This is a big game for Calgary - not so much (I think) for the other guys.
I don't think I need to spend much time re-iterating all those things we need to watch. The Evil Twins. Defensive zone coverage. Killer instinct. Ad nauseam...
What's interesting to me is the story coming out of St. Louis right now. Any franchise that invites all guests under the age of sixteen to come in for free (as reported by the Herald this morning) and has days where they give away food for free is clearly not in good health.
At the same time, they made some shrewd trades over the deadline, and since Andy Murray was hired as head coach, have really begun to turn things around on the ice. They're still a puzzling team, with a lot of young guys. The goaltending has been hampered by injury issues all season long, and with the departure of Pronger, Guerin, Weight, and Tkachuk over the last couple of years, there really aren't any names you'd really recognize anymore.
For all intents and purposes, playoff spots in the West have already been locked up, so St. Louis has really nothing to play for besides pride, and perhaps the guys are already battling for spots on the roster. That said, their record has improved markedly over the last little while, and they will have momentum to build on next year, provided they can convince locals to come on out to the games.
I'm hoping our guys are hungrier. We got the worst deal the other night as Vancouver and Minnesota squeezed an extra point out between them, so we need to continue winning on the road. We beat Edmonton once going into Saturday and came out with two road wins against them - we have one road win in St. Louis so far this year. Let's make it two.
I want them to make a statement, preferably one that tells me just how far they'll go this year. 5-2 for the good guys.
TRAGEDY: Johnny Gaudreau, Brother Killed in Biking Accident
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The NHL and the Columbus Blue Jackets confirmed the tragic news early
Friday morning. Former Calgary Flames star Johnny Gaudreau and his brother
Matthew ...
2 months ago
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and with the departure of Pronger, Guerin, Weight, and Tkachuk over the last couple of years, there really aren't any names you'd really recognize anymore.
ReplyDeleteto me, this is a moot point. if you live in st. louis & you're lookin' at calgary, are you gonna presume huselius, lombardi and moss are chumps because you've never heard of 'em ? backes has SIX GOALS and stempniak NINE POINTS in the past 8 games. if anything, i think your point proves only that these guys have the surprise factor....
No, but still...you're going to have heard of Iginla, Kiprusoff, and possibly Phaneuf and Regehr, yes?
ReplyDeleteAll I'm getting at is that there's a lot of relatively unknown guys wearing Blues colours right now. It's pretty much a classic rebuilding phase. Time will tell whether they become better known.
...there really aren't any names you'd really recognize anymore.
ReplyDeleteMaybe, but what's with all the similar names. At one point they had Backman, Jackman and Wideman on the D at the same time. Now they have Backman and Backes.
And, c'mon, who hasn't heard of Ville?