Farg.

And that was only the title of the post because I thought that the other word, since I'm blogging at work and I work at a public school (FINALS WEEK!  WhOOT!), would be inappropriate.

Yep - Blues continue their 5 game losing streak against Ovy and the Caps, losing 4-2.  Props to Backes for trying to kill Semin.  Good lord, did they adopt the Thrashers MO?  "If you can't win, hurt the other team's good players?"  Please don't do that against the Caps, guys.  They're one of a few teams that I enjoy watching.

Perhaps instead of trying to hurt people we should look at who's hurt, and learn a thing or two from the Caps.  They iced their AHL team too for a while, and they managed consistant and good hockey.  We have to ice our AHL team now, and we're falling apart.  Some might look at that as an excuse for our current streak of horribleness.  It is a factor, but there are many other ones - our inability to play 5 on 5, our weird goalie situation (read: guys who should be able to play but won't... if I buy Manny a puppy will he do better when he comes back?)... there are a lot of factors that the Blues need to look at.

Glancing at the injury list (I caught it on St. Louis Game Time as part of their new layout - snazzy), we're missing a lot of notable players who, if they were actually able to play, would probably boost us up to at least 3rd in the Division. Oshie, Manny, Kariya, Brewer, McDonald, Johnson, McKee, and King.  All gone.  It makes me wonder why God hates the Blues.  Come on... Keenan wasn't with us for that long, was he?

Speaking of loathing, there's a lot of self loathing going on with the Thrash.  6-3 loss last night (like we expected to win - there was a 4:1 ratio of Pens fans to Thrashers fans), and it wasn't even pretty.  We don't need to start Pavs against the top teams until he is a legit #1 goaltender.  Hedberg came in and shut them out for his part (the 6th goal was an EN), but Pavs allowed 5 goals on 13 shots. 

Offense wasn't a problem - we outshot them by a good number - but picking up rebounds and taking control of scoring chances IS an issue.  Also an issue - dealing with cheap shots.  I like Crosby.  I do.  But shots to the gut on Boris when he already had people hanging off of him?  Come on.  On the upshot, Crosby got a penalty and Boris needed 3 people to take him down, and he was still swinging.  Please let that man stay on the team.

Malkin got a hat trick, and that was cool - I clapped, because it was noteworthy and it gave me a chance to actually stand up.  A Pens fan complimented me on how nice Atlanta fans were (why not?  What right do we have to be douches?).  Army's trying to prove why we gave away Hossa and Dupuis for him and that other dude.   Moose played well, but I'm assuming he's not appreciating the losses that Pavs keeps giving him as an early Xmas gift.

Saturday's Tampa.  If we don't win, I swear I'll join in the "Fire Waddell" chants that were going on last night.  Even if it does get security called on me.