Blues playoff thread

[Pokecheque]

Ugh.

Good friend of mine is a die-hard Blues fan. He's losing his shit over this.

I have no love for STL, but FUCKING HELL I hate Minnesota.

Despite the fact that the Wylde are no pushovers, the Blues are hardly looking like a powerhouse right now. What does this team need to do to get it right?

[RW]

Ugh.

Good friend of mine is a die-hard Blues fan. He's losing his shit over this.

I have no love for STL, but FUCKING HELL I hate Minnesota.

Despite the fact that the Wylde are no pushovers, the Blues are hardly looking like a powerhouse right now. What does this team need to do to get it right?

Scotty Bowman

[E.L.]

Even though Minny has been one of the hottest teams in hockey since adding Dubz, I'd still say if St Loo loses it will qualify as a choke job.

How many years have we been waiting for the Blooz to take the next step? They keep adding pieces too. Tarasenko has become to elite scorer they've always needed. And still, not enough to get by.

[Pokecheque]

I just don't get it. They have a good coach (perhaps a bit too old-school for his own good, but he's still good), talent and depth to spare at all positions, a solid farm system, and they seem to be that one team that straddles the line between the old-school grit-lovers and the possession-savvy crowd.

Apart from an elite goaltender, I don't understand what's wrong.

Sure hope they don't panic like they did back in 2000 and blow the whole thing up like Pleau did.

[scratchham]

Well, it's Game 3 right now, so far from over. Let's see this play out a bit more before we jump to conclusions.

The Blues have always been ousted by teams that were just better in the past (mainly Chicago, LA), they aren't much for losing to a lower ranked team.

[Bosc]

I just don't get it. They have a good coach (perhaps a bit too old-school for his own good, but he's still good), talent and depth to spare at all positions, a solid farm system, and they seem to be that one team that straddles the line between the old-school grit-lovers and the possession-savvy crowd.

Sounds a whole lot like the story of San Jose since what, 2003-2004?

[Logical Progression]

Well that was a total blow out. Huge road win for the Blues to even the series at 2-2, now with momentum and home ice back.

Dubnyk was relieved by Darcy Kuemper after allowing six goals on 17 shots, apparently the most he has allowed since December, when he gave up six to the Dallas Stars as a member of the Yotes.

Hmmmm.

[Chris18]

Well that was a total blow out. Huge road win for the Blues to even the series at 2-2, now with momentum and home ice back.

Dubnyk was relieved by Darcy Kuemper after allowing six goals on 17 shots, apparently the most he has allowed since December, when he gave up six to the Dallas Stars as a member of the Yotes.

Hmmmm.

Parise said afterward they may have been overconfident. You'd think you could recoup some effort after being down by 3 or 4.

[scratchham]

You want to know how little faith Yeo has in Kuemper/anyone 'not Dubnyk' from the way this season played out? It took fucking SIX GOALS ON NINETEEN SHOTS to pull Devan.

[Bosc]

You want to know how little faith Yeo has in Kuemper/anyone 'not Dubnyk' from the way this season played out? It took fucking SIX GOALS ON NINETEEN SHOTS to pull Devan.

Not to mention how many games he played since they acquired him. Sink or swim.

[Logical Progression]

You want to know how little faith Yeo has in Kuemper/anyone 'not Dubnyk' from the way this season played out? It took fucking SIX GOALS ON NINETEEN SHOTS to pull Devan.

Not to mention how many games he played since they acquired him. Sink or swim.

It was actually 17 shots but who's counting........

[Pokecheque]

O Yeo of little faith.

...

[Pokecheque]

Ruh-roh...

[E.L.]

Brutal. Why can't these guys get it done in the playoffs?

[Bosc]

Wow.

[Captain Chaos]

So now that my beloved Canucks are out I need a new team to jump on the Bandwagon for.

I'm thinking the Wild for the West - I grew up near Minnesota so there's that... It's practically Canada. I can't root for the Flames - that would be just nasty and besides they won't make it past the Ducks.

In the East - well I guess whoever advances out of the Sens/Habs series...

Go! Whoever Go!

I intend to be highly partisan...

[Pokecheque]

FUCK THE WYLDE.

They're pretty much the only team in the NHL I truly dislike.

[Captain Chaos]

FUCK THE WYLDE.

They're pretty much the only team in the NHL I truly dislike.

Lol! Haters gonna hate! Nobel warriors for the cup!

[RW]

FUCK THE WYLDE.

They're pretty much the only team in the NHL I truly dislike.

Just curious, why?

[Pokecheque]

Just curious, why?

Well, I certainly didn't like them in their expansion-era days when they trapped and outworked the Avs so many times, but it all culminated in that first round playoff series that saw Andrew Brunette slowly (and I mean SLOWLY) walk his way around a bunch of Avs players and end Patrick Roy's career. I don't think I'm ever gonna completely get over that. Avs blew a 3-1 series lead to add insult to insult, and what's more, I knew it was gonna happen.

Later on, during the Lou-inspired "let's play division rivals 15 times every season" era of the NHL, I had to sit through the painful, dreadful slog that was known as an Avs/Wylde game. This was when Todd Richards was the guy in charge and he had absolute crap to work with, so he went out of his way to produce the most boring brand of hockey the NHL has ever seen. No forechecking, no nothing. Dump-and-chase-and-pray. Sometimes it worked for them. Unfortunately the Avs were in their implosion/rebuild era so they didn't have the skill to make a game of it. I truly, truly hated having to watch those games, and thanks to the NHL I had more than usual to watch.

Nowadays I just don't like them. I don't like their jumped-ship-on-Nashville-and-got-a-shady-back-door-loan-from-other-owners owner, I don't like their GM, I'm not a big fan of their coach, and I really, REALLY don't like a lot of the players on that team (Cooke's knee-on-knee on Tyson Barrie was merely the icing on the cake), especially now that they're good. Niederreiter, Clutterbuck before him, Cooke , and FUCKS SAKE this team keeps that gutless fucking puke Stephane Veilleux employed, the one guy in professional hockey uglier and less skilled than Cody McLeod.

And while I am not generally one to judge an entire fanbase based on just a handful of idiots (plenty I don't like amongst the Avs) the ones I've encountered have just soured me on that organization and team even more.

And lastly, they managed to completely ruin a perfectly good uniform. I'm enough of a hockey whore to bring myself to root for just about any franchise, even the Canucks...even the DEVILS if I'm drunk enough, but nope, not those fuckwads. Any team but them will do. Any.

I may change my tune down the road someday. Hell, I never thought in a million years during the Matvichuk/Modano/Hatcher/Hitchcock years that I'd ever find myself actually LIKING a Dallas Stars team. But it's likely gonna be a while.