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; and
3. 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, don't you?
The highlight of the game, for me at least, was the deke that T.J. Oshie put on Luongo that took him all the way to the ice.
I knew that Oshie had some moves, yes, but that was just absolutely ridiculous. I kept expecting him to pull the trigger, but he didn't. And didn't. And didn't. And finally he did, and Luongo just had no shot, having already tried to stop three shots he thought were coming. You just don't see Hall of Fame goalies get beaten like that too very often.
In fact, I'll go out on a limb and say that's the first time I've ever seen Luongo get beaten that badly. All right, yes, I will admit I've only seen Roberto Luongo play in person maybe a half dozen times or so, but the point remains valid, I think. Semi-valid at least.
I knew that Oshie had some moves, yes, but that was just absolutely ridiculous. I kept expecting him to pull the trigger, but he didn't. And didn't. And didn't. And finally he did, and Luongo just had no shot, having already tried to stop three shots he thought were coming. You just don't see Hall of Fame goalies get beaten like that too very often.
In fact, I'll go out on a limb and say that's the first time I've ever seen Luongo get beaten that badly. All right, yes, I will admit I've only seen Roberto Luongo play in person maybe a half dozen times or so, but the point remains valid, I think. Semi-valid at least.
As for the Sedins, the scoresheet tells the tale: Henrik had an assist, and Daniel drew a tripping penalty. That's it. Not too bad, to turn that sort of a dynamic combo into two lines in a box score. You look at Vancouver wins, and the name Sedin is plastered all over the place. Score one, and a big one at that, for the Blues' defense.
The only thing I was off the mark on, really, was the power play. Neither Boyes nor Tkachuk were really much involved with the power play, but the Blues got a goal out of it anyway. That's actually probably even more encouraging to me; to see a David Perron put one in the net on the man advantage, rather than having to rely on the same guys every single time.
Overall, it was as good a performance as you could possibly hope for; I honestly can't find a bad thing to say about the game. And given my own performance, I am proud to announce that I'm hanging up my prognosticator's hat. Never again will I predict anything.
