Posted by 
The Blues came out flatter than these guys this week. But with less butter.
Well, not literally, although right now I’m sure that some in the locker room would like to go back there so they can be as far as possible from Andy Murray’s doghouse (Berglund and Oshie, looking at you). The Blues quality of play has been listless and dull since their strong start to the season against Detroit. The same team that shut the Red Wings out of a win in Stockholm came back to a jam packed Scottrade Center and played like they had absolutely no energy.
The crowd, I’m sure, didn’t help. They were taken out of it Thursday night when the final score of the Cardinals’ game was announced, and again when the Cards got swept by LA. I’m wondering if Saturday wasn’t the city of Los Angeles getting back at us for taking the Rams, but honestly, would they want them back?
The Blues’ home opener was just flat. Other than Keith Tkachuk, who slapped a strong one on the high side of Atlanta goaltender Ondrej Pavelec, and Roman Polak, who finally whapped a rebound in, no one looked like they wanted to be there. Berglund and Oshie were practically non-existent. By the time that the third period finally got around and the Blues had caught on to what they needed to do to win, it was too late. Ondrej Pavelec is a one-man rebound machine – as someone who has Thrashers season tickets right behind him, I can attest that Thursday’s rebound-a-go-go was not anything out of the ordinary. For a rough and tumble team, the Blues wouldn’t crash the net, and when they did their aim was atrocious. A few rebounds in, and the game would have been ours. But we had no focus.
Last night was even less impressive. Berglund was benched in favor of Cam Janssen, presumably to light a fire under the team’s butt. Not really. No one’d scrap with Cam, and no energy was created at all by anyone. Boyes needs to go through drills to help him with aim, seriously. Kariya creates rebounds; Boyes most of the night last night thwapped it into the boards. The dumping onto the boards and then fighting for the puck schtick doesn’t work when you’re doing it against a team that can do it as well as you do. About the one thing missing from the game Saturday to make it a redux of Thursday was an elevator meltdown, but thankfully someone paid attetention to what happened that night and took measures to prevent it from happening again. Would have been nice if the Blues had done the same.
They spent time when they got back from Sweden watching tape of what they had done wrong in the losses. They might want to do the opposite this time. Look at the few things that went right, and emphasize them. Everyone knows what they did wrong in these games – they didn’t play. Drill them, get the fundamentals down, and work on what they need to keep doing to win.
And don’t bench players who usually play 15 minutes a night in favor of an energy player that you’re only going to play five. If you want Janssen out there, play him. Stop shorting the other lines, switching them around, and doing other weird stuff to make up for the fact that one of your scoring forwards is partaking of the buffet in the press box. Andy Murray is an excellent coach, but he is prone to over analysis and thinking. He and Tony LaRussa have a lot to talk about. Maybe they need to get together and compare notes.
Some Other Articles That You May Enjoy:
Blues Make Meatballs out of Swedish Elite Team
The Real Home Opener is Here.
There will be an upcoming Blues’ season preview.
Wings Will Begin ‘09-’10 Season In Sweden
Blues Leave Sweden With Four Points
Traverse City is Wrapping Up.
We hope you enjoyed this post. As always, leaving a comment below is both appreciated and encouraged. Thanks!
