and square to the shooter. How in the fuck does that puck go through him? I mean, it's nice to win the game and all that, especially when somebody note wearing the note loses it for his team by letting in a soft goal, but seriously...

2) Brad Boyes is cursed. I used to think he was snakebit. The guy could not get the puck to settle, or the goaltender would make a desperation lunge save, or he'd hit the post (mind you, this was only when he was in the near vicinity of the net and not rocketing shots high off the far glass), or his stick would break. With that in mind, he needs to do something to break this curse. So today's poll question is:

I loved my old job. unmonitored, fast internet and a private office. Now everything I do that uses the company's bandwidth is monitored, so all i can do when I'm bored is to wade into the kiddie pool, and it makes me feel dirty. The worst part is I can't tell if the posters are being funny (or trying). Like the guy who insists on posting how bad a coach Davis Payne is. Constantly. Any time the Blues lose, this guy puts in how bad a coach he is. Berglund's not on the first line? It's because Payne's an idiot, not because the first line is incredibly productive right now.

I'm so glad you folks are here. No stupidity allowed (except when Dead Things fans come over to cry.)

Every time I go to a Blues game, and I see #20 in stripes, I know one thing: at some point in the game, he is going to call a penalty on the Blues that will leave everybody in the DrinkScotch going, "WHAAAAAAAT?" (use Tim Allen voice for maximum effect). The St. Louis resident will make a call like that so that he can prove to the league office that he is not a homer.

Tonight, it was an elbowing call from 150 feet away--but he was even in a position to see that Steen did not lead with his elbow (unlike several Stars hits.) It's also very easy to play shutdown defense when you grab the stick of the offensive player when they go into the corner and you know that he's not going to call anything for fear of being called "a homer." Play the puck with eight guys on the ice? No problem. It's only an "illegal change", no penalty necessary. St. Louis Tim won't let the linesmen call too many men on the ice; after all it might affect the game in the Blues' favor and he might be labeled "a homer."

It wouldn't be such a big deal, except that he does it every time he's assigned to a Blues game. Yo, league office? Oh, wait, you'd probably assign Brian Pochmarra to Blues' games in his place. Never mind.

The Blues aren't playing mean. They aren't playing smart. And they do this at home, which is the one place where it should be easier to do both. I'm not on the "Fire Murray" bandwagon; I mean,he was a finalist for the Jack Adams award LAST YEAR. With virtually the same roster. But we're not playing like we did the second half of last year. Did the Canucks somehow manage to expose how to beat the Blues? I don't think so. The Blues gave them no quarter in the series; Luongo was the biggest difference. So how does the organization fix what's going on here? I think, unfortunately, the answer is to fire Andy Murray, and the main reason is that the old saying is true: it's easier to fire one person than it is to fire 20. The other is that if you were going to make a trade, who *could* you trade from this major league roster and reasonably expect a team-revitalizing difference maker in return? It's a short list: Perron, Oshie, Johnson, Berglund, Backes, Polak, McClement. Prospects aren't going to cut it; teams with bare cupboadrs have already begun to stock them through the draft, and they want players who can help NOW. Which is what we are looking for, too. Trading a disappointing underachiever for a disappointing underachiever is treading water for the franchise.

(Yes, I left Orange Jello off the list - he's not NHL-ready yet. Not because he doesn't have the skills, but he's not big enough to survive the pounding every night, especially on a team with physically challenged defensemen. Unfortunately, there's nothing left for him to learn in juniors.)

I also have a list of things that aren't his fault:

Opposing players stand around our net and in our crease without getting moved out or tied up.

Our forwards regularly get too close to the net to get those juicy rebounds.

Brad Boyes consistently makes bad shoot/pass decisions on the ice.

Players don't realize that they need to make themselves available for the pass when Perron goes into the corners/behind the net.

Erik Johnson thinks the only way to get out of the zone to is to skate/stick handle, or try the homerun pass.

Barret Jackman thinks he's Erik Johnson, and tries the same things.

Brad Winchester is invisible this year.

Paul Kariya is tiny and soft.

Andy McDonald is tiny and tough.

Cam Janssen can't be on the ice without being a defensive and offensive liability.

Keith Tkachuk is  willing, but old.

That the defense corps is undersized except for Polak and EJ - who is making second year defensemen mistakes.

We can't put the puck on net without any regularity.

Murray is not responsible for any of that. But this team is not performing to the level anybody expected, including him. Have the players tuned him out? I don't think so. I know what it looks like when a team quits on the coach (Keenan) and this isn't it. If you're ownership, what do YOU do?

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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