St. Louis Blues Thoughts Of Common Fan: It Ain’t Over

The St. Louis Blues are prepping for Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final. There are far too many people outside the area that are foolish enough to think this series is over.

The St. Louis Blues are just a few hours from taking on the Boston Bruins for the fourth time this series. The intensity of this matchup hit a fevered pitch almost from the word go.

Despite a relatively evenly matched five-on-five battle between the finalists, there is a perception that St. Louis is overmatched. Little could be farther from the truth.

People will have their opinions though. National media would rather die than give a midwestern team not named Chicago any credit.

However, there seems to be a general overreaction to much of what has happened this playoff run. So, nothing written now should surprise any of us. It is hard to accept when there is little credit given.

We have been here before. Just a series ago, the Blues were down and just needed one good game.

But, the Blues will need to clean up a few things. Despite outshooting Boston in Game 3, they really did not generate enough offense. Pucks need to get on net.

The Blues have to clean up the penalties one way or the other. We can argue about the validity of the calls, but the Blues are putting themselves in positions where the officials can make a decision and it has not favored St. Louis.

Lastly, the Blues just need to take care of the puck. They might not be credited with statistical giveaways, but they have been far too reckless with the puck and turning it over.

Guess We Should All Just Go Home

That’s it Blues fans. Cancel the watch parties. Give up your tickets. Just stay home.

Boston has already won. Except they haven’t.

Last I checked, a series is best out of seven and the Bruins only have two wins. However, after each Boston win, there have been outcries that the series is over. So far, the Blues responded and will have to do it again in Game 4.

The frustrating part of this is that it feeds into our inferiority complex. All of us in the midwest are happy living here, but get tired of being looked down upon simply based on where we live, as though life is so much better in these grand metropolises. Try making your same east coast salary here and see how much longer that money will last you.

Regardless of that, everywhere you turn there is another person giving up on the Blues. It’s all just buzzword nonsense that people out east do not realize were the exact things said about the Blues until this point.

Suddenly Boston is this deep team. “I think it’s tough to play against,” Marcus Johansson said as reported by Boston.com. “It wears them down. We don’t take any breaks, we have four lines that can produce and four lines that have stepped up in big moments. We got six (defensemen) that all make plays and it makes it tough throughout a whole series.”

Give me a break. The Blues roll out four lines too, all capable of scoring, when the NHL is not foolishly suspending their players.

That exact statement, almost word for word, has been made by people inside and outside of the Blues locker room. Let us not fool ourselves into thinking the Blues are being worn down.

Even the writer of the article made the comment the Blues frustrations led them to take costly penalties. What game was I watching? The Blues were undisciplined, but the refs called some softies too. I did not see a Blues team that looked worn down other than having to kill so many penalties. There is a difference between fatigue and being out of rhythm because your game has no flow and the Blues fall into the latter category.

That’s fine. Keep thinking they are tired and they will punch you in the mouth.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but when these two teams are evenly matched and Boston’s only advantage has been the power play, it gets annoying to be treated like the Blues are just lucky to be here. St. Louis went through the much tougher path, but let’s just forget about that apparently because the Blues are done. We should all just accept it apparently.

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Blues Make Big Lineup Tweaks

Craig Berube has been quite good at knowing when to stick with what got him here and when to make changes to his roster. While I have no major problems with the changes he is making, I still hope he knows what he is doing.

Berube has made the most lineup changes for Game 4 since the regular season. The second, third forward lines and bottom defensive pair all have new looks while the fourth line returns to what we saw for most of the playoffs.

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While I was wrong about who would play on what line, I sort of called Zach Sanford being left in the lineup. My guess was he would stay on the fourth line since he played quite well in that slot. Instead, he is getting pushed up to the second line.

That trio worked quite well in the regular season when the Blues started their turnaround. Hopefully they can find their magic again, because there is no time for feeling each other out.

The only one I am confused about is dropping Robert Bortuzzo from the lineup. While I admit to not purposely watching him with intensity, I do not remember any big mistakes from Bortz. If we are rewarding good play and punishing bad, you would think Joel Edmundson would get the hook. Not so for Berube.

Nevertheless, it is good to get Vince Dunn back. Carl Gunnarsson can protect him defensively and Dunn gives St. Louis another option for their paltry power play.

New Practice Rink Gets Named

We have known for quite awhile now that the Blues would be getting a new practice facility in Maryland Heights. Now, we know what it will be called.

The new arena and practice rinks will all be housed in a complex called the Centene Community Ice Center. Centene, a local healthcare company, will own the naming rights for at least the next 10 years.

Overall, the naming thing is not that important to the public at large. It just puts more dollars into the facility and those that run it.

Still, it is good to have more places for people to play and practice and learn the game of hockey. Combine that with the new facility going in out west of Chesterfield, that will be home to Maryville University’s hockey team, and the grassroots of the sport is going strong in the STL.

If nothing else, at least the Blues can stop practicing in a mall (no offense to the people that run the rink at the Mills).

Hradek Makes Sense

An interesting viewpoint brought up by EJ Hradek on NHL network and reported by the Post-Dispatch is that the early power play for the Blues in Game 3 was the worst thing that could happen.

“One of the worst things that can happen to a team coming back home is to get a power play in the first minute,” said Hradek in Dan Caesar’s piece. “What happens is, you almost have to score on it. Because if you don’t what happens is — the building has this expectation, power play, great early goal — things settle down and the visiting team now is on almost even keel emotionally with the home team.”

“Especially with the Blues, they’re a four-line team,” Hradek continued. “It’s great to get a power play, don’t get me wrong, but I think Craig would like to early in the game get his four lines going and get that crowd going, establish that forecheck and get into his game. Instead, in minute one, you’re on the power play and you’re in kind of a crucial situation that if you don’t score the other team is going to gain some momentum.”

There will be plenty out there that say getting a power play should never be a bad thing and, all things equal, they would be right. All things are not equal though.

St. Louis’ power play has been mediocre to terrible throughout the playoffs. The fact they have made the final is a testament to how good they have been in all other facets of the game.

The Blues are a team that needs flow. When that is taken away by killing penalties or, in this case, having to alter your lines to put out a power play unit, they suffer. The longer the game is five-on-five, the more it favors the Blues.

Clearly you want officials to take care of business for both sides equally. A game with only two or three penalties overall would be best for the Blues though.

Overview

Win or lose tonight, I do not believe this will be the last home game of the season. The Blues are too good for that, no matter what people in Boston want to think.

St. Louis is not Carolina. They are not going to get steamrolled, nor was Game 3 any larger indicator of how things will end other than it was one, isolated, butt-whooping.

I fully expect the Blues to be on their toes and in their zone. They have all the pomp and circumstance of the first finals game in St. Louis for 49 years out of the way. Now, to the business of hockey.

The only worrying thing is that you can play a great game and still lose. The margin for error is so thin, if it exists at all. That is why Game 3’s loss is so big.

Nevertheless, people forget that Boston made its hay on the power play. The game is only 3-2 if you take all Bruins special teams goals out of it. Clearly that is not realistic, but it shows that it is much closer if St. Louis can keep out of the sin bin.

If they stay smart, the Blues will win. Then, the series can begin in earnest.