BlueAero

I would be blown away if Binnington melts down in the finals. He's been rock-solid when the team plays well in front of him. None but a very few number of goals allowed the entire playoffs have been his fault, most of them being of the high-danger variety like odd-man rushes and power plays. If the D plays the way they did in locking down San Jose I would almost guarantee that Binnington will be very strong in net for us. Will he be as good as Rask? Not sure....Rask has been other-worldly but I do believe that if Boston wins the series, it won't be due to any weakness on Binnington's behalf.

I know you're not doing this but everyone who hates the Blues is dragging this old picture out of mothballs in an effort to somehow prove something....like, we have the ability to take color photos now? Its relevance on the current circumstances is zero. The Blues made the SC finals their first three years of existence, 1967-68, '68-'69 (both against Montreal) and '69-70 (Boston). They battled hard but were easily swept 4-0 in all three series. At the time, the league was divided into an Eastern and Western Conference just like now with the old original six in the east and the original six expansion teams (St. Louis Blues, Minnesota North Stars, Pittsburgh Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers, LA Kings and Oakland Seals). These were true expansion teams, not instant contenders like Vegas is and probably Seattle will be. Most of the teams sucked to be honest and the Blues were the best of a bad lot for the first three years. There's literally no comparison with what we have now. If people want to bring Bobby Orr into the argument, have at it. I hear that he ain't suiting up and won't be a factor.

O'Reilly is probably the best (or second best next to Bergeron) defensive forward in the league (a Selke finalist in fact). Two different types of players from my view so tough to compare them head-to-head. Likewise, you cannot compare Bergeron to a player like Schenn. Bergeron is unquestionably the better player overall and by a wide margin. However, Schenn plays a much different role on his team than Bergeron does. When the Chief took over, he wanted Schenn to be more of a banger, a board-hugger and puck-digger who can play down low and crash the net much as Pat Maroon does. Luckily for us, Schenn is versatile and big enough to play that role and he has done a great job complementing his higher-scoring linemates. But to compare him to Bergeron just because they match up as far as line-depth position goes is really a non-sequitur. They play vastly different roles. I do have a dark-horse x-factor for the Blues who seems to be emerging into his own at just the right time however and that is 22-year-old left-winger Sammy Blais. This kid is really coming on as both a serious physical force and a guy with a monster shot. Could be a difference maker. I have to stick with Blues in six no matter what. This fairy-tale season is not complete without us winning the Cup (at home) and sometimes intangibles you don't see on the stat sheet can become major factors. I won't be shocked if Boston wins and solid arguments can be made when you break things down about how they are the better team. I just feel like we've captured lightning in a bottle and this is our year. At least, I damn sure hope so.

Extremely important facet of their turnaround. Team had no confidence in front of Jake. Totally changed when Binnington stepped in. Biggest factor in their run without question. Man....a lot of testosterone around here.

We don't need offensive production from the 3rd D line (although Bortuzzo scored what was perhaps the most pivotal goal in the series against the Sharks). I'm not terribly worried about the Blues' D ability to jump into the O-zone when they need to. They've done it all year. I'm basically concerned about two things: the Bruins PP which has been lethal and Tukka Rask. I think these teams compare very favorably without splitting hairs and the series will likely be decided by special teams and goaltending. How's that for a hot take? LOL....

Same reason the hand pass in game #3 was not reviewable. The NHL review rules are stupid.

As a Blues fan I just wanted to say that the Stars were the team that gave me the most concern going into the playoffs. I hated that we had to play y'all since both teams play a similar style and are extremely talented, It was a great series that could easily have gone the other way. Had it done that, I believe it would be the Stars ascending to the Cup finals instead of my beloved Blues. We got lucky but sometimes it's luck that makes all the difference. Your future is very bright. I see great things for your franchise in the next couple of years. Thanks for the awesome series.

For the record, Parayko-Bouwmeester has become our #1 lockdown tandem as the playoffs progressed and they've been pure money for us. Taking nothing at all away from the Bruins D (which has been excellent) but the Blues have the edge in depth on the blueline in my book. Assuming Dunn doesn't play (and I wouldn't bet that he will since he's got a broken jaw), the way things are set up now according to MoneyPuck, I'd still take our third pairing of Bortuzzo-Gunnarsson over Clifton-Moore.

I've been a fan of all teams STL since I was old enough to walk. I watched the '64 Cardinals take out the vaunted Yankees in the World Series. I saw the great "El Birdo" teams win in '67. I saw the Whiteyball teams win in 1982 and 1985 and, of course, the great LaRussa team that won in 2011. Yet, never have I been as pumped as I am about this current Blues team!! Let's go win the Cup and make this fairy-tale run complete. Enjoy the ride, Blue-bleeders. You know how rare this can be.

The league will NOT learn from the Vegas mistake (although the franchise has begun in a hugely successful fashion so....isn't is all about the money?) and will use the same rules from the 2017 draft. To add insult to injury, Vegas is exempt from exposing any players to assist them in transitioning from a struggling expansion franchise into a competitive team. Ridiculous but that's Bettman's NHL.

More than anything, I want to see the Cup hoisted in front of all of us long-suffering fans who blew off a little steam last night when we won the West but now want to watch this team bring it home. So, bring it home, boys. Blues in six.

Well that was what we Blues fans all been waiting for....a complete game with their full host of abilities on display. That was perhaps the best game I've seen them play all season. It was a totally dominant performance in all phases of the game. When we play like that, we can beat anyone. Our creation off the forecheck was excellent. Puck control in the neutral zone was terrific. Our big bodies on D were clogging up the middle and forcing everything to the outside. Those seemingly continuous odd-man rushes by the Sharks we saw earlier in the series suddenly became non-existent. And Jordan Binnington was rock solid in goal, pitching a shutout by stopping all 21 San Jose shots on goal. Think this kid isn't unflappable? Since the controversial loss on the hand-pass goal in game three, all he's done is stop 50 of 51 shots (a .98 save percentage and a .50 GAA). Jaden Schwartz, who, despite trailing Logan Couture in the overall playoff goals race this season, 14-12, actually has more goals 5-on-5 (10-6) and is now one of only five players in NHL history to score two hat-tricks in a single playoff run. Since the tough-to-swallow game three loss, the Blues have outscored the Sharks 7-1. Not a bad way to react to a situation that was widely speculated by some pundits that the Blues might suffer a meltdown after being robbed by the ridiculous rules of the NHL. The fact that the exact reverse has happened is a tribute to the players of course but, even more, to the steady hand of "interim" coach Craig Berube. So far, the Chief has pressed all the right buttons at all the right times. Peter DeBoer, on the other hand, made a huge mistake by forcing star D-man Erik Karlsson into the lineup despite being seriously hobbled by a groin injury. His handicapped presence in the game led directly to two goals, the first one by Oskar Sunqvist where Karlsson not only made an unexpected effort to pass the puck out from behind his own goal but subsequently ended up screening Martin Jones on Sundqvist's shot from the top of the circle. The second goal stemmed from Karlsson's inability to turn on the jets to at least put a stick on Blues' sniper Vladimir Tarasenko as he got behind Brent Burns on a breakaway. Burns tripped Tarasenko and the Blues' winger was awarded a penalty shot that he subsequently converted by smoking a rocket-shot over the glove hand of Martin Jones. The other big factor that was on full display was the Blues' physical domination of the Sharks. After a spirited start to the game by San Jose, their energy level seemed to drain quickly in the second period and were outshot 36-10 during the final two frames. It would appear that the heavy game the Blues are bringing is beginning to take its toll as several of the Sharks key players suffered injuries that make them questionable for game six (even though Donskoi was injured on an errant outlet pass from his own teammate). All this being said, the Sharks are far from dead. They have shown remarkable resilience in prior series' this year and are undefeated in elimination games thus far. However, this one feels a little different. In post-game interviews, key players like Burns and Couture seemed a bit shellshocked. It will be very interesting to see if they can somehow regroup and rally in game six back in St. Louis. If so, it will be a monumental turnaround. One last thing and then I will shut up. I had to literally laugh out loud at all of the whining and complaining coming from Sharks fans about the officiating yesterday on Twitter as the game was in progress. Although the refs have been flat-out awful in virtually every game I have seen in the playoffs this year, there certainly has been enough bad and non-calls to go around for everyone, three of which were to the direct major benefit of the San Jose Sharks. To hear their fans on social media and at the SAP Center itself holler "Refs you suck" in the third period yesterday was the absolute height of irony in my view. Instant karma gonna getcha at some point and it really got San Jose yesterday. Sorry guys, deal with it.

Rampage had a tough year being basically a startup franchise but they finished strong and things look bright for the future with all the talent St. Louis has coming up the ranks. I'm hopeful Kyrou is ready to make the jump to the NHL next season....we could use his speed element.

I wish all the best to Mike Yeo. He's a good hockey mind and a real player's coach (the latter of which was a large part of his undoing in St. Louis). Plus, he's an original 1994 IHL Houston Aero and captained the 1999 team to the Turner Cup.

Actually, it was four PP goals. Vegas managed to come back to tie the game up only to lose in OT....the Sharks' first ridiculously lucky break of the playoffs. Incredibly, they have gotten two more (the Landeskog offside in game seven and the Meier hand pass goal in game three against the Blues). And their smug little coach DeBoer got pissed when a reporter asked him if they had perhaps benefitted from some luck in the playoffs? Said it "irked" him that someone would dare insinuate such a thing! Wrong answer, coach. You should have said that, yeah, good teams make their own luck or some other such cliche, not your condescending and contrived angry reply. I guess the reporter struck a nerve, huh? Or maybe the dude's running with just a bit too much estrogen. Either way, you can tell just by watching the guy's mannerisms that he's a jerk. Get over yourself, Pete. Look, I don't know if the Blues will beat the Sharks or not. These teams are really evenly matched in very different ways. It's a fascinating matchup, actually. However, I do know that, if the Sharks manage to take the series it will have been largely due to some serious off-the-chain lucky breaks. Truth is, they should have been sent packing in the first round. Kudos to them for scoring four PP goals for sure and bad on Vegas for just cratering when that horrendous penalty call was made (I mean, let in a goal or two if you have to but not FOUR!!!). Still, "lucky" is a word that definitely applies to San Jose and where they currently are in the playoff hunt. To deny that is just fooling oneself because the whole hockey world knows it's the truth.

If the subject matter of a post relates to the subject matter of the thread, it's relevant in my book. The missed call was a HUGE part of game three so how can it not be discussed? I do agree that we should not let it degenerate into a discussion of the poor officiating and/or bad rules that are currently present in the NHL and perhaps that's what the mod was referring to. I haven't been here long enough to get the lay of the land so pardon me for chiming in if I am off base.