Quote:
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut
The 1st and 3rd goals were both technique.
The 3rd was REALLY bad. He barely had to slide left to right and in so doing his pads went WIDE open. That's an easy save if he maintains his technique and just keeps his blocker down.
It's exactly the sort of technique goal I'm talking about. Yes, it's impossible to have adjusted to that deflection on the fly, but that's why technique is so important. Keep the stick down, keep the pads tighter on your slide step and that's an easy save.
It's what always frustrates me so much about the Blues broadcast on some of those goals. "Oh well X had no chance on that save..."
Well no, not if he opens his 5-hole up when he moves 18 inches to his right, he doesn't. That's why you're not supposed to do that. Proper technique makes that a routine save.
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I still think that would have been a hard save to begin with given that he was screened and it was deflected. We can agree to disagree. But we are aligned with thinking the first goal was poor technique.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut
Without RoR and without Schenn most of the night.
Saad looks damn good and Neal's been a sneaky good pickup. Reminds me a little of Morrow that season we got him for cheap and he had a few drops of gas left in the tank.
With Tarasenko playing at a high level and guys like Walman giving you credible efforts, this is a damn good team. It still lacks the high-end punch that teams like Colorado can throw at you, but it's awfully deep. It can roll 3 dangerous lines and a 4th that isn't completely punchless. That makes you a really dangerous road team because the home team can't use having 2nd change to neutralize your top line.
So if you can stay out of the penalty box and force some offensive zone draws, you're going to get yourself in a lot of nice matchup situations where your 2nd line (and often even your 1st) is playing a less defensively capable line because they've just been used against another semi-dangerous line.
That depth helps a lot and not just when you get your 3rd line against their 3rd line. It helps you occasionally get your 1st line against their 3rd line.
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I'd rather play Neighbours and have him learn on the 4th line than play an ancient Neal who has no future with the team and is just a body.
Walman/Mikkola are both JAGs and I'd love to see the Blues upgrade over them by acquiring a 3rd pair LD (if they don't get a top 4) or playing Santini.
I'd love to keep Tarasenko, but trading him makes the team better in the future by getting a top 4, though it probably doesn't help to trade him this season.
This team shows a lot of promise if they can play a consistent two way game. I'm not concerned about scoring(the Blues have 4 very good lines they can roll), but the defense
could get exposed unless it tightens up a bit.
I don't like Krug paired with Faulk given that I don't believe their style of play compliments each other well. Krug needs basically a better right handed equivalent of Scandella to let him take liberties on offense while lightening his pressure on defense. Same can apply with Faulk and a left handed partner, though I think Faulk can shoulder the load more on defense better than Krug.
I also would like to see Husso show he can be a consistently good backup to lighten Binnington's load. In an ideal world, Binnington plays ~50 games and Husso plays ~30 so Binnington doesn't get warn down. I trust and believe Binnington is an above average and good starting goalie. Can't say I feel that way about Husso backing up yet.