Questionable decisions cost both the Blues and the Thrashers

Remember how I mentioned before that the Blues could make up ground on Calgary and Detroit? Scratch that - there game tonight did not go as planned. A 4-2 loss in Minnesota threw a wrench into their plans for now. After a five day break, the Blues' schedule picks up from here on out, and back to back days with back to back starts or Chris Mason probably didn't do them any favors. Mason let in 3 first period goals, which opened the way for Ty Conklin to come in for relief. I know that the Blues aren't used to having a serviceable backup, but Conklin is that - he's probably of the same caliber of goaltender as Mason, except Mason gets more starts. Today would have been fine to start Conks. Bad call.

Atlanta, God, where to begin. Completely outshot Phoenix and managed to nail five posts and crossbars. Really good effort by the team, who looked like they were on a mission. Pavelec had a solid outing as well, turning aside 32 of 34 shots during regulation. Unfortunately, the shootout is not where Pavs succeeds, and that is where we lost a point. The issue here comes at the shootout takers: Antropov, Peverley, and MacArthur. The first two, totally understandable. MacArthur? He's not a proven quantity in shootouts and isn't really an offensive powerhouse to begin with. Little, Bergfors, Afinogenov... much better choices. I'm not saying that they were 100% bankable, because no one ever is in a shootout, but when you're looking at the 3rd shooter and you absolutely have to score to win, you might want to put someone who is a little stronger at scoring in the shootout.

No one, of course, asked Anderson about this at the press conference (we weren't there to ask questions, unfortunately, because God knows we all had them). Anderson stressed how much he liked the effort of the team, and frankly, the effort's been there recently. It's been the little things that've been throwing the Thrashers off, and a lot of these decisions go back to people who are higher up.

I think Timmy of Birdwatchers Anonymous said it best - he felt like he had to go kill a puppy to make up for how depressing Anderson is in the press conferences. I really wonder if he carries that over to the team. To borrow a phrase from Chasing Amy, he is one morose mother you know whater.

Over at the Thrashers game...

Fraser's in, so there's strike one against us. Schneider's playing for PHX, so there's strike two thanks to karma, and LaBarbera's in goal for the 'Yotes, so there's strike three - we make backups look like Patrick Roy.

Scratches are Bogosian (hand), Arty, and Slava - still thinking that White has blackmail material on John Anderson. And I am not sure who Boulton's going to throw down with. So, yes, let's scratch someone with good mobility and some sort of size. Please.

On the Blues side of thing, it's an early start (6 Eastern), but Janssen's off suspension, and Big Wallet is back. Absolutely have to take advantage of the idle Calgary and Detroit today. Big question is, can we do it? The stars are aligned (and, as of this typing, losing to Colorado) for a push. Hopefully St. Louis can manage it again.

Another Thrashers Bloggers' Day

Anyone have any questions for Niclas Bergfors or (maybe) John Anderson? Shoot me a line and I'll see what I can do for you. Always appreciated that the organization does it for us, even if we've only actually won one game on these days. Shocked that they want to continue the jinx during a 5 game slide that doesn't look to be getting any better - Bogosian took a puck off of his hand and will probably be out today, which'll lead to the exciting combo probably of Popovic/Chelios. Let's see how many goals are allowed when that pairing's on the ice! Let's make this fun. The person to correctly guess how many gets, um...

Probably gets to cry in their beer. I'll have updates later on from the game.

Blues can win when it counts.

Who's the team not on a five game losing streak at the worst time of the year? Aww, yeah. The Blues. There are days that I'm glad that my loyalties are split (unevenly, of course) between two teams. Today is one of those. The Blues completely manhandled the Columbus Blue Jackets for two points where it really counted, winning in Columbus tonight 5-1.

Be aggressive? B-e aggressive? Yes, yes we can be. Davis Payne told us to go out there after a first period where no one scored, and play rougher around the edges. Pick it up. I am fairly sure that three second period goals is not what he expected. And exactly what he wanted. McDonald, Backes, Perron, Steen (goal number NINETEEN), and Crombeen lit the lamp, and McDonald added a couple assists to make sure things were working out our way. Honestly, yes, Detroit won tonight to stick in our craw and maintain 8th place.

But we're winning when we need to, and we don't have be constantly reminded our playoff spot isn't a gimmie. The Blues realize this. We're not stupid. Which puts StL at an advantage. There's not this absurd pressure. Yes, we were expected to make the post-season. Everyone predicted it, myself included - on venues with more visibility than my invisible website. We stumbled out of the gate and maintained that stumbling until Murray was relieved of his duties and Davis Payne, a friend of Dan Bylsma and a dead ringer for him, was plunked down in place. Now, since the expectation of playoffs has been lifted, we seem more determined than ever to make that cut, and we stand a very good chance of doing so. Calgary and Detroit won't be easy to leapfrog, but they have to play up to their expectations. They have that pressure hanging over them. St. Louis? Not at all. We can continue to quietly go about our business, winning games, and not have a soul notice. At least until it's too late.

This blog is not intended to be coach bashing central.

Stop trying to turn us into the Leafs circa, well, now.

I know that in the months leading up to Andy Murray's eventual dismissal from the coaching position in St. Louis that I was critical of him - critical of the random line changes before, during, and after the games, and critical of the doghouse technique. I felt that he was over-intimidating the team into wins, which is why it wasn't getting any. It's very hard to win a hockey game when you're paranoid. It's even harder to win when your paranoia's founded - tell that to Patrik Berglund, formerly of Andy Murray's doghouse and currently of the six game point streak.

Murray was relieved of his coaching duties, and the Blues have picked up play under consistent lines, and not having to worry about who the consistent scapegoat du jour is.

The Thrashers could probably benefit from the same technique, but for a different reason. Where Murray was OCD, intimidating, and mildly scary as hell, Anderson's quiet, cuddly, and has an amazing ability to not call any player out. No, I don't like calling them out in the press constantly and obviously. Anderson, however, cannot just say "so and so had a bad game." Look at the excuses he was making for Pops after the Nashville game. Pops screwed up, and it was a "bad bounce." Needless to say, tonight's game was full of bad bounces by the fragile Thrashers, to use a few of Anderson's buzzwords.

Stop it. Just stop. The more you talk like that, the more they believe you. This team isn't fragile. You are. We actually have a very solid, playoff capable team on paper for the most part. We're not going to win the Cup, but the Thrashers could make the cut if the team stopped getting fed the emo whatever it is that they hear in the locker room, and that the press gets during the postgame press conferences.

You hear something enough, you buy into it. Perron and Berglund heard how horrible they were enough from Murray, and they started to play like it. The Blues got their butts busted every practice, and they played like they were skating on eggshells until it was safe to come out to play. The flip side is true in Atlanta. The Thrashers keep hearing over and over and over that they're fragile and victims. How are they not supposed to get that mentality?

This is frustrating for the fans, and it's easy to point to the screw ups on the ice as the reason - but tonight wasn't a night of screw ups entirely. There's an attitude that's leading to these problems, and if that isn't fixed in, oh, 10 minutes, we're even more done than we were before.

Just leave that marshmallow in the fire, Coach. It's not crispy enough.

Blues pull out a win in the shootout.

Taking a 2-1 decision from the Isles with goals by Oshie and Boyes in the shootout, and a regulation goal by Patrik Berglund, the Blues are now five games over .500 and 7-3-0 in their last 10. This leapfrogs them over Dallas and puts them into the 10th spot, but they're still 4 behind 8th place Detroit (as of this typing).

The Blues are getting what they were missing at the beginning of the year - increased production from those players that everyone expected strong things from. Oshie, Backes, Berglund (on a 6 game point streak), and Johnson are ratcheting up their quality of play, and as the season is getting closer to the wire, Chris Mason's save percentage keeps going up, and his GAA keeps inching down. He seems to thrive in the high pressure hotseat. As the beard gets longer toward the end of the season, the Blues apparently pile up the wins.

There is the question of where the Blues would be if either a coaching change had been made about a month and a half earlier, or if they hadn't tuned out Andy Murray to begin with. It's frustrating to look at the first half of the season and see such mediocre play from people who were wedged into a doghouse. Berglund is having a mini-renaissance and is stepping up to the point production level that he maintained all of last season, presumably because he is not playing scared.

Frankly, the best surprise for me is Brad Boyes' +/-. He's a +3 so far this season, which is amazing since he was a -20 last year. That's the biggest turn-around for a player with a simultaneous goal output slide I've ever seen. People harp on him for not being able to find the net, myself included. But if him becoming more responsible prevents more goals than he would have scored, then doesn't it even out?

It's going to be rough - the Blues have to go 12-5-0 to have higher than a 50% chance to make the playoffs. If they were in the Eastern Conference, they'd be golden. How frustrating, and even more so knowing this ability was present all season long, but just not utilized.

I'm not being negative here, but...

28-28-10, 6 points back with 16 games left. Yeah, that March to the Playoffs? The one with the super favorable schedule?


This needs to be stuck in it.

More in-depth coverage after the Blues game/I'm not dead tired. Or, heck, maybe I'll focus all of my energy writing a positive post - I hope - about StL. Hold please.

Thrashers line-up for tonight's out.

Interesting stuff. Kozlov and Boulton are in at the expense of Reasoner and Art. If Boll plays tonight, having Boults in the line-up is a solid call. Koz, well, I'm thrilled he's back. I would like explanation on the two players Anderson's chosen to sit. If it's due to being banged up, I understand. Sitting Reasoner over White though is just absurd. Reasoner you notice. He is out there absolutely killing himself on the ice night in and out. White, not so much - you only notice his missed opportunities.

Arty being sat is also interesting. "Hey, kid. Welcome to Atlanta! You've played reasonably well for four games, so why don't you enjoy the buffet. I hear they have a nice pressbox spread in Columbus."

On the flip side, I adore the defensive pairings. Oduya/Cheli; Kubina/Hainsey; Enstrom/Bogosian. The two pairings who played the best together at the start of the season are back together, and frankly I don't see any I consider more "top line" than "bottom line." How we can't win with a line up like that is beyond me.

Oh, wait. You score goals. Hm. Hopefully we can pot a few to support Moose tonight. He was excellent against Nashville and really deserved a W.

Thrashers Call Up Chris Chelios

In a move that might be more "aw, give the old guy a shot!" than "hey, we need to win a game here," the Atlanta Thrashers have called up Chris Chelios from the Chicago Wolves (link to come). I was more in favor of Kulda than Cheli, frankly, seeing as how well Kulda and Bogosian play together, but I do take this as an upgrade over Pops, who is now in my doghouse temporarily (soon to be re-replaced by Todd White, I'm sure).

EDIT: Aaaand here's the written proof. They had to write it in Aramaic so Cheli could understand. Hey-OH!

Oh, and check out the end of that article - Koz's playing against the Blue Jackets. Looks like someone read my blog post. I'm sure.

Coach Anderson, one other thing...

The Thrashers need some accountabillibuddies. Start with the coach.

I'm pretty sure that you're a good coach. But just STOP with the excuses and the whining. I'm starting to think that you're the reason this team's so "fragile." They're picking that vibe up from you.

Quite frankly, I don't know the rule anymore," Anderson said. "How many goals like that have we seen go against us? I don't understand what the ruling was. Was it goaltender interference? Why don't we have a penalty call?

"It was a game-changing call. I didn't like it."

What?? You don't know the RULE? If a player impedes the goaltender's ability to play the puck, and the puck goes in the net, it's goaltender interference. That's why there wasn't any call to Toronto. It's like the intent to blow rule. Same basic thing. The ref felt that Thorburn interfered. Did he? I didn't see it, but I was in my seat a few rows back behind the net, and the ref was right behind the goal with a clear line of sight.

Oh, and Pops' turn over? What of that?

"It was just a bad bounce," the coach said. "A little bump in the ice and he missed the puck and it ends up in the net."

No, it was a turnover that led to the GAME WINNING GOAL. I don't like calling players out by name to the press, but don't make excuses for them either. He screwed up, and he better be held accountable for that. But chances are pretty good that he won't be... because accountability makes the team more fragile.

The only player getting called out on a nightly basis is Slava Kozlov, and that's because of a personal dispute with Anderson that has absolutely nothing to do with what's going on on the ice anymore. It has everything to do with a news article quoting Kozlov as speaking out critically at Anderson and the Kovalchuk situation.

White has no speed. He can't replace Evander Kane for the next three to five weeks. At least Kozlov can pick it up and move faster than a mobster in cement shoes once in a while. Put the petty BS aside and do something that might benefit the team. And next time we lose? No excuses - for any on that team or yourself. There are quite a few fans who are getting tired of it.