Jason IsringhausenWith a scant twelve minutes to go in the third period last night, it looked as if all was well in Bluesland. The Note found themselves up 3-2 over the Vancouver Canucks, thanks to another strong showing by goalie Chris Mason, as well as goals from Steve Wagner, Brad Boyes, and Keith Tkachuk. All they had to do was hold on for a little more than half a period, and victory, as well as two badly-needed points, was theirs. And that's when it all started to go downhill.By the t
flickr.com/photos/piscesdreamerGoing into last night's game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, plenty of talk was being devoted to the fact that the Blues had only lost one game in regulation in the previous eight contests. Unfortunately, that particular loss was a bad one, coming at the hands of Vancouver, one of those playoff bubble teams that the blues are directly chasing. So last night, the Blues again had the chance to make up some ground on a probable playoff team. And how did they d
Well, at least Tkachuk's wrist isn't broken. Sadly, that's really the only positive you can take out of last night's Blues game; they got shut out by Roberto Luongo (for whom I have an irrational hatred, for some odd reason), and I'm afraid it looks as if the Blues may be running out of steam. It's been one hell of a ride, obviously, this 2009 portion of the Blues' season. Since the calendar turned over, the Blues are 18-10-6. This, after a disastrous December in '08, when they went 4-
Yes, it is absolutely a cliche at this point, but the Blues are playing one of the biggest games of their season tonight. The Vancouver Canucks are in town, and the Blues desperately need to get a win here. I know, every game the Blues have played the past two months has been the biggest of the year, but this one has an extra bit of urgency. With Detroit and Chicago coming up on the schedule, it's more important than ever to pick up those two points in the standings. So how are the Blu
Yesterday, I predicted the three things that the Blues had to do in order to beat the Vancouver Canucks last night. I said, in this order: 1. The kids need to do better getting into scoring situations;2. The Blues have to keep the Canucks' Sedin brothers from being a factor; and3. They need to play better on the power play, specifically by getting the puck to Brad Boyes or Keith Tkachuk. Meatloaf will tell you that two out of three ain't bad, but I think two and a half is even better,
Well, not only did the Blues qualify for the playoffs, they actually managed to leapfrog all the way up into sixth place. Didn't see that one coming, did you? So now we switch our focus and look ahead to the Blues' first round matchup, against the Vancouver Canucks. How the Blues attack the Canucks will, of course, be vital to their chances of winning, but the most important element to the Blues' game plan may not, in fact, have anything to do with Vancouver.
To get your mind temporarily off last night's loss to the Canucks in Game 1 of the playoffs, and your cursing Roberto Luongo's name for the ridiculous saves he made, I wanted to hand out the regular season hardware. Mostly, I want to give out the awards before the playoffs have a chance to cloud my vision, For better or for worse, regular season awards are just that, and shouldn't be judged through the lens of what the player did in the postseason. So without further ado, I present to you t
SBNationNo messing around against Vancouver.The Blues will take the ice tonight in Vancouver, trying to even their series at one game apiece, after looking rather lifeless and a little bit overmatched in game one. What went wrong was fairly obvious: they got outplayed, outworked, and outphysicaled. Not the sort of thing that has happened often to this Blues team, at least not since the calendar clicked over, but as a ridiculously young team with so many players in the postseason for the first ti
Well, it certainly wasn't the series we were expecting. The Blues' series against the Canucks, I mean. Not at all the way is was supposed to go. I know, I know, the series isn't over yet, so how can I be saying that it wasn't anything? "Still present tense, motherfucker!", I can hear you shouting at your computer screen. (By the way, if you actually are shouting that at your computer screen, I would love love love it if you and I could hang out. You sound awesome.) However, I feel completel
So I was looking around yesterday at all the teams still left in the NHL playoffs, and I have to admit to being more than a little shocked when I realized that there isn't a single Canadian team left in the hunt for Lord Stanley's Cup. In fact, not only was I shocked by the absence, I was pretty disappointed, as well. After all, hockey is Canada's national sport, and the only real contender for that title. It isn't like here in America, where the NFL, NBA, NASCAR, and Major League baseball are
