Postview: Pekka Rinne is Finnish for "Fuck Your Offense" Predators 3, Blues 1

First of all I'm sorry for not being able to get a preview out before the game.  Shit happens.

As for the game tonight, the Blues played the first 40+ minutes like we just had a game last night.  The Preds, to their credit, came out ready to play.  It took awhile to get their offense going, though they scored on their first shot, a power play goal through the five hole by Erat that frankly Jaro should have had.  After that though, Halak looked pretty good.  The second goal I'd put more on Petro falling asleep (though Jaro was a little over committed) and the third was an empty netter.  Between the latter two, the Preds had the majority of the great chances all night.  They gave up quite a few shots - we had 42 tonight - but most of them weren't great chances, and very few were on second chances.  Throughout all of Pekka Rinne's domination of us all year (and before), he's always given up some pretty juicy rebounds waiting to be pounced on.  Unfortunately, the clamp-down style of the Preds defense really limits those garbage goal opportunities - multiple times tonight Rinne gave the Blues a pretty good rebound chance, only to see the mustard-stained yellow shirts outnumber the white ones as many as 4:1.  That's not a great recipe for success, especially against a goalie as dominant as him.  I'm convinced you could double the size of the net and he'd still give up less than 3 goals a game - and probably shutout the Blues.  He made two Hasek-esque saves on Kris Russell in the same sequence late in the 3rd, and against any other goalie in the league - including Thomas or Lundqvist - either one go in to tie the game.

Now that I'm done fellating Pekka Rinne, the Blues did come alive in the third with tons of pressue, especially after Chris Porter's goal.  Porter, BTW, was working his ass off like his life depended on it tonight.  JK and Panger talked about how over the Break he went down to Peoria and played as much as 25 minutes a night.  I could understand why - he was probably the best Blue on the ice tonight.  Unfortunately, you're not going to get very many points on nights like that.

Although I don't think it's there yet, I'd really love for the Blues and Predators to have a real rivalry.  We both play very similar styles, it's so close geographically that Blues fans regularly make the road trip and take over their arena - there were several times tonight that Blues fans cheering drowned out those annoying ass Tootoo whistles.  This year, the Blues are 0-2-2 against Nashville, but without Rinne in net, we could very realistically be 4-0.  Hitch says that they're the only team we've played all year that has ever outworked us consistently, which makes for a very scarey recipe should these two teams meet in the playoffs.  If there's only one reason to win the division and get that top 3 seed, it'll be to make it easier to avoid the Preds in round one. 

Three Stars:
3. Chris Porter (1 goal; all over the ice; ignited the Blues so much we almost forced OT)
2. Martin Erat (1 goal; 2 assists; really worked hard in the Blues zone)
1. Pekka Rinne (41 saves; .976 SV %; just take a look at what I wrote above)


Central Division Standings as of 11:00 pm CST 2/4:
1. Detroit (losing 1-3 @ EDM after 2) 71 points, 52 games played
2. Nashville (W 3-1 vs. STL) 68 points; 53 games played
3. ST. LOUIS (L 1-3 @ NSH) 67 points; 51 games played
4. Chicago (idle) 65 points, 53 games played
5. Columbus (idle) 34 points; 52 games played

Postview: "Holy Halak!" Blues 1, Kings 0

Who knew that two teams in the top three in team goals against would combine for only one goal?  Go figure. 

The Blues started off a bit slow at first, but Hitch's defense showed no sign of rust from the break, and neither did Jaroslav Halak's left leg, which made three outstanding saves to pitch the shutout - he's fifth this year and fourth in his last seven starts.  I'll say that again: Jaroslav Halak has FOUR SHUTOUTS in his last SEVEN STARTS!  That's...uh...pretty good. 

But to say that Jaro stole two points tonight wouldn't be entirely accurate.  Sure his three kick saves (and one good looking glove save, to boot) were on great chances that the Kings probably should have scored on, but overall the Blues really controlled the flow of the game.  The shots tonight were 33-22 in favor of the Blues, but even that is a little misleading.  The Kings went long stretches without any shots, highlighted by the last 13 minutes of the first. 

Even with 33 SOGs though, the Blues didn't have that many quality chances (or at least the Kings got the best chances, by far).  That said, Quick was great in goal for LA, and frankly deserved much better than he got.  Having seen many games like this from that perspective, it has GOT to be frustrating for Kings fans, let alone for Quick himself!  Generally speaking, I like the Kings, so I hope that they do pick up the offense - just as long as it doesn't happen through a trade that takes an option away from us. 

The Blues are back at it again tomorrow night in Nashville, the first matchup of the 2nd half between any of the Big Four, which I just now decided to call all the teams in this race to save time.  Catch on, rest of the blogosphere! 

Three Stars:
3. Jamie Langenbrunner (game-winning goal on a very Hully one-timer from D'Agostini in the 2nd)
2. Jonathan Quick (32 saves, .970 SV %, really deserved a 'W' but thankfully didn't get one)
1. Jaroslav Halak (22 saves, shutout, 4-5 very skilled saves that were by no means easy)

Central Standings as of 10:00 CST on 2/3:
1. Detroit (idle) 71 points; 52 games played
2. ST. LOUIS (W 1-0 vs LA) 67 points; 50 games played
3. Nashville (idle) 66 points; 52 games played
4. Chicago (losing 2-1 @ Calgary in 3rd) 65 points; 52 games played
5. Columbus (losing 1-0 @ Anaheim in 2nd) 32 points; 51 games played

Game #50: 2/3/12 vs. LA Kings

First of all, I'd like to apologize for not finishing up my 4-part series previewing the teams in the Central race for the 2nd half by posting about the league-leading Detroit Redwings.  Here's my analysis:

Fuck Detroit.

Get it?  Got it?  Good.

Tonight, the Blues FINALLY being the 2nd half of the season with a matchup with one of the few teams in the league as stingy as us, yet also one of the few as offensively challenged as us: the LA Kings.

Currently: 25-16-10, 60 points, 21 ROW; 2nd in Pacific, 7th in West
Top scorer: Anze Kopitar (15-30-45)
Probable starter: Jonathan Quick (43 GP, 22-12-9, 6 shutouts, .934 SV %, 1.93 GAA)

The Kings rank last in the NHL in goals per game at 2.16, but also 3rd at team GAA at 2.10 behind the Bluenotes and the Blueshirts.  Drew Doughty is a stud young defensman, but not really having a stud year.  Dustin Brown is their captain and is kind of a poor man's David Backes - ironically they were linemates in the 2010 Vancouver Olypics, along with Ryan "Tell Kelly [Backes] I said 'Hi!'" Kesler.  But at 13-14-27 over 51 games, Brown is not having a Backesian year either.  Mike Richards used to party it up as the next Bobby Clarke in Philly.  Now he's looking more like he'll be Eric Lindros minus the concussions - the "next big thing" that never became "THE big thing." 

Public Enemy #1: Jarret Stoll As this is my first game preview, I want to have this be a nightly feature - where I highlight one guy on the other team that I absolutely hate, either because of his play, the likelihood that he might get into a fight that night, or just my personal distaste.  The problem is that there really isn't anyone like that on the Kings.  The closest thing for me is Jarret Stoll, only because I always confuse him for one of the Staal brothers.  And then I forget how many there are.  It's confusing.  I promise future editions of PE#1 will be much more venomous. 

Keys for the Blues: We need to score first, because with these two teams, it's quite possible that we could have a 1-0 final score.  It's also important because we haven't played in 9 days - and Jaro, tonight's starter for The 'Note, hasn't played in 11 - which is the longest break of any team in the league.  In the time since the Blues last played, Detroit has played 3 games, Chicago 2 (and another tonight), and Nashville 2.  Luckily, between the possible 8 points we could have seen collected by the Hawks and Preds combined, only 3 were picked up. 

Tonight is one of only 13 home games the Blues have left in the regular season.  If we want to start the playoffs at Scottrade Center, we need to pick up probably at least 20 of those 26 points.  That starts tonight. 

Let's go Blues!!!