Beyond Checkerdome

And that's how the season ends, at least this year. Plenty of shots, but not enough goals, and handshakes for the other team. There's a lot to unpack for this year, with all of the drama that happened, but that's for another time. The Blues played well, but just not well enough to win. There are plenty of what-ifs, but you know where that gets you. The Blues lose, and face an offseason with this lasting image. It's a long time until October.

Well, the Blues pulled it off, and in quite convincing fashion as well! The Blues losses have been while they weren't playing their best, but we have seen them gradually improve their game. In probably their best yet, the Blues held court for most of the game, continued to apply pressure, and got the goal scoring that they needed. You couldn't write the script better than Dmitrij Jaskin getting a goal, and Jaden Schwartz with the game-winner was perfect as well. Jake Allen continued to be big, but this time he didn't have to carry the whole load. What a difference that makes, eh? Now, if we could just do something about that power play...

Well.... that was a real crummy way to end the game. Obviously, the officiating takes up a portion of the conversation, as we both have spleens to vent on this. There were plenty of positives to take out of this, although it sure seems it was for naught at the moment. This was recorded right after the game, so we were still pretty salty at how it turned out. There's an interesting question about Parayko to consider, as well as an eye towards Friday night's match. Do you make more changes, or keep the same lineup?

Wouldn't you know it, the Blues put up a stinker of a game and it costs them. Funny how those two go together. The PP woes continue, and now we didn't even have the 5-on-5 advantage either. Couple that with too much time on the PK, and you get a result like today's. Now, we look to Yeo for a response to this game, and possibly (probably) some lineup changes. Tuesday should be intense.

Wouldn't you know it - the Blues stay out of the box, and get a better game result to show for it. Blues tie up the series with a 3-2 regulation win over the #Perds. Jake Allen was solid, but the stories of the night were Vladdy "Stella" Tarasenko getting his groove back, and the amazing resiliency of Colton Parayko. Oh, and Jori Lehtera played too.

Well, the scoreboard doesn'€™t show what we'€™d like, but that'€™s not to say that there weren'€™t SOME positives to take from this Game 1 encounter. First of all, our thoughts are with Kevin Fiala. Get better, kid. We also talk about the handling of that injury versus Eric Staal'€™s in Round 1. The game itself is discussed, and some of the highs and lows from the game. There'€™s a lot there to give you some confidence for Game 2.

Welcome to Round 2! The playoff series that we've been waiting for has finally arrived - Blues vs #Perds, We enlist the help of our friend Dan Bradley from On The Forecheck to preview the upcoming series. Allen vs Rinne, Perron vs Arvidsson, Forsberg vs Tarasenko, fans vs sobriety ... all of these should make entertaining match ups.

Despite their best efforts to give it away, the Blues finally close out the series and advance to the second round of the playoffs. We talk about the sense of relief of finishing this round, and the apprehension of facing the Preds in the next. Also, the newly returned Jori Lehtera and Paul Stastny, and their impact on the game. Eric Staal took an ugly fall into the boards, and why didn’t we see a stretcher? But, at the end - Blues Win !!! On to Nashville and Round 2!

Well, you kinda had to know we were due for a game like this. Although the Blues lost, there wasn't a lot that the Blues did different. Minnesota is too good to let that happen. We commiserate over the loss and speculate about Game 5. Will we see the return of Paul Stastny. Too soon to say, but there’s a chance. But who comes out? Can the Blues close it out on the road? Onward to St Paul!

Once again the Blues pull this off, and in a much more convincing fashion. The Blues beat the Wild to take a 3-0 series lead, and it seems like the youngsters are leading the way. And as much as the kids are alright, the guy in goal is fan-flippin-tastic right now. While nothing has been decided yet, you can’t help but be impressed by Jake Allen right now. Let’s go Blues!

Another one in the books and - whaddya know, the Blues win again! Joel Edmundson, -or as one savvy twitter user said, GOAL Edmundson- is on a playoff goal-scoring streak. Also, one-time couldn't-buy-a-goal-to-save-his-life guy Jaden Schwartz with the game-winner. Also also, Jake Allen once again playing big between the pipes. Today's win is apparently brought to you by the letter J.

Holy Shit. What a game. Pour yourself a #VictoryWhiskey and hear our post-game reaction to the Round 1 Game 1 win over the Minnesota Wild. 1-0 is a good start, but the Blues need to play a damn sight better to challenge the Wild for this series. Lately we’ve seen the Blues respond pretty well after a down game. So ... hope springs eternal, right?

It’s the mooooost wonderful tiiiiime of the yeeaaarrr!! First off, we take some time to wrap up the last games of the regular season. That’s a little mailed-in, though, because the highlight is PLAYOFFS. We had a wonderful chat with Tony from Hockey Wilderness about what we’re expecting from this first round matchup. Also, we talk about the coaching vacancies around the league, and the other hockey happenings going on. Hey, has anyone ever heard of this Vladimir Sobotka guy?

Another week of winning hockey has passed. This time around the record was 2-0-1, as we cover the Arizona, Colorado and Nashville games. We celebrate the first NHL point of Jordan Schmaltz, and the resilience of the Blues defense in spite of yet another injury. We discuss the mental health of Blues twitter, and how we all approach wins and losses. The postseason looms ahead, and we’re ready for whoever the matchup is with. Also, we share our thoughts on the NHL decision to pass on the Olympics.

Another week goes by, and another round of games that we can celebrate. Here we talk about a 3-0-1 stretch including Colorado, Vancouver, Calagary and Arizona. Now that the college season has ended, there are ELCs being signed. We also talk about how rewarding it is to see Magnus Paajarvi succeed, and what that could mean for Nail Yakupov. As predicted, March has been pretty good to the Blues - but that didn't come without a cost, as the Blues lost the services of Paul Stastny for a while. While the Blues can hold down the fort for a spell, what does this mean for the playoffs? Yep .. playoffs.

Like we say, the next best thing to 4-and-Yeo is to go 3-1 the very next week. This time around, we cover the LA, Anaheim, San Jose and Phoenix games. And like most fans, we probably spend a disproportionate amount of time on the one that we lost. We talk about the development of the younger players, and how that can cause problems like what we’re seeing occasionally now. Also, there’s been a lot of talk about women’s hockey lately. The Frozen Four was held here in the #HeartlandOfHockey, and the NWHL just crowned a new champion. There’s been a lot of struggle in the international hockey world, too.

This is coming to you all a lot later than intended. In this episode we cover the 4-0 week that snapped the losing streak and put everyone in a lot better mood. These are the games against the Avs, Wilds, Ducks and Islanders that all resulted in wins for the good guys. We have the observations like usual, but it’s hard to get too nit-picky with results like this. We take notice of the improved power play, and the incorporation of some of the youngsters into the team’s game plan. Also, we love us some fourth-line goals.

This was one nutty week. First the Blues ended their bye week with a tough match against the Hawks, which contributed to their losing streak continuing from where they left off. They went 0-3 in these games, and it wasn’t pretty. More significant than those losses, the Blues lost Kevin Shattenkirk to the trade deadline. We talk about him being sent to the Caps with Pheonix Copley, as well as the players we got in return. Also, there is some speculation about the Blues power play unit adapting to Shatty’s exit, and the callup of Jordan Schmaltz. Our ol’ buddy Patrik Berglund got a new deal, too! All this and more!

All streaks end, and the Blues’ winning streak was no exception. This week we cover the 2-2 week that saw some scoring from unlikely sources and the Blues finally give up a power play goal. Also, the trade deadline is approaching with all eyes on St Louis and especially Kevin Shattenkirk. There is a disturbing trend amongst teams coming off the bye week, and we talk about that a little as well. We’re noticing something about the Blues gameplay since Yeo took over, and so far it has been “not good”.

We may be old codgers, but we still succumb to peer pressure. If there’s a little extra rambling this week, it’s because we had our arms twisted into doing #ShotsForGoals for the Montreal game before recording the podcast. Not that we needed much help - losing to Pittsburgh was a bummer, but ripping off 4 consecutive wins afterwards made us all a little giddy. We cover those games and celebrate the first career goal of Ivan Barbashev. We also talk about the injuries to Robby Fabbri and Paul Stastny. The latter particularly hurts, because we wanted to crow about his playing with Tarasenko finally. Thank goodness we have Patrik Berglund still!