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Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

Welcome to the Neno's Place!

Neno's Place Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality


Neno

I can be reached by phone or text 8am-7pm cst 972-768-9772 or, once joining the board I can be reached by a (PM) Private Message.

Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

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Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

Many Topics Including The Oldest Dinar Community. Copyright © 2006-2020


    St Louis Blues

    jedi17
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    Posts : 10738
    Join date : 2013-02-20
    • Post n°1

    St Louis Blues Empty St Louis Blues

    Post by jedi17 Wed 25 Jan 2017, 7:22 pm

    Bending Blues hoping not to break vs the Penguins
    January 24, 2017, 2:53 PM ET [15 Comments]
    Jason Millen
    St Louis Blues Stl St Louis Blues Blogger • RSS • Archive • CONTACT
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    For Blues fans, the all star break likely can’t come soon enough with the Blues having lost 3 in a row. Some may point to the Blues having scored 3.33 goals per game in those three games as a positive sign but that would be ignoring that half of all of the goals scored in those three games were throw away third period goals (latter half of the3rd period after the game was long already decided). The reality is that their recent play has pushed the Blues to the brink of the playoff seeds, landing them in a wild card spot in the current standings.

    Much like the Senators game last week, the Blues were in Saturday’s game against the Jets until the third period where they crumbled. The Jets stretched the lead to 5-1 with three unanswered goals in the first 11 minutes of the third period. Trying a different goalie didn’t produce a different result.

    Overall, I thought rookie Pheonix Copley showed well. He made a few highlight reel saves but you could also see a number of things in his game that still need some refinement. He had a good showing for someone with his experience in that position and something to build upon but it was clear he isn’t an immediate solution for the Blues. 

    The Blues penalty kill let them down on Saturday giving up 3 goals in 5 tries but the players themselves let the penalty kill down even more by taking careless penalties. Again the team took offensive zone and lazy stick penalties. Don’t believe me? All 5 penalties involved a players’ stick. These kind of penalties go right along with their propensity to take too many men on the ice penalties. 

    From a box score look, some Blues enjoyed a good game with Kevin Shattenkirk having 2 goals and 5 shots, Paul Stastny having a goal and an assist and Jaden Schwartz having 2 assists. Carl Gunnarsson was the only defensemen who was minus.  

    For the most part, the Jets best players performed and Ondrej Pavelec was strong in net. Dustin Byfuglien, Jacob Trouba, Marck Scheifele, Blake Wheeler, and Nikolaj Ehlers each had two points.

    Now the schedule gets even harder with the Blues facing the Penguins tonight and the Wild later this week, both on the road.

    The Penguins have won 7 in a row at home and have taken at least a point in every home game since at American Thanksgiving, going 13-0-1 in that span. They also ride a 5 game winning streak and are 7-3 in their last 10 games. They have the 3rd best point percentage, the 3rd best power play, and the highest goals scored per game. They also take the most shots per game which is a bad recipe for the Blues who have the lowest save percentage in the league (1/2 percent worse than last year’s Calgary Flames worst percentage and 2% worse when you look at road save percentages).

    The Penguins are the only team with 100 goals scored at home and have the league’s best power play at almost 30% while having the 4th best home shooting percentage. 

    Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are 2nd and 3rd in total points though they both have a higher point per game average than Connor McDavid, the NHL’s point leader. Crosby leads the league in goals while Malkin is tied for 4th. 

    Justin Schultz is having a phenomenal year, especially given Kris Letang has missed 1/3 of the season. Schultz is 4th in scoring among defensemen with 33 points. He is averaging 0.72 points per game, just behind Letang’s 0.77. Former Blue Ian Cole is also doing well, putting up 16 points and a +19 while logging over 19 minutes a game.

    Carter Hutton will make it back into the net with Copley backing him up. Hutton has only given up one goal to the Penguins, stopping 97.6% of the shots faced. Robby Fabbri has two points in two games versus the Penguins while Paul Stastny and Alexander Steen have combined for 27 points in 31 games.

    The Blues have done well lately in Pittsburgh going 3-0-1 in their last 4 games. Blues fans hope this trend continues tonight.

    As to the lines, they seem in flux but are expected to start like this:
    Fabbri – Stastny – Steen
    Schwartz – Lehtera - Tarasenko 
    Yakupov – Berglund – Perron
    Upshall – Brodziak – Reaves
    Bouwmeester –Pietrangelo 
    Edmundson – Shattenkirk 
    Bortuzzo - Parayko
    Hutton
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