cprice12

Nope. Watch the replay. I did a few times. After McCreary gets in Polak's way, he grabs onto Polak's jersey to try and stop from falling down. Our whole group that was watching the game was talking about it and how stupid that was.

Don't be a sore loser. The Wings dominated early in both games, but the Blues held them off and weathered the storm. They then regrouped and took the play to the Wings and came from behind in both games. The Blues earned both of these victories. And yes, the Blues will be very good this year if they get the goaltending. And so far so good with the goaltending.

You have to be lucky to win. Detroit was lucky in the two games as well. On Ericsson's goal in the first game, McCreary got in Polak's way and even grabbed onto him as Polak was skating with Draper. That allowed Draper to skate in on Mason before Ericsson put in the rebound. I think you can call Holmstrom's goal in game #2 fairly lucky as well. Just sayin'.

? Pay attention. The Blues are a very good team this year.

One of the guys over in the LetsGoBlues.com forums picked the Wings to miss the playoffs. Hmm... maybe there is something to that? And the Blues finishing that low on a video game makes sense. Younger players in video games don't usually have high ratings, no matter how good they are...and the Blues roster is full of younger players that have only played a season or two.

That's usually the case. When I've called cable providers in the past about Versus, NHL Network, NHL Center Ice, etc...none of the people I talk to EVER know anything about those services or channels. It's ridiculous how stupid they are about their NHL services.

Really? Two seasons ago, the Blues split the season series with the Wings. Last year, the Blues won the season series. This year, St. Louis has only beaten Detroit once. Pay attention. The Wings owned the Blues for years...but it's been a little different the last few years. If the Blues win on Sunday, they finish 6th, Columbus will finish 7th and Anaheim will finish 8th. If the Blues lose on Sunday, they will finish 8th, Anaheim will finish 7th and Columbus will finish 6th. So, the Blues can't face Detroit in the first round anyway.

Hmmm...I guess your goaltending hasn't cared all year then either, right? Honestly, I'd be worried if I were a Wings fan if I were playing Anaheim. They're beating everyone right now. And if you happen to play St. Louis, well, the Blues have been the hottest team in the NHL since January 1st. Just sayin'. How many times do you see good teams coast at the end of the season and then can't turn it back on in the playoffs? It seems to happen almost every year. It's happened to Detroit before...it's happened to St. Louis before...it happens in every sport. We'll see what happens this postseason. I think Anaheim and St. Louis could give the top seeds fits.

Maybe they would...maybe they wouldn't. The Blues have played well against San Jose, going 2-1-1 vs. the Sharks this season. So I'd rather see the Blues finish 6th or 8th and and play either Vancouver or San Jose than finish 7th and play Detroit. The Blues also have the best record in the NHL since the beginning of January, and they've been playing must win games for a month....so I think this team may be ready for the playoffs moreso than most teams are right now...but we'll see. The playoff experience for the group of young players on the team should be very helpful for the future. I'm pumped about that. Whoever plays Anaheim should be worried. They are beating everyone as well. If Anaheim knocks off Detroit, it wouldn't shock me. You guys don't have the goaltending, and in a 7 game series, goaltending is often the difference. But we'll see how it plays out. The West playoffs could be outstanding with the bottom seeds playing great hockey. The top seeds might get a run for their money, and there might be an upset or two.

Are you F'ing kidding me? Jesus Christ guys... Detroit can't beat Nashville at home when they're up 2-0??? And up by one with a minute to go??? How many leads have they blown lately???? Damn. Thanks for nothing. Now the Blues pretty much have to get at least a point tonight or they could be eliminated if Nashville and Anaheim both win.

The Blues grabbed onto 8th place tonight with two games to go...and they play Columbus on Friday. Tonight's Columbus @ Chicago game will be big. If Chicago wins, St. Louis can tie Columbus with a win on Friday. St. Louis could technically finish as high as 6th if things go their way...but they'll proably finish 7th or 8th...hopefully.

No, he wasn't. Are we watching the same video here? It's clear in the video that Oshie stops striding once he gets to the top of the slot. Maybe, to you, it looked like he was going for Nash the whole time because of how hard he was skating out of the box and he happened to be going in Nash's direction... But that's just how Oshie plays. He skates his ass off when he's on the ice and he was skating hard out of the box to get back into the play and set up in the middle. Then once Nash is passed the puck, Oshie takes two strides towards him, then coasts for about 20 ft. and hits Nash. It wasn't late. When Nash passed the puck, he did so because he was about to get hit. Oshie was maybe 10-15 ft. from him when he passed it...and then Oshie hit him. It wasn't even a full second after he passed the puck before Oshie hit him. I've seen guys get hit a full 2-3 seconds after they dump the puck in or pass it off and it not get called. It wasn't charging...it wasn't a late hit...it's just good hockey. I guess with all of the Europeans on the Red Wings roster, you aren't used to seeing this brand of hockey.

The Wings have owned the Blues this year...no doubt. But the Blues are playing great hockey and have been on a roll since January. It's just a matter of time before the Blues win one of these damn games. If we lose tonight to Chicago...the game in Detroit on Thursday is almost a "must-win". We'll see.

Osgood's numbers against St. Louis this year are outstanding. 3-0-0 with a 1.63 GAA and a .943 save % I'm glad he's not starting. Conklin's numbers aren't much worse...but still.

A charge is defined by "distance traveled". Umm...wa...huh? What the hell does that mean? Players are traveling all over the ice at every moment of the game. The rule has to be interpreted as a long distance traveled with the sole intent to lay out a violent hit from the start of the "bee line" to the resulting check. Oshie was coming out of the box and racing back into the play in the Blues zone, like everyone does when coming out of the box. He was not initially racing to check Nash. He then glided once he got into the zone. Once he saw Nash had the puck in the corner, he strided twice and glided for about 20 ft. again and hit Nash. You can really only count the two strides he took and then his coasting before he hit Nash when deciding if it was a charge...and based on that, it was definitely not a charge. If Oshie was intent on hitting Nash as soon as he got out of the box (which would be a charging), he wouldn't have stopped skating once he got into the zone...he would have just kept on striding until he got to Nash...and then that could have been considered charging. But the fact he stopped skating and then started again once Nash got the puck, wipes out any charging theory. Besides..."distance traveled" and "violent check" is subjective and fuzzy. How far is too far to skate before it is charging? And the crosscheck and elbowing comments from the BJ's announcers in the 2nd game is just retarded. That hit is as clean as they come. But hey, they're homer announcers and I am sure they didn't like their captain being put on his ass two games in a row by a much smaller and much lighter player.

Hey...look there...someone who follows more than just the daily NHL standings in the local paper. At least someone gets it.

You have a messed up definition of the word, "choke". First off, the Blues were at home...AND...they were playing good hockey over the last 30 games (and yeah, better than San Jose)...and second, the Sharks had cooled off some as they had just lost 5 of 6 coming into that game. Hardly a situation where the Sharks were "supposed" to win. I guess the Sharks choked in three of the four games vs. the Blues then? The entire foundation of your argument is based on the team's records...and that's it? Wow. Pfft...I don't know why I bother. You don't pay attention to the Blues...you didn't watch the game...so you have no idea who did or didn't choke.

Choking would be falling down on a breakaway to win the game, or whiffing on an empty net. Choking is a "gimme" situation that someone fails to follow through on. An example that you guys can relate to... Blues goalie Jon Casey "choked" and failed to stop Yzerman's blue line slapshot in double overtime of game seven.

I'm not sure what you want me to say. Going into the San Jose game, the Blues had the best record in the NHL since January 15th. Call them the hottest eam or one of the hottest teams (except when they play Detroit of course.)...or however you want to phrase it...but they're playing f'ing good hockey and outplayed the Sharks and have beaten them three out of four times now. And it's not my problem that people might not be following the Blues. If that's the case, then they shouldn't take offense when someone corrects them when they make an innaccurate statement concerning something they obviously know nothing about. That's what people get for making assumptions based on box scores. If the Blues were sitting in 15th place and not playing well, then sure...it would be logical to assume the Sharks choked if you just looked at the final score. But let's get real here...hockey fans should know if a team has been playing well for the last two months. That's a long time. Most hockey fans, in the West anyway, know the Blues are paying much better hockey. Not everyone lives in the Red Wing hockey bubble while wearing blinders...thank God. The Blues are tearing it up against the rest of the league....they just need to learn how to beat Detroit. (I say that and now watch them lose today at home vs. Minnesotta in a huge game.) *** And....ahem...For those of you not paying attention to the bottom portion of the conference playoff race (and based on what Namingway said, there are apparently plenty of you that qualify )...a win today puts the Blues one point out of 8th place. For those not paying attention...you should...it's extremely close. A lot of teams battling for the last couple spots.

San Jose was on the road, in St. Louis. St. Louis is the hottest team in the NHL right now. San Jose only had one win in their last five games going into the game vs. St. Louis. The Blues had beaten the Sharks in two of their first three meetings leading up to that game. I didn't say St. Louis was "expected to win". I'm saying it's stupid to say San Jose "choked" by not beating St. Louis. And yeah, I don't know what the hell you were thinking either.

San Jose choked? Nah. The Blues have the best record in the NHL since January 15th. St. Louis is just playing very good hockey, getting solid goaltending...and has a shot at making the playoffs now...only two points out. If only Eric Johnson, Kariya & Brewer weren't done for the season.

Your leading PIM guy has 28 minutes in penalties and your team by far takes the fewest penalties in the league. I doubt anyone on the Wings will be making anyone pay for anything.

I'm still around. Once the Blues get back to the point where they can challenge the Wings for the division again, maybe I'll poke around in here a bit more. There's just not much to talk about right now as far as the Blues vs. Wings goes. It's odd though...the Blues have actually played much better vs. Detroit than they did when they were good a few years ago...St. Louis has been splitting or winning the season series' now. So maybe I should be in here stirring stuff up a bit more. I'm just glad the Blues are on the right track. They have some great young players (Berglund, E.J., Oshie, Perron, Pietrangelo). That's a great core to build around. And I like the fact that John Davidson is pulling the strings. They are still a few years away from contending for a cup, but if things keep going the way they do, if they can get the goaltending, if they sign that key free agent or two in the coming offseasons to fill in the gaps, and if they can get rid of Brewer....they'll be in good shape. I just don't get some people pissed off that the Wings are "only" 18-4-4. I mean, I understand why I hate it....but Wings fans? To those bitching...that's an amazing record...don't act like a spoiled *****. I'd gladly switch the Blues record with the Wings record...any takers?

Let me get this straight... You guys are complaining about a team that is 18-4-4 and has won 4 of their last 5? I'd hate to see what you guys are talking about when down the road if the Wings need to rebuild for three, four, five seasons and GASP...miss the playoffs a few times. It's obvious none of you were around to watch the Wings in the 70's and 80's. Bunch of spoiled ............

Contrary to what some have said in this thread, Walker is a decent fighter. And he's only a so-so defenseman. A #5 or 6 guy at best. He usually gets inserted into the lineup if Murray expects a rough game or if he just wants to shake things up. Walker played pretty good for a while earlier this year...but nothing to write home about. If the Wings want him...they should make an offer. I am sure the Blues would give him to you guys. And don't look for the Blues to trade Salvador. He's been the Blues best defenseman this year. Jackman seems to be wanting 4-5 million per and is in the last year of a one year contract. That's too much money for him...so he could be on his way out. But the Blues would never trade with Detroit, unless the Wings really overpaid.