2FC 1.24: Seven of Eight & Feeling Great

The Blues might finally be hitting their stride. St. Louis picked up 7 out of 8 possible points this week and looked like the most complete version of themselves we’ve seen all season. We break down the four-game stretch, why the Holloway–Thomas–Snuggerud line is clicking, and how the youth movement is driving the momentum.

Then it’s time for some chirping. After a dirty hit ended Auston Matthews’ season, we talk about the lack of response from his Toronto teammates and why that kind of silence says a lot about team culture. One thing we know for sure — the Blues always stand up for their guys, and that’s a standard we love to see.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome back, blues fans. In true St. Louis Blues fashion. The blues love to play in March.

SPEAKER_02 0:10

It's untan how well we do after a major break.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

How dare these blues give me hope? We are five points out of a playoff spot. Correct.

SPEAKER_02 0:22

W T F. Since March 1st, I was listening to ESPN on the way home last night from the game. We've gained eight or ten points since the Olympic break.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

So we've only lost one game, right? We lost to the Islanders. We've won every other or we have we've definitely had a point in every other game.

SPEAKER_02 0:43

We've won five of our last six since the break. So we came back from the Kraken. One against the Kraken, lost against the Devils, one against the Wild, one against the Kraken, one against the Sharks, one against the Ducks, lost in overtime to the Islanders, but still got a point. One against the Hurricanes and one against the Oilers. So we've lost one game. You said we lost to the Devils. Right? Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

And then we lost an overtime to the Islanders. Oh yeah. So we only have one regulation loss since coming back from the break. Yeah. The Blues love to play in March. In fact, I saw a stat, the Blues are like 16-2-2 or something in March.

SPEAKER_02 1:24

If you include last year and this year. I just don't appreciate how they're giving me hope.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

Well, the problem is it's like more than hope because it's only five points out now.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

Yeah, and our schedule, we can talk about it later on, but our schedule kind of gives us. I wouldn't say we have an easy schedule, but we definitely have a lighter schedule. You'll love to see it.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

Anyway, a good week of games against some great teams. Big wins this week. I mean, all four of those teams are nothing to ignore. Edmonton has had a rough stretch, but they're still Edmonton, so you don't really want to count them out. Four pretty good games that the blues put together. Three wins and an overtime loss out of the bunch. So a great week. That's nice to have some peace. No housekeeping this week. So we'll dive into games after the intro, but we're just gonna talk blues hockey. Let's dive in. From the loo to the league, we've got you covered. This is two for chirping. Gals from the loo watching all 32.

SPEAKER_02 2:25

It's hockey talk with flavor. You're welcome. Alright. So the last time that we met, we had played the sharks already, and it was a pretty good game. It was a three to two victory. And then they beep boop on down to Anaheim. Which playing in Anaheim kind of gives me some PTSD since the J Bo Meester thing that happened in Alyssa, that was a long time. I know, but it still gives me PTSD. And I don't know why.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

The blues play between one and two games, right, a year. Yeah. One there.

SPEAKER_02 3:04

Usually two out there.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

So and and it's been like six years. I mean I know, but just think back to it.

SPEAKER_02 3:12

I'm like, oh no. Miss J.

SPEAKER_01 3:14

Boemeester. See, I have I still get a little PTSD from the Jay Boe meester situation, but it's more so like when a player goes down on the ice, it's like it all flashes back. But going to Anaheim in itself doesn't quite do it for me. So that's that's a unique perspective you have there.

SPEAKER_02 3:30

But you're playing against a very good ducks team right now, led by Joel Quinville. They're nothing to mess with. They've got some really good players, and I'll just come out and say we dominated this game. We were moving the puck. This was probably the most well-played hockey game I've seen us play in a really long time. We're getting shots on net. I mean, we outshot them 35 to 22. And we've talked about the more shots we get, usually the better we do. Hits, they did outplay us in hits. They had 20 hits to our eight. But there was a couple of scrums in that. So this is post Justin Fulk and Braden Shen trade. You got Jake Neighbors getting involved with some scuffle there towards the beginning part of the game. We love to see it. And somebody else got involved. I can't remember. But great. Joel Hofer. I can't talk enough good things about him. I love the way he's playing right now. He is playing on his head.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

Yeah, and I think you can really tell that it's pretty clear that, and part of this is just Bennington playing for Team Canada, and so he didn't get a break, I think. But they're kind of all in on Hofer, and it's one of those things where we've had like 1A, 1B all year. They were both having a rough time at the same time, and then Hofer kind of came out ahead. And Bennington's name was out there, of course, at the deadline. I wouldn't be surprised if he moves in the office. I was gonna say that's and Hofer is cementing himself as I'm gonna be the one A. Yes. You can bring in someone to back me up, but I'm your guy, and he's playing with a lot of confidence right now. He is. I mean, we'll talk about the Islanders game. You and I went to that game together. My jaw on the ground, the whole game. He made some incredible saves. When he when he's on, he truly looks like there's nobody else on the ice.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

He can see everything. And I would also say that's how it was last night at the Edmonton game. Which is huge! Which so I had kind of made mention of we had back to backs, and I was talking to Alexa about this. I was like, okay, you're playing two really tough teams back to back, two teams that are already in a playoff position, and two pretty fast teams. Very fast teams, very aggressive teams. So I was like, who are you going to put in net for both? And we know that Bennington has had some struggle in the past against Edmonton. I don't know what it is, but my dad was on his way back from work, and he usually when he comes in for the game, he misses the first couple minutes of the game. So he was listening to ESPN on the way in, and they had said that last night's game was the first time that Hofer had ever started against Edmonton since being on the blues.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

I believe that. And if I remember, we played Edmonton in a back-to-back with Winnipeg, or maybe not a back-to-back, but on the same road trip as Winnipeg earlier in the year, and you were like, How do you play like these games? Like it was four four-game road trip or something.

SPEAKER_02 6:40

How do you Is that the one that like we started and we had like the losses?

SPEAKER_01 6:43

Is that was that our big loss road trip that probably we played in Winnipeg before we went to Edmonton? And I remember you and I feeling different about who started in Edmonton versus who started in Winnipeg because I said I would start Hofer in Edmonton. When Bennington played Edmonton earlier this year, he looked terrible. And then I said it was the you said the opposite, and you you were right. Well, it's that's how they did it. And I was like, we should have played Hofer because guess what?

SPEAKER_02 7:08

Terrible games. Yes. I always say that like having people play in their hometown so Hofer's from. So that's absolutely but I don't disagree with you on the front of like, hey, Bennington. I don't know if it's just Bennington has trouble with seeing the puck when it's moving the way that Connor McDavid. I mean, the one shot, I mean, I know that we're jumping to the Oilers game, but the one shot that Connor McDavid had, I was like, I this man's shot is unbelievable.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

Well, he just skated in and out of all of our players like they were traffic cones.

SPEAKER_02 7:42

Which it looked like a drill for him. My brother called Colton Preko a traffic cone multiple times this week. Very nice, not very nice.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

That traffic cone loves to be in St.

SPEAKER_02 7:51

Louis, and that's all we care about. We'll get back to him at when we talk about the Oilers game. But going back to the Ducks game, just overall great plays. So, this is the first game you have Jonathan Druin playing for the blues, and the first game you have Justin Hall playing for the blues. And Jonathan Druin and Justin Hall both get a point in this game. You got Druin with a power play goal, which beautiful shot by him. I remember getting on Twitter and reading after that goal happened, and people were like, oh my god, this is prime Druin's shot right there. It was a one-timer. It was a one-timer, it was beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 8:26

I am a sucker for a good one-timer player. Oh, yeah. I mean, how even if we had like a true one-timer player, like that that's what they're known for. Mike Hoffman. It was a fall. Mike Hoffman? I mean, Terasenko had a one-timer, but that's been all he was known for.

SPEAKER_02 8:44

TJ Oshi would get would be known to get some one-timers every once in a while. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:49

Alex Sean. So I mean, I'm not saying that like Jonathan Druin is the next Alex Steen or TJ Oshi. But I mean, it's like to have just that.

SPEAKER_02 8:56

It's just so fun. It's really fun. And it was funny because I had mentioned when we played the Islanders, and of course, Bray and Shen making his debut back in St. Louis super quick. And we'll talk about the tribute that the Blues did in a second. But Brayden Shen just had a spot where he could stay and he would set up shop and like you knew you were going to get a goal from him if he was set up in his spot. And to me, if you can get Druin like that and get him set up in the spot that he needs to be set up in, I can guarantee you we're going to see success from him here. And it's a fresh start. And what a way to have a fresh start, man. You come out, you score a power play goal, and you really cement yourself as a guy that you can trust to be on the power play because you've got a power play that has had its ups and downs all year. And he came in and was like, ha ha, watch me. And beautiful goal.

SPEAKER_01 9:56

And Broberg on this power play as well. I like this mix.

SPEAKER_02 10:00

Let me tell you something. I love Philip Broberg. Okay. I love him. Alyssa loves a defenseman. What was it? Alyssa just likes really tall, blonde.

SPEAKER_01 10:12

Tall, blonde defenseman. I mean, all jokes aside, excellent player. Every time I watch Philip Broberg do something, I think, Doug Armstrong, you have really outdone yourself with this one. Like every single time. He's just an incredible player, especially for someone his age. But the power play, that was one of the things when we talked about the possibility of losing Falk, the impact that was going to have on the power play because he was one of the few blue liners that was consistently producing. Broberg has really turned on, but had a little bit of a slower start to the year. So nice to see him have success on the power play. But you know who's on an absolute heater?

SPEAKER_02 10:55

I'm gonna let you I'm gonna let you say it, but I'm gonna tell you who I'll I'll see if I'm see if I'm right. Okay, not who I was thinking. Okay, Jimmy Snugger is on an absolute heater. Jimmy Snuggeru decided I'm gonna take the city of St. Louis and put it on my back. Truly, he's just he's embodied what a blues player is. What frustrates me is that this style of play couldn't have happened at the beginning of the year. It's always, it seems, like, when our backs are against the wall, and we've talked about this before, how it feels like we play much better when our backs are against the wall. Imagine if we could just start out on top and stay on top. Because this is a team, I'm looking at this team, the kids are just taking over.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

Yeah, and the theme, while all four of these games this week were different in their own way, and the opponent was a little different. The one thing I would say all four of these teams have in common, and the biggest awakening for me after the deadline with the blues is we have speed. Where did the speed come from? Like, it sounds so insane to say you get rid of Falk and Shen and we'll throw Bukestead in there and Joseph, and you're immediately faster. But like somehow we've managed to find a mix of players that has really well really made us look a lot faster. I mean, we kept up with all four of the teams we played this week, and Carolina flies. They do.

SPEAKER_02 12:18

I mean and if you think about it, really only a handful of people on Edmonton are the ones that fly. Connor McDavid becomes a few.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

That's true. But they are hard to keep up with because they they tend to cycle in a decent way. Yes. But yeah, the blues have way more speed than they've had the rest of the year. I mean, picking up Finley has been huge too.

SPEAKER_02 12:37

I know he's not fast, but he's not fast, but but he is great in the face-off dot.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

I watched him take multiple face-offs last night where I was like a game changer. With with Thomas being hurt and unable to take face-offs, Finley has saved our bots all week.

SPEAKER_02 12:51

Which, listen, I don't I just I hate the idea of Thomas being hurt and playing and hurting himself more. But it seems like, and it's something that w they've talked about like on the broadcast and things like that, finding depth in scoring during this time, you're seeing different names on the score sheets, right? So this Anaheim game, just to kind of put a pin in it, you get you start off with scoring from Jordan Cairou with an assist from Jake Neighbors and Cam Fowler. Then you get the Jonathan Druin goal with an assist from Philip Robert and Jimmy Snuggerude. Then you get a Jimmy Snuggerude goal with Robert Thomas and Dylan Holloway assist.

SPEAKER_01 13:34

Love that line, by the way. That's been a great line.

SPEAKER_02 13:36

Been such a great line. And then you get the empty netter from Q Suter, assisted by Buchanavich and Justin Hall. So I mean, you're seeing, yes, the same names, but you're also seeing just some different names being flushed in there, which I love to see. Love to see, and say it once and I'll say it again. The defense getting involved helps our team. I mean, that's let's see, one, two, three different d defensemen that get a point in this game against Anaheim. And they're help setting up the play for these big goals. So when you're getting the production from the defense, it helps build the confidence of the offense, I think. Oh, absolutely. But and on top of that, you have Jordan Bennington and Joel Hofer standing on their head. I mean, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

Yeah, when Hofer plays like Hofer, there's a few things. One, Hofer's playing like Hofer's playing. It allows your defense to be more confident moving in the opposite direction. They don't feel like they have to stay back and protect. And so that helps. The other thing I didn't mention, we talked about the players that went out that may have contributed to the speed, is we kind of get into Tuesday's game. We should talk about they brought we brought up Theo Lindstein and Otto Stenberg and Otto Stenberg, and they both played in that game, I believe. They did. Theo Lindstein had a point. And Lindstein looks great, but the those two, along with Dvorsky, Young Speed, and those years. Linstein slid right in and looked really comfortable.

SPEAKER_02 15:21

And he played, so they switched the defenseman pair up a little bit, especially with losing Falk. You're losing a guy that's is playing big minutes. So your defensive pairs the past couple of games have been Philip Roberg paired with Logan Mayu. And let me tell you, I've got to give a shout out to Logan Mayu. He has actually looked pretty good the past yeah, get this get this on record right now.

SPEAKER_01 15:49

I've act just so we're clear, I've said this the last two weeks. Continue.

SPEAKER_02 15:53

I know. Alright, cool. It's been more noticeable, I think, for me to see him be more confident. And we have talked about it before. He's a younger player, hasn't really had the ability to develop the way he thought he was going to in the Montreal organization. Came in, had a really rough start. They sent him down to Springfield for about 10 or so games. He came back and he has slowly pushed himself to be taking on more responsibility. And Jim Montgomery is giving him that responsibility. I mean, they have him on the power play, they have him on the penalty kill. He's throwing himself into these. He played an overtime on it.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

So funny. That's how I can't, that's how I can tell Jim Montgomery's putting him in tough situations, is it terrifies Alyssa every single time. So I just gauge it based on Alyssa's anxiety level. And I'm like, he's fine.

SPEAKER_02 16:47

And then I'm like, oh my god, please, please, for the love of God, please.

SPEAKER_01 16:50

Like Alyssa's curled into a ball, like rocking back and forth. And I'm like, it's fine. It's gonna be fine. Let him do what he needs to do.

SPEAKER_02 16:58

It's gonna be fine. He just looks more mature, is the I guess the thing that I have to say to it. He just looks like he's finally growing into that NHL player. To me, before he looked like a very AHL style player, and now he's starting to look more like an NHL player. That's I think where my mind was going with this. But the Islanders game, let me tell you, it was a little dusty. A little dusty up in Enterprise. So a quick turnaround for Braden Shen to make the debut back at home. And boy howdy did Blues fans show up for that. They start playing the tribute video, and immediately everybody's on their feet, everybody's clapping, everyone's hooting and hollering. And I just I started getting teary-eyed, and then I see them showing Brain Shen and like he's getting teary-eyed, and I'm like, I can't do it.

SPEAKER_01 17:49

I can't. It was probably the loudest reception I've heard in a in a long time. And if you definitely like, and part of that is just how long Brayden Shen's been here. But even if I think about receptions for other blues players, like finding a blues player that was here for the cup run that was as beloved as Brayden Shen that didn't like go and retire. Like Schwartz got a pretty good reception. Dunn as well. Dunn, yeah, Dunn did he like Dunn noticeably got a he got a better reception than I expected. I was a big I'm I've always been a big Vince Dunn fan, so I always assume that nobody's as big a fan as I was.

SPEAKER_02 18:29

But I feel like the whole tarot set Teros Teresenko thing was more of I think fans were a little upset with how his situation was handled and how he handled the situation. Totally. It was a two-part thing with that. It was it was partly how the organization handled his care after surgery, but also how he went out and and used the words that he used. And I understand that he had to do what was best for his career, but it felt like it felt like a bit of a dig team that gave him a lot and gave him What brought him into the league. Right.

SPEAKER_01 19:11

It's tough because uh one thing that Shen was really honest about and uh so was Teresanko, but they were completely different answers is Terasenko wanted to leave. He was and not like wanted to leave St. Louis, but he would just it was time. Yes. And so he said, it's time for me to go. And Shen didn't really want to go, but had been asked to waive two years in a row and determined that the writing was on the wall. And that's something he made pretty clear. But the difference between, well, there's a lot of differences between Shen and Teresanko, but out of the ones that we just listed, Braden Shen is the most blues to the bone out of the whole bunch. I mean, he's a blue-collar player, he's the perfect balance of a great leader, a lot of skill, and really tough, stands up for his teammates, great locker room guy. He's the full package. Yeah, he really he really is and mean it 100%. I've heard this so many times this week, no matter how many podcasts I listen to, no matter how many tweets I read. Brayden Shen is in New York because of Matthew Schaefer. Oh that is the impact that a player like that has on an organization. I mean, if you know what he made it very clear to the Sharks don't mess with Matthew Schaefer. I'll come for you. I mean I mean he's been there a week. That's just the type of player Braden Shen is, and that's the type of player Blues that's why Blues fans love Jake Neighbors.

SPEAKER_02 20:43

So I'll ask you this because and maybe this will be a question later on to ask, but go going off your point of Matthew Schaefer being kind of that push for Shen to go there. I mean, you're looking at a defenseman, a rookie defenseman that has 20 goals on the season. Like on that's unheard of with how with how many points he has and just how well he's playing. I mean, watching him play this game here in St. Louis, I love just how he's involved in every play. He uh holds himself very high. He just you can tell that he's surrounded himself with really good influence in the organization, and it's Matt Martin that he's staying with right now, and he's gotten himself adjusted into adjusted into the league. They're literally like a billet family for him.

SPEAKER_01 21:38

Matt Martin's retired, like he doesn't play anymore.

SPEAKER_02 21:41

It is it is hilarious. He's still part of the organization, I believe. Yes. But Matthew Shaver has grown leaps and bounds this year. I mean, he was already very determined, already very just well put together. But it seems like he has just grown himself so much this year. To me, he's top runner for Calder for me. I mean, if he doesn't win, he'll win the call. Yeah, absolutely if he doesn't, I will be. And I mean, Snuggard's making a push for himself. But at the same time, like I'm looking at the overall, like, yes, Jimmy Snuggered's a fantastic player, but for a defenseman to be putting up the points that he's putting up, you just can't look at that and think.

SPEAKER_01 22:24

Well, and a lot of those, any of those awards, whether it's the Calder or the Norris or the Selkie, the Heart, any of the awards they give out at the end of the year, that a lot of those are judged not just on the player themselves, but also on their contribution to their team. And Matthew Schaefer, I mean, this is it's so interesting to see the evolution of like the first round draft pick because it's not the first round draft pick the last several years now. I mean, they're they're coming straight to the league, they're making an impact immediately.

SPEAKER_02 22:58

Macklin Cellebrini, Connor Bedard. Let's think about that. You didn't really see that a whole lot since like your Tay's Kane Ovechkin Crosbys. And then we went through an era. Yeah, you went through that, and then like now all of a sudden, like you said, I mean, Macklin Cellebrini, watching him is just amazing.

SPEAKER_01 23:18

He's incredible.

SPEAKER_02 23:19

He made a a Canadian Olympic roster at the end of the year. At the age of 19. Yeah, he's that good. Crazy to me. I mean, you're talking Sydney Crosby level stuff when you get to that. So I look at this Islanders game, you're winning three to nothing in halfway through the second period.

SPEAKER_01 23:39

And it felt like a great game.

SPEAKER_02 23:40

It felt like a really great game up until this point. But something that really just really stands out, and Joel Hofer needs to be praised for this. Yeah, we lost, but there was 49 shots on goal. 49 shots on goal.

SPEAKER_01 23:57

And the Blues didn't shoot enough. So not only did we give up too many shots, but the Blues weren't trying to put it on net ourselves. The Blues finished with 23 shots, and we had what three after the first period? Yeah, I think it was it was very low in the first period.

SPEAKER_02 24:12

We had a goal in the first period, so we did. It's you they and I'll and I'll argue this that the two goals that the Islanders got in the second period, they both came on the double minor to Pavel Buchnevich. Third period. Did I say second? I meant to say third period.

SPEAKER_01 24:30

But they did, and so that's that was what was really tough for me watching Hofer is like Hofer stood on his head. Oh, and the two goals that were given up on the power play, you're kind of like, well, I mean, I don't know that those are on Hofer, even if one, they're on the power play, so that's it, it's different. But also, neither of those were like total, like, he should have stopped that. Like neither of those were like that. He played an excellent game.

SPEAKER_02 24:55

The first goal by Callum Ritchie, it was Jack Finley that knocked the puck in. It was a scramble in front of the net. Preko's boxing out his guy. I forget who Preeko was out with, it probably was Broberg at that point, but boxed out their guys, and Finlay went to go like push at the puck and and knocked it in.

SPEAKER_01 25:13

So yeah, and that was awkward. Like it was loose in his victory, so it was just one of the things.

SPEAKER_02 25:17

And for a fair amount of like seconds, too. Like there was a lot of scramble.

SPEAKER_01 25:21

So you just have so little room to even bat that puck out of the way and just didn't go his way that time. But then he's not a defenseman, to be fair.

SPEAKER_02 25:27

So right. But the second goal it was a beautiful shot. I mean Totally.

SPEAKER_01 25:32

Yeah, so more of that, not to be underestimated on. Correct.

SPEAKER_02 25:36

But what I think what bothered me about the power play that happened, it was assessed a double minor to Pavel Bucchnevich for high sticking. And it was a play in which the Islanders player lifted Pavel Bucchnevich's stick, to which Pavel's stick hit the Islanders player in the face. I'm sorry. That is not a double minor penalty. Yeah, like call it a two-minute because it's a high stick, but it doesn't need to be a double minute. No. That's something that I just feel needs to be assessed going forward.

SPEAKER_01 26:15

Looking at the I don't want to say intent, but the ability to Well, it's kind of like taking into taking into consideration all of the different factors that brought you to that place. Because just like we do for goalie interference. Right. Well, someone that is well no, but someone pushed the person into the goalie. That's an external factor that impacted the play. If someone else lifted this person's stick and then caused him to high stick someone in the face, that is an external factor that caused the situation to take place.

SPEAKER_02 26:45

So that was that was something that really grind my gears.

SPEAKER_01 26:49

Booch needs to keep his stick down. So again, two minutes fair. But four, when it's because he's bleeding, which I've always hated that rule too. How many blues have bled this year that we didn't get a four for it? A lot.

SPEAKER_02 27:03

Who's bled a lot this year? Charlie McAvoy. That boy has a has a magnet in his mouth. Because I think he's now missing like all of his bottom teeth or something like that. Like he got He just looks like he's in pain. Like he just got another puck to the mouth this week. Like, oh, poor guy. But anyway, I digress. But this to me, one, an emotional game. Two, the officiating this week has been horrendous. So you got the the factor of you got that two-minute that four minute penalty that caused the two goals. Now, could one of them had been avoided possibly, but you go into overtime and you let Mark Matt Barzell go the whole game without scoring.

SPEAKER_01 27:49

Now his fingerprints are all over this. He already had two assists. You let Mar Matt Barzell not score a goal. Matt Barzell's gonna score a goal. I mean, every game, pretty much.

SPEAKER_02 27:59

Arguably to you got Jordan Kairu playing defense in that situation. It was kind of a one-on-one. Let's just say there wasn't much defending going on.

SPEAKER_01 28:10

Yeah, I mean moment, like I didn't really feel like it was Kairu's fault. You watch it back and you're like, yeah, could he have done more? Sure. But overall, just the blues play for that was not it was a breakdown. Yeah, total breakdown. It was a bad breakdown.

SPEAKER_02 28:25

But I know a lot of people on on the socials were not very happy after that.

SPEAKER_01 28:29

Kairou's just always been the scapegoat in those situations. And like I said, was it did he play it perfectly? No, but the they were all three out of position, and none of them knew how to stop it from happening. In fact, they saw it happening and they were like, What do I do to stop this? And they none of they were all blanked. Which I think Mayu was out there also.

SPEAKER_02 28:48

I don't remember defensively who was out there.

SPEAKER_01 28:51

It was it was a weird group.

SPEAKER_02 28:53

Well, and it was there was a change going on, it was a bad change, too. It was. It was just a total breakdown. Matt Barzell, credit to him. I mean, he just saw the opportunity, got on his horse, and just went with it. And nothing that Hofer could have done in that situation. I mean, it was a it was just a great shot by Barzall. Assisted by Braden Shen. I don't think I knew who assisted because I was just so frustrated that we lost at that moment. A little dusty there. Again, no assist on his first game back. Or first game back in St. Louis. Yeah, I knew. I also want to shout out Theo Linstein Linstein. Got an assist in his first NHL game. So seeing the kids come up and playing the way that they're playing. I mean, Linstein, I felt the past couple games that I've seen him has been really solid, been really solid with Pareco. I feel like it's giving Pareco a little more confidence in a way. But I mean, he's been playing with Philip Broberg, so I don't know how you can't have confidence with that. But seeing listen, I also want to talk about the Saint Louis Blues being being mean and not letting Colton Pareko start a game so that I can cheer him really loud. They have not let him start a game at home since the news of him waving his no trade. I think that they're just afraid people are gonna boo him and I don't like it.

SPEAKER_01 30:09

I don't think anyone's gonna boo him, but I think that's fair. I think it's a missed opportunity. It's a very missed opportunity. I agree on Theo Winstein. He's really slotted in nicely. Another appreciation I always have, so like the the this game was just it kind of had me in the feels anyway because of the Braden Shen stuff. But when they announced that, John Calhoun does a great job of saying like his first NHL point, and the whole arena like went crazy. Like it's just those are things that are just so cool. His family got to come out this week, they've been at two games, which is super cool.

SPEAKER_02 30:41

Yeah, they flew it from Sweden to to see it, which was awesome.

SPEAKER_01 30:44

Well, and that means that there was definitely some there was some there was some done in the work, yeah. Like, which is really a nice touch. Right.

SPEAKER_02 30:51

So I wonder if that was kind of like set up by Steen or or Armstrong Armstrong to Steen, of course, did some recruiting for Sweden before he brought came in as kind of the assistant GM role, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:06

Assistant to the gentleman. He went like he was scouting in Sweden, and then it was like advisory, and then it was like, oh, actually, this is happening. So yeah, just a really nice thing that the blues did. He looks great. You mentioned this briefly earlier, and I want to touch on it. Druin's one timer and how nice that's been. Keep in mind Druin, of course, came to us while Shen went to the Islanders. It's so funny because you could tell that they slotted Shen right into Druin's spot on the power play. Like he was like you said, he used to be like parked in that spot. He went to go set up in his spot. And we all knew it was his spot, and we're like, oh my god, like he's in his spot. Like he watched like blue. You know, Brain Shen's in that spot that like he didn't use the last while that he was here, but like that spot that he was in when we first brought him, yeah, he's there. Uh-huh. I see it.

SPEAKER_02 31:52

There was a and he looked good.

SPEAKER_01 31:53

There was he really seemed like really well with that group.

SPEAKER_02 31:57

And you could kind of tell that Druin was trying to like I don't want to say buff himself out a little bit, but you could tell that he was trying to make those extra moves, kind of try to prove his point of like, hey, look what you got rid of.

SPEAKER_01 32:08

He looks great.

SPEAKER_02 32:09

He does.

SPEAKER_01 32:09

I really like him. I think he's a great fit.

SPEAKER_02 32:11

I do too. So then so we lose in overtime in that game, but the blues turned around and they were like, hey, it's okay, we're gonna, we're gonna we're moving forward. And we go and play the Carolina Hurricanes, who are top in the Metropolitan Division.

SPEAKER_01 32:31

Yeah, and the the Ducks are currently top in their division as well, only by a point right now, and they only have 75 points, so that's kind of the joke is that the Pacific is so evenly matched. Yeah, like they're they're all bad. The so the Blues played two teams that were at the top of their division this week.

SPEAKER_02 32:48

And won both of them.

SPEAKER_01 32:49

And won both, yeah. I mean I mean the canes are they're so fun. And I'm not gonna lie, canes scored first. And I was sitting on my couch and I'm like, here we go.

SPEAKER_02 32:59

I've been waiting for this. And we they scored first, and in the first period, I think the blues ended up with like three shots on goal the whole period. And I was like, what are we doing? Like, what is this game? Like, you're you're not gonna win a game if you're only getting one to two shots off a period against the Carolina Hurricanes.

SPEAKER_01 33:21

Also, we need uh like I was kind of okay with the three shots on goal because it stopped them from saying bussy over and over again.

SPEAKER_02 33:28

I was just going to check to see who played. I couldn't remember if it was Bussy. Bussy or Anderson.

SPEAKER_01 33:33

Literally, if I heard Curbs say busy one more time, I wasn't gonna lose it. He's got a great name. I love it. Great? Got a great name. It's not my favorite. I love it. I love it. But it was like, and busy makes a save. And I was like, it just It's funny. It reminds me of that. Oh, welcome to bussies. Or we're gonna go to bussies. Like like the Buckies things that everyone says. But that's what I hear every single time. Is welcome to bussies. And I'm like, ooh, making save making saves at bussies. Anyway, sorry. But yes, I was like, oh brother, here we go. Kane score first. Here the blues come. The ones I'm familiar with. They're they're gonna they got me all excited the last two weeks, and they're gonna kerplunk and Jimmy Snugger would say, Don't worry, Alexa, I got you.

SPEAKER_02 34:24

I got you all back from right here. Beautiful shot by Jimmy, and what a pass by Dylan Holloway. Was it oh Dylan Holloway had the the assist on both of those? The secondary assist on both or the primary assist on both of those. I'm trying to think of what game it was that Thomas had passed to Snuggerood, and it just was a It was the Islanders. Was that the It was the we watched it from the other end, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:50

Oh the way it was so good. Like And then the Snuggerood passed to Broberg in the Islanders game too that we didn't talk about, technically speaking.

SPEAKER_02 34:58

We talked about that goal, but like Snuggerood puts it right on the tape right in front of the crease, and then it's a there's an amazing picture on social media of Broberg stopping in front of the net to like tap it in the spray with the spray on okay, so like Does something.

SPEAKER_01 35:13

Sorry, we're gonna like we're I'm not gonna completely veer us off. I think you actually asked me this at the game. You like Snuggerude's shot or his passing better?

SPEAKER_02 35:24

There was a Twitter poll of what do you think the- That's right. Jeremy Rutherford, shout out. What do you think Jimmy Snuggard is most known for? His passing or his shooting. You said his passing. I think his shooting.

SPEAKER_01 35:37

I mean, both are great. Poor Kalos ghost. Yeah, poor Kalos dose, exactly. But like to me, we said this like at the very beginning of the year when we were talking about the outlook for the blues before any games had been played. With Tim and with Thomas and Snuggerud, they played together in preseason. We were like, this could be really lethal. The main thing for both of them is they don't know, like they both are so unselfish, and I want to it and mostly like we didn't know with Snuggroood yet because he's so young, yeah, that they tend to be less selfish, right? Because they're like they want to pass to the guys that they trust and that have been in the league and that know what they're doing. They want to they have they lack the confidence, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:10

They lack that confidence. But uh I'm Jimmy Snugger doesn't lack that doesn't lack that confidence, maybe he just lets it rip.

SPEAKER_01 36:17

He his passing to me, maybe this is what I would say. His shooting is fantastic, but I think his passing, if you looked at it, he's always been a great passer. His passing has improved. But what I'm most excited about is that he knows, and Thomas, they both know when to pass and when to shoot right now, and it is working. They're their points.

SPEAKER_02 36:38

They know when to pass and when to shoot, but they also know where each other are.

SPEAKER_01 36:43

Yeah, which is incredible.

SPEAKER_02 36:47

Yes, that's a big point, is I do think that they shared a hockey IQ that just is they see things in ways that I don't think most people would see them. But to me, the fact that Jimmy Snugger is not afraid to take the shot is what's big for me. Absolutely. He and and sometimes you'll see him the flex of his stick, sometimes he has a really good flex on it, but sometimes he just has I don't want to say kind of like a golf style of holding his hands to just like rip a shot. But the one the one goal where Thomas had a that no-luck pass and Snuggeru just shot it. The one time I wouldn't call it a one-timer, but really that's kind of what it was, because it was a wrist shot one timer. His hands weren't even in the normal shooting position. It was almost kind of like he just was hitting the puck.

SPEAKER_01 37:34

Yeah. And maybe that's why I think his passing takes the edge for me over his shooting, is I think that a shooter's a shooter. And I think when you're complimenting or appreciating someone's passing, it's not just their ability to put it on the tape. It's their ability to have the wherewithal to know where the players are at and where the other team is and how to get it to them without he he does a lot of no-look passes, he just has that great ability to understand where everyone is. So it feels like there's an added layer of just awareness that comes with passing, whereas shooting again, shooters shoot. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:11

And I think it's he does both, but I was gonna say I think it's a good mixture, mixture of both that he has, which is which is amazing to me. But then we get we get through this game of Jimmy Snugger, he he ends up with two goals this night. So it's tied one-to-one for a majority of the third period. He gets this beautiful goal, and then Rob Brindemore pulls the goalie. And Pavlo Buchnavitz ends up with the empty net. But something I want to point out with this is that Jack Finley had the opportunity to shoot the puck himself and decided, hey, I'm gonna pass to Booch, which I love this. I feel like it's kind of like a a respect thing almost. He's been a great fit. He's been a really great fit, which when we picked him up, I was kind of a little nervous about it, mostly because I didn't know much about him. I was like, oh, we're just getting another low line center whatever. But I mean, he's been great on the face-off dot, he's fit in really well with just the guys in general. I feel like he he's one that will stand up for his team and will do what he needs to do. But I mean, having that awareness and I kind of want to say that selfl that selflessness to say, yeah, I'm gonna give this over to Booch for him to get the point, not me. I thought that was awesome. So we end up winning this one three to one, which if you would have told me we were gonna win this game, I kind of probably would have laughed in your face because I'm like, there's no way we're gonna win this game. Totally. And Jordan Bennington, go ahead and put this one on the record as well. Absolute out outstanding play. I mean, he just He did, he looked great. He looked fantastic. I mean, he was looking like Well, we win this with only 17 shots, too.

SPEAKER_01 39:56

To Carolina's 32. We were almost outshot two to one.

SPEAKER_02 39:58

Right. Like it's which is crazy to me that they're like, hey, yeah, we're gonna be winning on 17 these low number low number shots that we're getting over the last couple of games. Whereas it was funny because we were getting these high number shots earlier in the week. So another thing that I want to point out for this game too, we out hit them not by much, 18 to 16, but face-offs were dead eat even at 50-50. Which is huge. Which is huge because you've got is Ahu the a face-off guy?

SPEAKER_01 40:34

No. No, it's Svetch.

SPEAKER_02 40:35

Is that Spechnikov? Yeah. They've got some really good people down the center, as old as he is. Stall.

SPEAKER_01 40:43

The they do have a lot of depth at center, and one thing that we said we were gonna talk about with the islanders, but then forgot, is Robert Thomas takes a puck off the hand in that Islanders game early on. Doesn't play for a the pretty good portion of the game.

SPEAKER_02 40:58

And then he comes back for the beginning of the second. Yeah, which he didn't come out like when they were doing the laps around, but he ended up coming up like right before the opening face-off. Cause I I like my eyes were peeled. I was like, okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna look, I'm gonna look. Yeah, didn't see him, I'm like, oh god. And then all of a sudden you see him walking down, they had the bench lift, and and then he sat and I was like, okay, didn't take a face off the rest of the game.

SPEAKER_01 41:21

And he hasn't taken a face off since. And again, huge shout out to Jack Finley. They're putting him out there, like they put him out there to start overtime in that game, and then he immediately went off. Uh-huh. Like he's that good in the dot. That's insane.

SPEAKER_02 41:36

It's his size, I think. His face-off percentage in the in this Carolina game, 64.3%. I think his size really helps. Yeah, and I think just he's a left-handed shot, which I think helps a lot of the times when you have an opposite hand on opposite hand, it's easy to kind of get that pull from it. Who else good in the face-off dot? Pugh Suder. He was 60% that night.

SPEAKER_01 42:00

Suder's been great this week as well. He really had.

SPEAKER_02 42:01

He had a good week. A couple goals. Couple goals, couple of just really good plays in general by by Suter. I think that uh as much as like his name was kind of maybe not pushed around as much, I think that there was the potential of seeing him in that trade deadline era, which I'm really glad that they decided to keep him here to let us see what he can do. I think that he has really proven that he he can be a good fit with this team. So, I mean, a really great win against the Hurricanes. And then it's so it's a back-to-back. We come home to play the Edmonton Oilers, who also played the night before. They played in Dallas, got beat-handedly by tough back-to-back for them, too. Got got beat handedly by the stars. I think it was a six to two loss for them. And we had won. So you figure there's no morning practice that morning. Who knows what time both teams get in? I mean late late night altogether. I'll tell you, this first period was like watching paint dry. It was it was kind of boring. There was only like, I think, six shots on goal from both teams. Very much a neutral zone possession first period. It was it was kind of boring. But we start off the second period, and really very heavily Edmonton Edmonton comes out and was like, What? Nope, we're gonna come in, we're gonna win this game. Former blue Casper Kapanen gets on the board first. It's a really pretty shot that he gives a beats Hofer gloveside. Great shot, assisted by Leon. So of course, you're you're gonna see the big name players coming in on the assist and and just the points in this one. You turn around the third period starts almost halfway through. Connor McDavid does what. Connor McDavid does beat boops down the ice. Beautiful shot by him, too. I mean, just clearly beats Hofer, blocker side, down. I mean, top art down. Beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 44:11

Shout out to Connor Ingram the goalie on getting an assist there.

SPEAKER_02 44:14

Yeah, he did. He did. It was. I guess I didn't realize it when it happened. I was just like too enamored with how fast McDavid was skating and was able to just run everybody else out. But so you're getting into the territory of your down two to nothing, you're on the back-to-back, you're kind of losing the crowd in this. And not even two-ish minutes later, beautiful setup by Yadatin Bergeren. Behind the net, no-look pass to Pew Suter, and Pew Suter beats Connor Ingram on the short side. Beautiful goal. I don't think that either of them really thought that it went in at first. Then they both realize it was just a great just celebration. And then everybody comes in hugs. I think Pereco was hot on the ice at that time, too. And you could tell Pereco, if anybody's happy when somebody scores, Colton Preko is the happiest kid ever because he's is like the leader and like gets them all into the hug together. That might have been the Cam Fowler goal that I'm thinking of. But but and then it's all blues after that. I mean the blues really just kind of slam the door. Slam the door on their and we're just like, what? Nope, we're not doing this. Late in the third period. We I didn't know this was allowed to happen. So the blues get a face-off in the offensive zone. Oscar Sunquist wins the face-off, and Cam Fowler shoots and scores on a face-off from the face-off dot. I did not know that we could do that. I thought that we only got goals scored against us when that happens. That was mean. But it was That was mean, she says. It was real. That's what I would say. It's just shout out to Cam Fowler because he gets this goal, but I will say defensively, had a terrible game. My goodness gracious. Was just letting up passes. Was not in the same mindset that we have seen him in the past couple of games. So really glad that he was able to get this. I will also say I don't remember if we were tied two to two or if it was we were down two to one. Colton Pereco, they we were on the penalty kill, and there were two like shorthanded, I don't want to say breakaways, but rushes. Colton Pereco was one of them. Does a forehand, backhand, and hits the crossbar like centimeters from getting getting the goal. I was I looked at my dad when it happened and I was like, I didn't know he knew how to do that. I'm really sad that this didn't happen. And he was like, no, that was a really good play. Like it him and I I forget who the other one was that had a really good play at that. We did a great job on the penalty kill. I mean, we had they we had three penalties and we killed all three penalties. So against that's huge against him. I was just about to say that against because I can remember us getting the first penalty, I was like, oh god, here we go. And it and in my opinion, very weak penalties. It kind of I don't know if I'm allowed to say this. What really pissed me off was that Connor McDavid had multiple times where it was either a holding, a little bit of an interference, and maybe a little bit of an elbowing and didn't get called. And there were times where we were getting called for just looking at Connor McDavid. I mean, it was just it was rough. But we tie the game pretty late in the third period, hold off, and sends us it sends us into overtime. We first get possession in overtime, uh, get a couple of shots, but for the most part, we spend majority of overtime in our zone. And Joel Hofer, if you ever listen to this, you are amazing. Stands on his head, making these saves, uh, holding out uh our defense was solid. We're pushing them to the outside. They're not getting the shots. They had a few shots in overtime, but not getting the quality chances that we're getting. Then with the last like 15-20 seconds, the blues make a rush down to the Edmonton zone. Kairu is the one that leads this, gets to the net, kind of does a forehand, backhand, and it hits off the toe of Connor Ingram. Cairou gets back to it, gets it to Cam Fowler. Cam Fowler looks like he's gonna go take the shot, doesn't fakes it, gives it to Robert Thomas, and just a beautiful shot by Robert Thomas to score with nine seconds left in overtime. And let me tell you, that place went berserk. It was so loud in there. Well, he was excited too. He doesn't show much emotion, like he doesn't, and he was he was excited. You could see Hofer coming down, he was excited. There was a lot of emotion that was built up with that.

SPEAKER_01 49:09

And I think you know what I loved that I noticed in that celebration is everyone like so again, we've talked about this. Thomas not taking face offs, clearly struggling with some kind of hand wrist issue, which sucks because he's had plenty of hand wrist issues in his career. But you could tell they were all like gently, excitedly congratulating him. Yes. Like it was like the like, oh, I'm so excited, like I'm gonna whack his head really hard because I can't like I can't jack hues him up against the boards. Like they they were trying to be like so they were all so excited, but trying to be so cautious that it made me laugh when I watched the replay.

SPEAKER_02 49:46

It was, like I said, probably the most emotion that I had seen in all of it. And when they had talked to Montgomery after the game, Montgomery was like, that's just a huge win for us. Like it's a huge just morale boost for us. You go in and you're on a back-to-back, you're playing a team like Edmonton, and you go in and you get a win in overtime in that caliber and in that just state. It was it builds the confidence and it shows that what we're made of. It really felt like you could say, okay, because I know that a lot of people after the trade deadline were like, okay, the tank for Mikano is just uh the word tank comes in. Yeah. At this point, the rest of the season's in the kids' hands, man. It's in the Jimmy Snuggeruds, the Jake Neighbors, the all year.

SPEAKER_01 50:43

We've been saying our best players need to play our best hockey. Robert Thomas battled through some injuries, had a pretty, pretty like slow season to start for him. He is, I mean, we've been talking about how on fire Jimmy Snuggerood is. Suders had a great week, Mayu looks good.

SPEAKER_02 51:02

Robert Thomas Dylan Holloway?

SPEAKER_01 51:05

Robert Thomas, Dylan Holloway. Am I stupid? Have we ever seen that line? Snuggerood, Thomas, and Holloway. I thought consistently before now. Consistently before now. Part of it is Thomas's injury and Holloway's being injured. So like And Snuggerood was injured too. And Snuggerood, yeah. So I mean, but like we're finally getting the stars to align there. But Robert Thomas is leading this team in play. And I honestly, I think literally, like, I think Robert Thomas came back from break, healed up.

SPEAKER_02 51:36

Man on a mission.

SPEAKER_01 51:37

Man on a mission, he looks great.

SPEAKER_02 51:39

I would just argue that it feels like we came back from break, and I think just that conversation of yeah, we could just go out there and tank and just play. Or we could really put some effort into it. We might win some games, we might lose some games, but I don't think it's within the identity of the St. Louis Blues to just lose because I agree.

SPEAKER_01 52:05

And something I was thinking about today as I kind of prepared and thought about what I wanted to talk about this week. The Blues have looked great since we came back from the Olympic break in general. But I feel like you can really tell how much the trade deadline weighed on them. Because although they won those games leading into the deadline, with the exception of the one lost, you can tell that they they are playing with a lot more confidence. I think like I just think it was a in the trade deadline is a hard week every year for most teams. But I think it's hard to get away.

SPEAKER_02 52:58

And then you're losing a guy like Justin Flock, who's eating up a lot of minutes, plus you have all the drama with the Colton Pareco stuff. You're losing a morale guy in Matthew Joseph. I'm not sure how much Nick Bukestead really that and that was before the Olympic break, but it you're not those are big pieces to lose in some people that have been part of our identity for six, seven, eight years. A lot of people take it personally.

SPEAKER_01 53:27

Like, if we were good, we wouldn't have to have this happen, right? Like, sure, even good teams make trades, but like it's just different. Like this, you know, we feel like we're bad and that's why we're making trades. So it's kind of like they they feel a responsibility for that.

SPEAKER_02 53:41

And so kind of looking at this, I just feel like there's a a push in for the kids to kind of show who they are and say, like, hey, yes, we lost really big portions of this team, people of this team who gave a lot, who wanted to see the success, and who saw success. I unfortunately Falk wasn't part of that cup run, but I mean Braden Shen was part of that cup run, he was a cornerstone of that cup run, wasn't captain yet, but was a big leadership in that, and became part of leadership after we traded Ryan O'Reilly. I mean, I'm looking at us losing Shen. I'm like, okay, you're losing a guy that truly embodied what it meant to be a St. Louis blue, but the legacy that he left on the players, looking at your Jimmy Snuggeruds, your Robert Thomas's, your Jake neighbors, I'm seeing just people in general that want to bring that still back to that was mean, back to the team and want to make sure that even though we lost somebody like that, you're still gonna get that from them. So I think that going forward, you're gonna you're gonna see the kids kind of jump in and really push to show, like, hey, yes, we lost them. However, we're we're here for you. We're we're gonna make sure that we're showing who we are. Which kind of leads me to the question, and and interested to what you're gonna say. I think I know what you're gonna say. You obviously the blues are not going to name a captain the rest of this year. There's only a couple weeks left, and then if we make the playoffs, you're not gonna throw in a captain at that point. Do you say, okay, we're gonna name a captain next year? Or do you run get a couple more A's on a couple more people, run just assistant captains for a year, and then name a captain the following year? Because I'll I'll tell you for me, I think that with how young the team is. Did you know that we're now the fourth youngest team in the league? I dig it. Whereas I think we were like the first oldest team like before the trade deadline. I believe that. So you've got some young talent coming up, and I go one of two ways with this. Do you get somebody like Jake Neighbors or Thomas to put on the C? Somebody that is young can resonate with these young guys coming up, hopefully builds from that, or do you hold out, still keep Thomas and Pereco as your A's, throw on an A on I think Broberg and and and Neighbors and run that for a year, just kind of let to see how the group does, and then name somebody after that once neighbors has had the chance to have an A on for a little while, Broberg, see how Thomas does, being a little bit more of the lead, I think, in that situation, and then name your captain. I'm just interested to see what you had to say.

SPEAKER_01 57:00

I've always been a little surprised by teams that don't name a captain until I watched The Kraken. I was gonna say Kraken was the one that I was thinking of for a while, and it worked really well for that season or two. Yeah, I think it was almost a year and a half.

SPEAKER_02 57:15

Mark Giordano was the was their captain. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 57:18

So they didn't replace him, and then they did a whole year of four but they alternated too. Like there were four main assistant, or four main alternate or assistant, either one, whatever the A is for captains, people use different terms, but they had some that rotated too. Plus Schwartz is made of glass, and so they had some like Maddie Beneers has been wearing an A there as of Adam Larson. Adam Larson wears an A. So here's my thought. One sorry, I saw my phone, the leaf's lost. Shocking. Here's my thought. One you can't make that decision until you're done making your moves in the offseason because I'm not totally convinced that the Pareko discussion doesn't come up again in the offseason. I'm sorry to tell you.

SPEAKER_02 58:05

Yeah, no, I have a a feeling that that's probably gonna be a topic of discussion.

SPEAKER_01 58:10

And I don't know that Pareko's gonna be the captain regardless. Like, I don't think that's probably gonna happen.

SPEAKER_02 58:15

But and this is me speaking because I like I love Colton Pareko, but I don't think that he is captain material.

SPEAKER_01 58:24

No, yeah, I think he's a material, and I and so but and so I want to be clear, like I'm not saying that Colton Pareko's gonna be the captain. So that's not really my my hesitation. What I do think is real, especially with this generation, is I'm not sure that we want to name a captain because I think that it may pit them against each other and there may be some hard feelings. And I don't I like not in the sense that anyone would hold it against the other, but I think that Jake Neighbors one, Jake Neighbors has what, a couple years until his next deal is up. So you're being a little risky by naming him captain if you do that. Thomas, you could name him captain, but I'm not totally convinced that Robert Thomas is C material. Complete agreement with you. I think it's like, and that's not, I don't mean that to be disrespectful to Robert Thomas. No, none whatsoever. I have no qualms about Robert Thomas. I love Robert Thomas. I would have been devastated if he had left. I'm just not sure that he is a Jake Neighbor screams captain the most out of everyone in this group, but I'm not sure that we really want to do that, because I'm not sure that you want to have to set the dynamic yet.

SPEAKER_02 59:37

Here's my concern about naming Thomas Captain. And I love Robert Thomas so like this isn't this is not a dig at him, it's more of I resonate with him because he wears a lot of emotion when he's frustrated with himself. Totally true. Yeah. And sometimes as a captain, you have to be able to I don't want to say hide your emotion, but be able to control it more, kind of control it a little bit more. So my concern at that would be would if he is captain, would he be able to handle those tougher situations of maybe he's not playing well? How could he get the team riled up, get them moving in the in the right direction when he's struggling himself? Because I know for me, when I get frustrated and I'm struggling with myself, it's very hard for me to see the positive and turn and say, no, guys, we got this. Because I take it really personally because it's me. I'm the one that's doing the wrong. I don't know how I could get people to be motivated because I'm not myself playing that well.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:49

Yeah, I agree. Ryan O'Reilly went through a phase like that when he was here. Now, he went through a phase like that in Nashville. He was literally in the media talking about how bad he was, like him talking how bad it was.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:58

And really, I guess he kind of kind of went through that in Buffalo, too. I mean Totally.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:02

And so that's that's a hard place to be. The other thing that I think that's all true. I agree. And the other thing that I think blues captains, I don't know, it just and maybe it's just the Braden Shen effect. Robert Thomas isn't and shouldn't drop the gloves.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:20

No.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:21

And Jake Neighbors will. Yes. But m you just said we're the fourth youngest team in the league. And I got an opinion on that. You need someone that's gonna stand up for your players and protect them. Yes. And so I'm not sure that it's fair to put Thomas in that situation because I don't think he should be having to answer the bell for that. Correct.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:40

And I and if Pereco stays, I don't think Pereco's the one that does that.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:44

No, it's it's always gonna be Jake Neighbors. Now, and again, my hesitation with Jake Neighbors is he only got a couple years on his deal, and I think he wants to stay here, and that was a decision that was made that was like, we don't know where the cap's gonna be. It was a total it's a bridge deal. It totally makes sense. And he wants to be here, so it's not a bridge deal like I might want to get out. It has nothing to do with that. It has to do with I just want to make sure I know where the team is at and and how much I can make. And I think that's fair. Plus, Doug Armstrong doesn't want to any GM doesn't want to pay longer than they're confident they know the value of the player. But I don't I think it's too soon to make that decision now. But all of that being said, the blues aren't really a team that doesn't name a captain in my experience. Like if I think back, I mean they always name a captain. And you know, I mean, how many years did we get O'Reilly as captain and Shen is captain, and and how long was Petrangelo captain? A fairly long time. Yeah. So I mean we're going through this phase now where we're even having captains for a couple years, and I'm like, why? Like, I mean, I'm not saying it's wrong. I just the blues seem like they'd rather name a captain even if it's temporary. I mean, remember when being a captain meant that you basically had trade protection? Where'd that go?

SPEAKER_02 1:02:51

Yeah, no, not gonna happen. So not in this day and age. Yeah. No, that was just kind of like the conversation I had with my dad driving home yesterday. I was like, I'm I'm looking at how we're playing right now, and I just don't know how to how to put this and how to if you do it, how you do it. It just seems like our Army Steen and Montgomery are gonna have a pretty big conversation to have right now and going into the offseason. I mean, because I don't know if you necessarily bring somebody in to be your captain either. Like, I think you have to pick somebody from within. Totally. I mean, you can't.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:31

Unless you unless you land like an Austin Matthews or a Connor McDavid or a someone like that, even then, I don't know if I'm throwing them in as captain right away. Well, probably not. So I would say no. If we're gonna have a captain, they're already on the team. So I'm just not sure that it's the right call to do that. Or who it is. Yeah. One last call I want to make on this Edmonton game. So again, we've talked at nauseam about Thomas being not taking face-offs. Right. We end up 50-50 in the face-off dot. Connor McDavid's face-off percentage last night, you want to guess? I'll give you a$10 if you get this right. Zero percent. Yes! Yes! Dang it! Do you oh for seven? Really?

SPEAKER_02 1:04:17

Connor McDavid 0 for 7 in the dot last night. So, but funny enough that you say that anytime that McDavid was out, that Finley, Teresa Torpchenko, and Seinquist Line was out.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:29

Yeah, so So that makes so that makes sense. So So I looked up, I was looking at the 50-50 face-off and I was like, I know they're good in the dot. I know they have good centers. So I looked up the list just to refresh myself because I knew Dry Seidel's a center, McDavid's a center, and Nugent Hopkins is a center.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:44

Nugent Hopkins didn't play last night.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:46

Yeah, and so I looked it up. Yeah, they have like 8 billion centers in like four wings. Yeah. But Dickinson was 75% in the dot. Okay. He's been great for them this year. Dry Sidal was only 58.8% in the dot. Adam Henrique, 43%, and then Pod Colzin and Roslovik both took one face off each, 100%. And Matt Savoie, I think is how you say his name, 25%. So and McDavid's 0%. 0%. Which shout out to Jack Finley. Yeah. What was Jack Finley's face-off percentage? Let's find out.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:23

Because it was really funny because I remember looking the starting lineup. We started with our top line against McDavid, but anytime McDavid came out for the face-off, it was that Finlay line.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:34

Oh, I'm so impressed. Okay. Finley was 54%, 7-6. Dylan Holloway, 9-3, 75% in the dot last night. Love it. Sunquist 3 1, so 75%. Ooh, Suter had a rough night. Yeah, Suter didn't have 4-9, 31% in the dot last night. Yeah, he wasn't too good in the dot. But nice to see it all balance out. I mean, taking 50% faceoffs against Evans. That is definitely I know that this game was like kind of lopsided one way, like the ice tilted for the entire game one way or the other.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:08

There was a big tilt.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:10

The ability to for possession in this game, like with the face-off dot, keeping it even, I mean, no doubt made a huge impact on our win this game.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:20

Yeah. I mean, going off that, Oscar Sunquist getting that win in the face-off in the third period to get it back to Cam Fowler to score the goal. I mean winning face-offs can the We've talked about this before. If you have possession and you win possession in the faceoff, it's easier to stay in the zone. Whereas if you're losing and having to chase, it's hard to gain that possession and get back into the zone and get set up. I mean, just overall, but overall, I mean fantastic week of hockey for the blues, which I don't think we've been able to see four wins in a row or four points in a row in.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:57

It literally hasn't happened this year. I mean like if I could go back in all of all 23 of our episodes today and say I wouldn't be able to find a clip of either of us saying a fantastic week of hockey for the blues.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:09

I know that clip doesn't exist. That clip does not exist. So you're welcome, blues fans. Here it is. So but I mean, I wouldn't even know how to describe this week coming up because you've got you start off, we're playing Winnipeg tomorrow. So we're recording this Saturday night, March 14th. So we play the Winnipeg Jets. Again, they're below us in the standings. They just played Colorado tonight, and they beat Colorado 3-1, but they had Connor Hellebuck play. So Comrie was is probably gonna be your starter. So now you gotta decide are you gonna put Hofer or are you gonna put Bennington in? Then you play Wednesday against Calgary. Again, a team that's struggling right now, and you have the potential to win that game. Then you go and you play Vancouver on next Saturday, the 21st. That's a game that you have to win. A team that's bottom of the NHL right now, struggling to find their identity. So you've got three potential wins, but for sure you've got to win two of those of those three. Then you come back. You we have Washington, San Jose. Those might be iffy-iffy. We play Toronto, who's struggling, another San Jose, another, and then our last LA game. We've got back to backs against Colorado. That's probably your toughest two games back to back. Followed by you have a Minnesota game still and a Utah game. And a Pittsburgh game. I mean, assuming that Sydney Crosby is healthy and back in the lineup because they've struggled with Crosby being out.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:50

But well I'm Alkins M. Malkin's been out now, so.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:53

Well, he should be coming back coming up because he had a five-game suspension. So yeah, I mean, you just it's you've got a very good chance of gaining a lot of ground here. However, you have the potential if you lose here and there.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:16

I mean it would be big to pull six points out of these three games. I would agree. Is this the full road trip? Or we yeah, we come back for Washington. Yeah, we come back for Washington. We sweep this road trip. This season is completely different. Yes. So you've you even if we win two of these games, but I would like for morale for us to win all three. Calgary and Vancouver, we should be able to win with our eyes shut. Winnipeg two, but Winnipeg al kind of always has our number, even when they're bad. But Winnipeg's bad, bad right now. They're bad. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:50

And then they just got rid of two really big defensemen. So three really big defensemen. No, Tyler Mouse from Vancouver, sorry. I'm thinking three, but two really big defensemen for them. Their offense, yeah. I mean, you've got a couple of people that are injured. So I I'm looking at this as this is a possibility for us to have six more points. And if you beat Winnipeg, you you have the chance to cement yourself and have a little more room with them in the in the playoff, in the playoff race. Calgary is below us, Vancouver's below us, Washington doesn't matter. San Jose, you have a chance to try and gain some ground on them because they're still in the wildcard spot. I think there's technically in the top three in the Pacific. I know LA is in the is in the wildcard hunt because they're close with San Jose is there they've drifted back a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:46

They've had a little bit of ayarin the second wildcard spot. They only have 70 points. Okay. Which, so again, the Western Conference is just insane. You've got the Central, Colorado Stars Wild, 97, 92, 88 points, respectively. Then you got the Pacific. Ducks, Golden Knights, Oilers. Can't believe the Oilers are still holding on to that spot. That's how bad the Pacific is. That the Oilers are in the third spot. With like it's 75, 74, 73 points. Yeah. Um, and then right now the wild card is Utah San Jose, 74 and 70 points. Like, I mean, this is bad. Also, yikes the Canucks, 48 points.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:22

That's like the year that we the Blues are really, really bad and had like, I think, a total of like 38 points on the year.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:28

Yeah, so I mean the Canucks and the Flames are no joke, the two worst teams in the league. So 48 and 59 points. That's terrible. The worst team in the East has 64 points.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:39

Which is the same as us.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:40

Yeah, the New York Rangers. So we could easily beat those two teams. Winnipeg, we're tied with Winnipeg 64 points apiece right now, but we have played one more game than they have. Okay. So that's why we're heading up.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:53

Tomorrow's a big game. Yeah. I think tomorrow's game could potentially shift where you go for the rest of the year. So I think still a lot of hockey left, what 18, 17, 18 games. So you still have a potential of earning a fair amount of points. I mean this is the time where I think you start to see uh how team morale really helps. So I'm really excited to see what this has for us.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:21

Agree.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:22

Do you want to do around the league or do you want to do chirps?

SPEAKER_01 1:12:25

Let's do chirps. You want to go first?

SPEAKER_02 1:12:26

Yeah. I can go first because I know you're gonna get into a little bit of a rant on yours. My chirp for this week is a little bit specific with players. I love that Jim Montgomery is not afraid to look at a player and say, hey, I don't think you're playing well, and we'll sit the player. And Jordan Cairou has been on his list a couple of times. I watched his game last night against the Edmonton Oilers, and it says that he had five shots on goal, but I can guarantee you there were times where he just decided to pass the puck instead of shoot, and it pissed me off. I was enraged. I'm really sorry to the people that were next to me because I know that I was probably making a fool of myself. I just kept getting frustrated that he wasn't shooting and passing. I was like, why are you afraid to shoot right now? You can do this. Like, I promise you, you can do this. So my chirp is, hey, just shoot the puck. It really kind of everybody right now, because our shot count is very low in these games. But shoot the puck. It's how you score goals. Mine's kind of lame this week. I apologize, but I don't think it's lame.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:39

I think it's true.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:40

Alexa's Alexa's chirp probably is gonna take a little bit of uh a little bit of time. Listen, I said this what two weeks ago during the Olympics, so here's the deal. He's public enemy number one.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:55

Yeah. I my but my chirp is your chirp is not that. My chirp isn't Radkagudis. My chirp is the leaves.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:04

Like okay, my chirp is Radagudis needs to make sure that he stays hidden for these five games because you've now taken out two Canadian delicacies.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:14

Austin Matthews is American.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:16

Watch it. But a Canadian team.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:18

You're hurting the Canadians, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:19

A Canadian team delicacy. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:22

So Thursday night. Thursday night? Yeah. Thursday night, the Leafs play the Ducks. And Radcagudis, who, to Alyssa's point, is who injured Sidney Crosby in the Olympics.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:38

Public enemy number one.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:39

Public enemy number one. Radcogudis flies across the center of the ice, knee-on-knee contact with Austin Matthews. Austin Matthews immediately goes down.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:51

But to this, to this real quick before you continue, my favorite is the people on Twitter who are like, it was a hip check. And the frame by frame is like literally his his knee just straight into conto Austin Matthews' knee.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:05

It's like we watched Austin Matthews MCL tear. So Matthews eventually manages to get back on his feet. It took him a minute. It absolutely took him a minute. He laid there in a lot of pain. And I watched a lot of Austin Matthews and a lot of Toronto Maple Leafs, a lot of USA hockey. A lot. It's not super common for him. He is injured a lot of the time, but a lot of times you can't tell in moments like that. Like you can more so tell when he's on the bench, he's hunched over. You can tell he's labored. He's not one to really lay on the ice like that. Had a hard time getting up. We find out next day, third degree MCL tear out for the remainder of the season, will be re-evaluated at the end of the season. Even if they play make the playoffs, he will not play again this year.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:54

That's really funny that they think that the Toronto Maple Leafs are gonna make the playoffs.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:57

No, like the note, there was a public that's how that's like the most insane part. There was a publicly released statement from the Maple Leafs on what the injury was and that he will not return this. It was he will not play another game this year, including any playoff opportunity. Like basically they're like, I don't care if the Leafs somehow, somehow make it to the Stanley Cup. He's not playing. And that's worded that way for a reason. But this happens. Matthews is Matthew. Like you're certain I can see you getting frustrated. I'm not laughing. I'm just I know it's terrible. Matthews is on the ice and I was Alyssa, I was so angry. I was pacing around my living room. I made a voice memo because I was so angry that I wanted to get my thoughts for the podcast down in a voice memo so that I didn't forget them. Have I listened to it? No, because it makes no sense. I'm that angry. But there are they're at full strength. Let me tell you what ensues after Radco Goodis hits Austin Matthews and Austin Matthews is on the crown. Nothing. Insert crickets here. Yeah. Insert crickets here. Nothing. Nobody goes over, and not to anyone. Now, there was there have been some comments made that are like least looking at Radco Goodis and like, yeah, I'm not gonna mess with that guy. I don't care if you go grab someone that's not Radco Goodis. You should be you should be ready to burn the place down. There was just no emotion whatsoever. They were just kind of like But here's the deal: that's not a hockey team. If you don't stand up for your teammates, I don't care if you hate your teammates. I don't care if he stole your girlfriend. I don't care. I don't care why you don't like your teammates. If you don't like your teammates, they're still your teammates. Nobody messes with your teammates, but you. You do not allow other people to treat your team that way. Your frustration with your teammates is in your locker room. If you're not playing for each other, you're not a team and you're never gonna win. I don't, that is, I've never felt so passionately about something in my life. And for all the things that the blues frustrate me about, it is one thing I am always grateful for and I never take for granted, is they always feel like they're going out there and they're playing for one another. And my peak frustration with the blues over the last three to four years has been when Jordan Kyro or Robert Thomas take a hit and nobody stands up for them. That is what makes me so mad. And we have a group now that doesn't do that. This from the Leafs, though, is some of the I mean, it and it was it was that the Leafs won this game. The Leafs are terrible right now. They're very good. They had not won a game since the break. And Austin Matthews had Seattle the Seattle Seahawks had won recently than the Toronto Maple Leafs, which is insane. The the Leafs had not won a game since coming back from the break. They won this game. It's their first win. Austin Matthews hadn't had a goal since January for the Leafs. So of course he scored in the Olympics. Yeah. Hadn't scored a goal since January. He scores a goal before he gets hurt. And then they win this game, and all that is being talked about is that Matthews is hurt and that they're obviously not-there's a quote out there, and I I'm sorry, I can't remember the person it's from, but are you a hockey club or are you a hockey team?

SPEAKER_02 1:19:26

That's a good point because as I get it, the the people of tr and what's really funny to me is seeing the anger that the city of Toronto has right now with this, considering the fact that we, when we were in Toronto, people were like, Oh yeah, no, we hate Austin Matthews. Like, we don't like him, we didn't like Mitch Marner, like they're they don't need to be here, blah blah this blah blah blah. And then this happens, and they're like, I can't believe no one was standing up for Austin Matthews. I'm like, pick your poison, baby.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:58

Well, and I'm a big William Neilander fan. William Neilander looked at William Neilander. Looked at the play, look, looked at the ref and raised his hands, like, why haven't you called it? They asked him about it in the media and why he didn't stand up for Austin or why he didn't do anything, and he said, I didn't see it. I mean, that's that omen right there.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:18

I was gonna say, I also think they asked Morgan Riley the same thing, and why he's like, Oh, I didn't have a good view of it, and literally he stands up. The picture of Austin Matthews has Morgan Riley straight in the background.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:28

I mean, yeah, I mean, it's pretty clear to me that I this is Team Sports 101. You stand up for your stand up for your team. If you don't, if you're not playing for each other, you're never gonna be successful. This team, we we wondered why this team isn't good. We joke that it's Mitch Marner. Like we joke that they're bad because it's not because Mitch Marner's not there. Here's the deal they they're not playing for one another, and therefore they're not gonna be successful. Blow the team up.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:59

Blow it up. I have to wonder if you see an Austin Matthews request for a trade.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:09

So I was listening to 32 Thoughts. Shocking. And shocking. And uh Elliot Freeban was talking about how someone, he didn't name who someone texted him and said somebody click-clacked into his phone. Yeah, someone click-clacked into his phone and said, Is was that the last game Austin Matthews played for the Leafs? And and that person was being, he was like, that person's being like kind of dramatic. And I'm like, slow your roll. But no, I'm I think the same thing. If I'm Austin Matthews, I'm not ready to go back out there. I just tore my MCL. I won a gold medal in the Olympics. I come back, I don't miss a game. I keep playing, I try to push us over the edge. I go down and you're like, oh, darn. I have never been so frustrated in my life. Because you can be a really, really bad hockey team, but if you stand up for your teammates, then that means something to me. Call it St. Louis Blue Collar Sports. But like that is the the bar is so low.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:05

I think that's something that is hard for St. Louis fans or just like us in general right now, is like we're so used to that blue-collar. Something happens, we're going to be a team, we're going to stand up, we're going to do this. You're seeing it a lot right now in Buffalo. I mean, Dallen, when he got hurt the other couple nights ago, it was against Tampa. Immediately, you had three guys on Brandon Hagel.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:30

I mean, they asked Dallen about this stuff in Toronto today because they're playing Toronto or they played Toronto tonight, they beat Toronto. Shocking. They asked Dallen about it because they had a similar situation with Tage Thompson. A couple years ago, Tage Thompson got hurt and nobody jumped in. Tage was seriously hurt. Nobody jumped in to stand up for him and it didn't go over well in the locker room. And they asked Dallen how he fixed that and how he thinks they've overcome that as a team. And he said, We focus more on team bonding and strengthening our brotherhood. And they said, How do you do that? And he said, drink beer. And I think that's hilarious. But like the that's the most the bar is so low. If you want to be successful, you care for one another, and you you don't play for yourself. They're playing the Leafs are playing selfish hockey.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:16

Well play for your teammates. I think that that kind of goes into just the Canadian market right now. I mean, I'm looking at all of the Canadian teams, and let me let me make sure that I have myself correct in in what I what I'm gonna say. Okay, so you have in the wild card, the Montreal Canadians are currently sitting towards the top. And Montreal is not an easy team to play for, it's not an easy market to play for. But you look at that team and they have a good core group right now, and you're not hearing a lot about like, oh, this person's doing this, this person's doing this. So they they kind of keep it under wraths. The Senators, not in a playoff spot, but when you have a guy like Brady Kachuk on your team, you're not gonna ever have to worry about somebody standing up for you if something happens. But I look at Toronto, who are my other Canadian teams. I mean, you've got Winnipeg who is struggling right now, but Mark Shifley's never gonna let someone go right and I mean they lost Logan Stanley, who of course did that as well.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:30

Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:30

Yeah. You've got Calgary and Vancouver who are kind of towards the bottom, but it doesn't seem like the morale is is low. It seems like they're playing for each other, and yeah, it's a tough stretch of hockey, but it seems like it there's a lot of push towards the future. So I I'm not seeing the concern there. But then, like I look at this Toronto team, you have the ability to have a really great team. You've got one of the best players in the world on your team, you've got a bunch of just hard-hitting players. Your defense struggles and your goaltending's not consistent. But this team is just like you said, it's hard to watch when it's selfish hockey.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:23

Well, and I mean, uh there's not been much devil's advocate out there for this, and I'm certainly not gonna be the one. But I will say that I said this when we talked about the moves at the deadline last week. They got rid of McMahon and Lawton. They were the only two with any spine. I mean, I see you were like, well, yeah, but they're bottom liners, and you were you were saying that truthfully, you're right. They're third, fourth liners.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:43

But that when you're the only person that's standing up for people, yeah, and then you're okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:50

I mean, Lawton Nor McMahon probably would have been on the ice for that hit, but the the Leafs didn't make any kind of any kind of move even after the play resumed.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:01

Even if that even if they wouldn't have been on the ice for that, my thought is that the next play there could have been the potential of something. Absolutely. I mean Barube, evidently Barube gave him a total earful about it, which doesn't surprise me because his DNA which this it's so it's not surprising that Barube's not seeing the success that he's seeing in the role with the Leafs. Craig Barubi's a blue-collar coach. He needs to be in a place like Alberta, where he's coaching a blue-collared city.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:33

I was gonna say, like for a while I got I was a little ruffled by people that called the Leafs SOFT soft. But after this week, I'm I'm thinking I was just I was in some rose-colored glasses. I mean, that's what certainly what they look like. And it's to be fair, it's certainly what they look like without Lawton and McMahon. Because I've watched a lot of Leafs hockey. Yeah, two of them are in everything like that. Yeah, they're hitting people, they're caught up in scrums, like that's just what they do. It's part of their play. The Leafs couldn't afford to lose that. You're not you're not gonna lasted.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:06

Yeah, I was gonna say, you're not gonna see someone like Willie Stiles in on a Tavara's possibly dummy, possibly.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:16

Well, and here's the thing like, I'm not asking for William Neilander to get in a brawl. I wouldn't expect Robert Thomas to get in a brawl but Robert Thomas would be shoving someone up a hundred percent. He'd be in their face, he'd be yelling at them. A hundred percent. Like the bar again, the bar is low. The bar is very low. So I think it was Morgan Riley that said in the media after the game that Barube totally laid in to him about it. Yeah, he was like he should. Yeah, and he was like, That can't happen. We should have stood up for him. And so we find out today, as far as discipline goes for Radco Goodis, he was given a phone hearing, which the way the rule is written, if it's a phone hearing, it's not gonna be more than five games. Um he was kicked out of that game or I believe it was early in the game, wasn't it? No, I think it's a good idea. No, the beginning was later in the game. Yeah. It was a knee on knee, though. He'd got a kneeing penalty. He was ejected from that game. Regardless, he did get a hearing for kneeing. That was what it was named for. Hearing for kneeing, Austin Matthews. It's a phone hearing, so we knew it was gonna be more than five games. He got all five games. They asked the Leafs about it today, and they're all like, I don't think it's enough. Oh, now you don't think it's enough.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:24

Let me let me rescend my my chirp about Jordan Cairo. Let's chirp the Department of Player Safety. Because they're inconsistent. What a joke. What is a joke? Because what the way I look at it, and I had seen a couple of tweets that had talked about this. I'm gonna throw a name out there. You're gonna you're gonna laugh. Jason Spetza received a fairly big suspension for I believe it was a first-time offense. And the people were like, what the heck? And it wasn't anything to the extent of the kneeing like rap like Gudis had had in that game. Goodness has a rap sheet. He has had multiple suspensions. So to me, I'm thinking, this is a repeat offender. Why is a repeat offender not receiving more than five games? Why is if Genny Malkin, I mean, to to the point of Genny Malkin like hacks all what was it, Dallen and got and got the five game suspension. I get that. That makes sense to you. You can't do that. Yeah. There's but there's so many times that I look at plays and I'm like, how is this not multiple game suspension? Or you're gonna tell me this is a one game, or you're only gonna get a fine. A fine to them is like throwing pennies into a well. Get out of here with that.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:46

Yeah. So Elliot Friedman tweeted this yesterday. He click-clacked right on into your Twitter. Asked Austin Matthews' agent Judd Moldaver about his response to the ruling, which by the way, if nobody's listened to Judd Moldaver, I know that's a very niche comment for me to make. It's not a niche comment for you to make, but go on. Jud Moldaver is one of the super agents. He does have Connor McDavid, and he has Austin Matthews. And he has a couple others. I'll cut it if he doesn't. But he's got a lot of big names, but only I I think he has like probably half a dozen uh clients that are all notable. He was on 32 Thoughts earlier this year talking about the McDavid contract, and it was so super interesting to listen to him talk about it. Regardless, Elliot Freeman reached out to Jeb Moldaver. Here's his reply. In light of the obvious severity of the play, I am disappointed and shocked the league would allow such a ruling. A phone hearing in five games is laughable and preposterous. While the process is set in our CBA collective bargaining agreement, that this was the discipline is reckless and ridiculous. This decision results in a further loss of confidence in the disciplinary process for all players. Players and fans deserve better. The player safety department should be suspended. What go off? Suspend yourself. That's what Joe Kate said.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:08

No, because I mean it's it's insane though. The inconsistency of it is really what's crazy to me. It's kind of like when you're talking about what is goaltender interference. You don't know.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:18

So here's a Mark Masters, who writes for Buffalo. He said that the morning interview this morning, Rasmus Stalin, before the interviews formally started, he asked for an update on Austin Matthews. Well, they play I know they can play together. I know, but still, like before you start your media asking for an update on the other team's captain, I feel for Austin it sucks to have an injury like that. We knew Austin was out. He knew he wasn't gonna play. Right. But that's it's just the inconsistency is insane. The Rat Kagudis is it is a repeat offender. Part of the reasoning was that he had spent several years not like that. I know Andy Strickland, of course, everyone in St. Louis knows him, said that he felt like five was enough. I disagree. But the Evgeny Malkin one Malkin is a good one for you to bring up. He was suspended five games. He slashed Rasmus Nalin in the face. And Evgeny Malkin, that one, I was like, Malkin, why would you do that? That's just reckless and stupid. Yes. Like that was just dumb. Like they weren't even moving. He slashed him in the face because he was angry at him. And my real problem with the Evgeny Malkin one was Malkin, your team can't afford to not have you. Sidney Crosby is already out. You're pull you're on the bubble for a playoff spot, and you've now put your team in a terrible position. Crosby was on the ice the next morning, even though we know he's not healthy. I mean, because he's trying to figure out how to do it. He's trying to figure out how to do it. My thing there as far as whether the goodest hit was a good hit or not, I don't like the hit. I think, and this is this probably makes me sound soft. And I know I've been talking for a hot minute about this, but my thing with this Gutus hit is this is I think that there are some players that really should be afforded some protection. Not literally speaking. Not Patrick Mahomes, stubbed my toe, why didn't you call it? But I think there's a respect factor that should be in play. Kneeing, Austin Matthews, Connor McDavid, Leon Jaisidal, Nikita Kucherov, Sidney Crosby, any of that open or or a shoulder to the head. Open ice? What are you doing? It's like if it's up against the boards and it's an unfortunate deal, I would feel so different about this. But you were it is clear that he is going to tie Austin Matthews up in some way. Of course, he wasn't trying to tear his knee apart, but like he knew what he was trying to do in that situation.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:50

And the thing that I think it bothers me in it as well is that there was no disciplinary action during the Olympics because there can't be, because of the it not being part of the NHL. So he essentially got away with get out of jail free on Sydney freaking Crosby. Right. And if you've listened to this podcast, you know that I love Sydney Crosby, and I truly believe that he's Canada's princess, and I love him to death. And I just I'm looking at it from the respect of it doesn't matter the caliber of the player. You intentionally went and hurt a player. You intentionally knew that you knew that your actions were going to maybe not to the severity in which it happened, but you knew that that hit was going to take that player out. Yeah. That a knee on knee, and whether you meant for it, oh, it was supposed to be a hip check, in no way was his hip out. His knee was full on directly in front of him. Yeah, I mean it's clear. It's a knee. It's a knee. Now it just I guess what what's what's wild to me is the fact that that happened and it was oh he's getting a a phone hearing, and you would have thought just Twitter was going through it, man. They were like, I can't believe this. And to your point, there should be some level of protection for these. I don't want to say bigger name players, because it doesn't matter the player.

SPEAKER_01 1:35:24

Austin Matthews, though, like I think there's something to be said for we talked about Robert Thomas not being a fighter. You don't go after someone that's not a fighter if you want to pick a fight. You go find someone that's an instigator or that's an enforcer. A hit like that isn't even a isn't even a rough. It's not a shove, it's not a it's not a check. It's it's just a dirty play. And it that's tough. And honestly, as you were speaking, I thought on the Evgeny Malkin item, and I should apply that logic here to Rag Kogudis. The we just talked about the Ducks. He's the captain of that team. There's 75 points there at the top of the Pacific, but Vegas has 74 points and Edmonton has 73 points. I mean, they're gonna be without their captain for five games. You should not be putting your teammates in that position, right? So if you're a ducks player or ducks front office, you're probably not pleased in a match. Put yourself in a position to be at risk like that either.

SPEAKER_02 1:36:21

I haven't really followed up with it. I'd be interested to see what Joel Quinville said on the situation because Joel Quinville's w was part of that Chicago team where uh you had those big name players, and if somebody went after his big name players, it was not it was not a good thing. So I'm interested to see what he has to say. I'll have to do some more research onto that.

SPEAKER_01 1:36:44

But yeah, well, best of luck to to Austin Matthews and his recovery, and best of not luck to the Leafs. I don't tank for McKenna. I hope you land somewhere in the middle. And I won't be watching, I watch Leafs games almost as religiously as I watch Blues games. I know you do. They're an East Coast team, so they start at six, so usually I can at least get a period in if the Blues play the same night. Right. I'm not watching the Leafs the rest of the year. Like we could be. Here's the deal: I watch those games for Austin Matthews because I think he is that fun to watch. And bottom line is he's not playing anymore, so I have no desire to turn on those games. Uh in the same kind of arena, only other league-wide news I really wanted to cover was there was a goalie interference call on Nate McKinnon this week. Speaking of big players getting disciplined, Nate McKinnon goes through the crease, connects with Connor Ingram, goalie of the Edmonton Oilers. He's assessed a major and gets ejected from the game. And while it's rough, if you watch the play, at least in my opinion, it's nowhere near as obvious as that goodest play is on Matthews. And it's similar because they're going east to west in both plays. That's really the only thing about it that's similar, but they are moving in that direction. I mean, it's tough. You never want to see a goalie in that situation, but it was called a major, and I was shocked it was called that way. The league actually called this one back. They rescinded it, so it's not on McKinnon's record as a major or an ejection, and he is not getting any supplemental discipline. The reason for that is if you watch the play, Darnell Nurse, defenseman for the Oilers, plays a role in pushing him into Ingram, which was my opinion on the play the whole time. That's why I felt like it shouldn't have been a major. But he got some he got some criticism for that. There were a lot of people that felt like he should have been assessed extra discipline, and I just simply I personally don't agree. But and it's not because he's Nate McKinnon, it's because if you watch the play, Darnell Nurse played a role there. We see that happen a lot where defensemen push players into the goal, and sometimes we don't get the goalie interference call that we want.

SPEAKER_02 1:38:48

In this case, it's a well again, the I don't the inconsistency of goaltender interference kind of comes into play into this. Like it's an assessed a major four goaltender interference there, and then immediately rescinded because they felt that an the other Well, they rescinded the major after the game was already game.

SPEAKER_01 1:39:08

It's definitely goalie interference because he made contact with the goaltender, but Darnell Nars played a role, and so that's why they determined it wasn't a major.

SPEAKER_02 1:39:16

I guess it just it just bothers me that there's not the consistency factor of plays.

SPEAKER_01 1:39:23

Fair enough. But I mean I think that after seeing the Olympics played with the IIHF goalie interference rules, which are all about protecting goaltenders, um, I think that we're probably gonna see a change in the goalie interference calls. The other thing is the NHL's kind of made their bed this way. We've seen a lot more contact with goaltenders this year because we found that we have a lot more a lot of players and teams feel like they have more leeway with goalie interference because it's so inconsistent. So they're like, just do it and see what happens. Like, not intent to interpret the aggressive nature in front of the goal.

SPEAKER_02 1:39:57

Because I mean, yeah, the the fact of the matter is is that they go based on what they see in the moment. The decision for goaltender interference comes from the the refs in the moment with the iPads and everything. So it's basically a a judgment call. And even if it goes to Toronto, it's a judgment call. Right. So I just don't understand how you can have something written in the books to say, hey, if you make any kind of contact with the goaltender, it's goaltender interference, and then you get into a play and it happens, it's like, well, he kind of made contact, but if you put this into play and you do this, and the eyelash is just tilted a little bit this way and the feathers push this way, you're gonna get this. No, it there are rules for a reason, it's black and white for a reason. I don't like it. I agree, and I think Well, it's kind of like the offsides thing now, too, where it's like they're allowed to have a foot up. And it's like, uh, come on.

SPEAKER_01 1:41:01

Yeah, I think that the reason this was called on Nate McKinnon in the moment is it was it was a fast, I mean he was coming in fast. I think that there's been a lot of conversation about really buckling down on goalie interference and protecting goalies more so going into the playoffs before this turns into a bloodbath. And I think that that's been a conversation among officials and teams and every not officials talking to teams and and such, but I think the league as a whole understands that maybe we've taken this a little too far and we need to reel it back in. And so I think they were trying to set a precedent by saying, hey, like this is not cool. Now it got rescinded, so I don't know, I don't know how you feel about it now, but I do think that the major call came from a place of we're trying to reel in and take more control and protect our goalies more, and it probably was just over-executed. Yeah. And so it probably should have just been a goalie interference call and we should have called it a day. Probably shouldn't have ejected Nate McKinnon because believe it or not, everyone pays attention when you eject someone like Nate McKinnon from a game. And then everyone notices when you rescind it. So anyway, that's really the the main two things around the league this week were just a lot of suspensions and and naturally just goalie interference calls. We're getting down to the wire. The last 18 games, interested to see where everything ends up. But the blues look great. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:42:26

So I'm really proud of them. And I think for me, and this can kind of be the last little bit, I know we've we've kind of rambled on this episode, but I'm glad that the word tank isn't a conversation. I'm glad that the team is looking at what talent they have, and they are really trying to say to themselves, we believe in what we're building. And we've put it in the hands of the kids, really. And I know I said that earlier in the in the episode, but truly, it's in the hands of these newcomers coming up, the the younger kids that were already on the team. I think this is we said it last week. The kids are all right, it's gonna be good. I'm excited for it. I think that this has been the most fun I've had watching blues hockey in a really long time.

SPEAKER_01 1:43:22

It's been a blast to watch. Like it's fun to watch them. We've got really good goaltending out of Hofer right now. And Bennington had a good game this week. But the no, they're flying, they're shooting at well. I mean, when they're shooting, well, they're shooting with at more accuracy. Yes, I will say that. So we're seeing some fun goals. Yeah, uh, they need to shoot more often, but we're seeing some really well, well executed shots, and they're playing as a team, and we'll see what this road trip has in store. So all right.

SPEAKER_02 1:43:57

Well, thanks for tuning in, guys. We appreciate it. If you're liking this, give us a follow on the socials. We keep listening, recommend to friends. We appreciate all the support that we've been given. It's been fun doing this. I love doing this. I just love I love talking. I love talking to you.

SPEAKER_01 1:44:12

Yeah, I'm a chatty Kathy. So all right, guys. Have a great week. Bye. From the Lou to the League. We've got you covered. Thanks for listening. This has been Two for Chirping. Gals from the Lou, watching all 32. It's hockey talk flavor. You're welcome.