St. Louis Blues 2010 Regular Season Thread

[Popeye_Card]

I wasn't able to watch the game very closely last night. I see that McClement had a PP goal in the 1st--was he taking regular shifts on the PP or was it a case of being on the ice late on a PP?

[longhornbaseball]

I wasn't able to watch the game very closely last night. I see that McClement had a PP goal in the 1st--was he taking regular shifts on the PP or was it a case of being on the ice late on a PP?

It was a 5 on 3 for the Jackets that turned into a 4 on 3, then 4 on 4, and finally a 5 on 4 for the Blues.

10:27 Dave Scatchard: 2 Minutes for Hooking Anton Stralman
10:56 Ian Cole: 2 Minutes for Hooking Anton Stralman
12:06 2 Minute Bench Penalty for Too Many Men on the Ice (Served by Kyle Wilson)

McClement played well. I don't remember the exact units, but these guys were on the PP: Petro, Johnson, Cola, Steen, Berglund, Backes, Boyes, Sobotka, Winchester, and D'Agostini. So nothing different there. I think there were different line combos, though. The PP looked good, obviously.

[TheoSqua]

Cam Ward is always ridiculous when he plays the blues it seems. The dude stood on his head tonight.

This team is really really hurting without Oshie/Perron/McDonald right now. Look at the time played tonight:

Steen - 25 (!) minutes
Backes - 23 minutes
Sobotka - 21 minutes
McClement - 21 minutes
D'Agostini - 18 minutes

Steen and Backes are decent players and are fine as top 6 forwards, but they shouldn't be sniffing 20 minutes let alone 23-25.
Sobotka and D'Agostini are great depth guys that should be playing 15 minutes tops. Getting them playing 20 is painful.

I was really hoping that Patrik Burglund would step it up and show he's going to be a star in this league, but if guys like Sobotka and Steen are getting ridiculous amounts of time when Burglund is barely cracking 16 minutes of ice time then it's obviously not happening.


Also Pietrangelo has looked crazy good so far this year. He seems to have a better sense of how a play is going to unfold than most of our other Defenceman. I have no idea if he's going to be better than Erik Johnson or not, but he's definitely in the question. I'm glad the Blues have the opportunity to have both for a long time.

[longhornbaseball]

This season is unbelievable. How long until Steen breaks both his legs and Halak dies?

Pietrangelo injured, out for Detroit

Riddled with injuries, the Blues got more bad news on Tuesday morning. Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo left the ice early during the team's practice at St. Louis Mills and will not make the trip as the team travels to play Wednesday in Detroit.

Blues coach Davis Payne characterized Pietrangelo's issue as an “upper body” injury. The 20-year old Pietrangelo first suffered the problem during a 4-1 victory over Columbus last Thursday at Scottrade. After taking a hit from Columbus' Rick Nash, Pietrangelo left the ice and went to the Blues' dressing room. But he missed only one shift before returning to finish the game.

A similar scenario took place in the Blues' overtime shootout loss to Carolina on Saturday. Pietrangelo was body-checked by Jeff Skinner, left the bench momentarily but returned.

With three goals and 12 assists, Pietrangelo is the team's leading scorer on the blue line. The timing of the injury – with the next playing the high-powered Red Wings and Los Angeles Kings - could hardly be worse.

“We've had this conversation before,” said Payne, who is without three of his best offensive forwards – David Perron, Andy McDonald and T.J. Oshie – because of injuries. “(Pietrangelo) has been playing great hockey, playing quality minutes in all situations.

“But nothing is different, it's no surprise what has to happen. We have to have the power of the pack be just that.”

Pietrangelo is listed as questionable for the Blues' game against the Kings at Scottrade Center on Thursday. But Payne added, “We don't anticipate it being a long-term situation.”

Tyson Strachan, who has one assist and seven penalty minutes in 16 games, will step into Pietrangelo's spot on right defense.

[Popeye_Card]

Well that's just fantastic.

Polak is supposed to be back soon, right?

[TheoSqua]

Yeah, the way this team has had injuries I can't really criticize management or the team for whatever record they have until they get healthy. Just "hanging in there" is going to be an accomplishment.

[longhornbaseball]

Well that's just fantastic.

Polak is supposed to be back soon, right?

I think mid-January.

There's a case to be made that Pietrangelo has been our most important player not named Halak. I really hope this is temporary.

[MrCrowesGarden]

So Steen and Halak survived the longhorn curse, but EJ didn't it seems.

[longhornbaseball]

I ♥ Steen.

[st.lewis11]

What an effort tonight by the Peoria....er....St.Louis Blues. Completely undermanned against a quality team like the Kings, who were hot coming into this game.