2FC 1.25: Blues Heating Up at the Perfect Time

The Blues are heating up at exactly the right time. After going 4-1-1 in their last six games, St. Louis is playing some of their best hockey of the season and it’s the young guns leading the charge.

We break down the recent stretch of big wins, the noticeable progression across the lineup, and why this team suddenly feels different. Snuggerud, Holloway, Broberg, and Mailloux are stepping up in a big way, and it’s translating to results on the ice.

With the Blues sitting just four points out of a playoff spot, we talk about what needs to happen down the stretch.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome back, blues fans. Boy, is it a fun time to be a blues fan, but really just to say a sports fan in general, we are hot off last night. Yeah, hot off the sweep of sports yesterday with the Battlehawks, the Cardinals, and the Blues pulling wins off. But I gotta be honest, guys, I was on vacation this week. I was at the beach, and the blues were must see hockey, even then. They are just an absolute blast to watch right now. Hofer's absolutely on one. Dylan is on one.

SPEAKER_03 0:37

Joel Hofer is putting up mental numbers. I can't wait to share the stats when we get when we dive in.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Dylan Holloway's on one. Philip Broberg is on one. Jimmy Snuggerood is on one. And honestly, Logan Mayu looks like a completely different player than who we picked up at the beginning of the year.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Is this is this because I I started talking bad about him? Is it the Alberti effect?

SPEAKER_00 1:08

Yeah, you that's right. So just you know, here's some good context. When you were in the 2019 playoffs, Alyssa used to talk bad about players that she wanted to do good things. Alyssa absolutely loves Joel Edmondson, and she would talk mad crap on Joel Edmondson, and then he would go and do something great, and she did it intentionally because she thought that like it would bring to fruition some positivity for Joel Edmondson. So she's just applying that to Logan Mayu here.

SPEAKER_01 1:35

So Joel, if you ever listen to this, please know that I love you and never would speak bad about you in any other context. But that game was a two penalty where you took like a four-minute penalty. I I still think about that.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

I still remember where I was. I believe I was at Mike and Chelsea house, your your brother and sister-in-law's house in Afton. Yeah, that was quite a day. And I I made fun of Alyssa for that until we got rid of Joel Edmondson because every time she would say, I love Joel Edmondson, I would be like, No, you don't. You absolutely hate Joel Edmondson. You talk mad crap about him all the time. Anyway, the blues are just so much fun to watch right now, and I think with a year that has been for the most part below the standards of what we expected, what the organization expected, they're sh making a show of what they're capable of, and I think the future's really bright, and you know, we've got I think 10 games left, and um, it's gonna be a tight one, but there's certainly the possibility for some some bonus hockey this year for the Blues, which is exciting. So without further ado, let's dive in. From the Lou to the league, we've got you covered. This is two for chirping. Gals from the Lou watching all 32.

SPEAKER_03 2:53

It's hockey talk with flavor. You're welcome. Alright, so we're gonna cover the last two weeks of hockey. You know, Alexa went off and decided to go to the beach without me, so we didn't get a chance to talk about the week before, but that's okay. We love her for it. We love that she got to relax and got to be a queen that she is. We start off two weeks ago against the Winnipeg Jets. Now, this is a game that I was a little bit, I don't want to say nervous about, but this could potentially cause us the problem of the road trip. We the Winnipeg Jets just it's been an up and down year for them as well. They sit three points out of a playoff spot as of today, March 29th, as well. So they were they've been back and forth in the wildcard spot, not wildcard spot. They had a really long stretch of losing. So we get into this game and we get a goal by Hayden Fleury to start off the game. Now, is is Hayden the one that's from the Kraken?

SPEAKER_00 4:03

I can't I can never play for the Kraken. So Hayden Flurry was part of the expansion draft to the Kraken. Yes. And he so he I first started watching Hayden Fleury during COVID. He played for Carolina during the COVID bubble play, and he's been he's a very good defenseman that has just always been like a bottom pair guy. In Seattle, he played in the middle pair a little bit, but Seattle just has really good defense, and so he was there a couple years. His brother still plays for Seattle as the seventh defenseman most of the time.

SPEAKER_03 4:39

But he was traded to the Lightning, and then now he's part of Winnipeg, but the and also this is the first game that we see Winnipeg post trade deadline. Thank you. So, like, no Logan Stanley, no Luke Shen, no Braden Shen for that matter, and it's the it was not a great game for the blues. We outshoot Winnipeg 31 to 16, which is absolutely wild to me. But Winnipeg outhits us 26 to 30.

SPEAKER_00 5:14

This game is just I remember watching this game and being and feeling like we outplayed them the majority of the game, but it looked like they were skating circles around us. It just felt like from a stats perspective, we were outplaying them in every way possible, except they were hitting us and they could but they still couldn't get any shots on goal. We also finally get the Bennington versus Winnipeg matchup.

SPEAKER_03 5:40

Now it's not Hellibuck and goal, but yeah, no, it's it's Halibuck had played the night before about with against they were playing Colorado the night before, so it you expect Bennington to come out and have that Bennington effect that he always has when he plays big games, but I believe this was like the first or second shot on goal that he lets in from Hayden Fleury. It's a shot. Yeah, so I mean that kind of it felt like it kind of set the pace for the game. So then we get a Mark Scheifley goal a little bit later in that first period. No goals were scored in the second period. That was probably the most true hockey that I saw us play. It was a very tight game at that point. It just felt like the blues were snake bitten in that second period. They were getting the shots, obviously, and just weren't getting past Comri, which is, you know, being him being the backup goalie, we've you you see how well Halibuck plays, but to see that they had the backup of Comri standing on his head really kind of put it in perspective and and gave you that glimmer of like, oh man, if Winnipeg does make the playoffs, I mean, they've got one A and one B going on. That they could potentially make it further. Then we start the third period, we get a beautiful Dalbour Divorski goal. He has been playing so well. He's been leading that third line now with Stenberg coming up, Sten Stenberg and Bergren. And let me tell you, I love that line. I love the way that they're playing, I love the way that they're moving their feet. They just we were at the Toronto Maple Leafs game last night, and we had some leaf stamps behind us, and the guy just kept saying, you know, man, they're just getting pucks in deep. And it just it made me laugh because yeah, they're getting pucks in deep, they're getting shots on goal, and they are just doing a great job with that. But we get a a divorcee goal, and you see a little glimmer of hope in this. You're down two to one, you still have 15 minutes left in the game. Unfortunately, you get a Kyle Connor goal, and Kyle Connor is just somebody that always anytime against the blues. He just he has our number, man. He's the one guy. If you're going into sports betting, he's the guy that I'm putting down on my parlay against the blues. Inevitably, he scores against us or gets some kind of point against us. So then you're three to one with about 10 minutes left. And then, of course, Dylan Holloway doing Dylan Holloway things scores with about 59 seconds left. And, you know, in true Alyssa fashion, I was like, okay, we have 59 seconds. We can win, we can still tie this and go to overtime. But Winnipeg does a really great job of keeping us to the outside, not being able to get in, not being able to get a shot. So we don't get a point out of that game, but it was a frustrating game for for me on my end. I don't know about you, Alexa, but I felt frustrated with that game because we had just come off a really good win against the Oilers and the Hurricane. So two really good teams that are in the top portion of their divisions, uh have great goaltending, have great speed, great everything. You you look at a at a struggling Winnipeg team. Now there's still a good Winnipeg team, but a struggling one, and you can't get past that point. And I think that was frustrating, especially with how good we had been playing up to that point.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

Yeah, I I totally agree. Winnipeg has been one of those teams that across the league really has been kind of considered a disappointment this year, and I think their real like Achilles heel is how inconsistent they are. They go through stretches where they lose four or five games in a row, and then they go through stretches where they win a couple, but they can't seem to piece together any kind of momentum really without disrupting it. It's very similar to like how losing them this year. Yes, and they lose against bad teams. If you look at Winnipeg's list of games and the games that they've lost in the last even just two months, or you know, maybe since the beginning of the calendar year with the Olympic break, but they're losing to teams you can't afford to lose to when you're pushing for a playoff spot. Overall, this was a really frustrating game because I felt like the Blues played a better game than it appears. I mean, we only lost by one goal. I just felt we we put a lot more work into this game and didn't come out with the win. Out shooting them almost two to one or more than two to one is is insane behavior. But that was a tough loss. I didn't really I wanted at least a point out of that, and I thought we might get it, but we didn't. But it was nice to see the blues continue to play. You know, they called back in that third period, scored those two goals to make it close at least. That's really all you can ask for, I think, in a situation like that where the team just seems to be pretty much blocking you out completely.

SPEAKER_03 10:40

So yeah, and uh you're going on a Canadian road trip, and this is a long road trip. So I was looking at that and I was like, okay, the blues are going to take this and hopefully kind of build off this and and have some good momentum going into the Flames. Again, another team that's struggling right now. The Flames game, this was the most wild game I think I've ever seen in my life. Three goals called back within the span of a period and a half, which insane behavior. Uh shout out to our video coordinator. I know his name's Elliot. I can't pronounce his last name, it's French. Mondu, I think.

SPEAKER_00 11:23

Elliot Mondu.

SPEAKER_03 11:25

Shout out, shout out to Elliot. A way to be on top of it to see those offsides, and then the one was a non-stoppage pent call. And so this game, again, the blues had a had the push to start the game, but then Connor Zari scores two minutes into the game. Again, first shot of the first shot of the game goes in for Calgary. Now this one's a little is a little more of a evenly matched game, in my opinion. Calgary has 31 shots and the blues have 26 shots. So Connor Zari gets the first goal, and then it's three calls. It was gonna be four to nothing, and uh the blues got three goals called back, which it was funny watching the crowd in in Calgary anytime they were like, and here come the blues to challenge the call. It was just a lot of booing in was it Scotiabank Saddle Dome?

SPEAKER_00 12:27

What that's my favorite arena name. Like, and it's such a bummer because I think they're building a new one. But they are building a new one. Scotiabank Saddle Dome is such a cool name, and that's because it looks like a saddle. Like, if you look at the building, it looks like one. I just think that is so freaking genius. Not to mention, like, Scotiabank is like the name of half of the arenas. I was gonna say that's that's awful. They have to have some kind of fancy name at the end.

SPEAKER_03 12:57

It's either Scotiabank or it's uh what's the other one?

SPEAKER_01 13:00

Canadian Tire and Rogers Canadian Tire and Rogers.

SPEAKER_03 13:04

You got three you got three names in your Canadian, in your Canadian cities for like Scotiabank Arena, right?

SPEAKER_00 13:11

So Scotiabank Arena and the Scotiabank Saddledome, which would you rather play in? Let's be honest.

SPEAKER_03 13:16

Well, after watching the Leafs last night, I think I would just want to play in Calgary in general. But no, this the the Saddledome sounds so much better. But this is a tough game to watch, I'm not gonna lie to you. So you get the calls back, but we also get a Dylan Holloway goal, and let me tell you, Dylan Holloway, the past two weeks has been making his name known, and he's going to make it so hard to not get a big contract from whether it's Dougie that signs him or Steener that signs him. I don't know who's gonna get the honor to sign him, but it needs to be as of like yesterday that we sign him to a contract extension because boy howdy, he is making a name for himself, but he ties this up. This game goes into overtime. So there's a goal in the first period. Well, there's about four goals in the first and second period from Calgary, only one of them count. We get a goal early in the second period, there's no scoring in the third period, and no scoring in overtime, and then we get to the shootout, and the blues have just not been great in the shootout when we've made it to the shootout this year, unfortunately. So this is just a uh unfortunate uh situation. But Joel Hofer, man, even though he had four goals scored against him and only one of them counted, he did play really well that night and stood on his head in overtime as well as the shootout. So it stinks that you only get a point out of this one. This is one that you wish you would have gotten two points out of, but I was happy with the point out of this one, and then they roll on and they go into Vancouver, which oh my poor Vancouver, man. I read a stat the other day that Kiefer Shearwood is their top goal scorer. He was traded in January. Still, he's still their top goal scorer. Yeah. Brock Besser was right behind him. It was like Shearwood had 17 and Besser had I think 15 or 16. So really hope that Besser can be the top goal scorer this season for them. Yeah. If I'm Brock Besser, I uh and Elias Peterson, I I am begging to leave. But I yeah. It's bad out in Vancouver. This is a this is a fun game to watch. In the sense that you gotta really I'm sorry, Vancouver fans, you got a bad team right now. You trade away generational talent and Quinn Hughes, and you get rid of Kiever Sherwood because you think, oh, we'll get some draft picks, hopefully make that what was it, what do they call it? Not a rebuild, a retool.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

It's not a retool. I need to be so freaking clear right now. Vancouver management, hear me now. This is not a retool. This is a rebuild. Textbook rebuild. You get rid of Quinn Hughes, Connor Garland, and you're saying this is Kefer Sherwood, and you say this is a retool. You just got rid of your whole freaking tool belt. That's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

This is they got rid of the tool belt, the tools, the construction workers, they got rid of everybody.

SPEAKER_00 16:38

But don't worry, they have three Pattersons, so I they might be okay. No, I mean, to be completely fair to Vancouver here, they do still have some big names on here. You know, Brock Besser, of course, has he's not had as great of success the last couple years, but um, you know, they did bring in Ziv Boeing and I think Heronic, both of them I want to say, were part of the youth.

SPEAKER_03 17:01

Heronic got the Vancouver goal.

SPEAKER_00 17:05

Yeah, and so they have Debrusque on this team, Teddy Blueger is great, him and P. Suter played a ton of time together and had a lot of success last year before Suter came to the blues. Evander Kane is still on this roster. Elias Petterson is the one that everyone knows. He's still on this the forward, he's still on this roster. Those are big names. It's just those are big, those are big names.

SPEAKER_03 17:27

And it goes back to you you've got a young defensive core since getting rid of Quinn Hughes. I mean, Quinn Hughes took up 90% of your minutes and power play time and penalty kill time. So I mean you have uh it's just gonna be them figuring out how to rework this and find ways for the team to build off of it and get some once I get the pieces together, I mean Vancouver made a really good run the what was it, two years ago, three years ago? Goodness, it was after COVID. I was gonna say it was after the bubble, but not within the last year or so.

SPEAKER_00 18:09

But they they had a good run with with Talkett, um his first year with them. Um yeah, they were they were very good. And then the drama last year was just too much for them, I think. They fell apart with the JT Miller and Peterson drama, and Quinn Heels was the captain, and he was trying really hard to figure out how to help them out of that. He was probably spending a lot of time focusing on things other than hockey, but was still playing out of his mind. He spent part of that year hurt. It's been a tough role for them, but I think like for Vancouver, they need to figure out like, and this is just me, little old me, who's a blues fan, not a hardcore Canucks fan. I think they need to figure out their coaching situation. Am I wrong to rem recall that Bruce Bruge was in there? And that was when the fans were like, they were really upset that Bruce was gonna be kind of the scapegoat for their lack of success. And they had Tocket and Bruce Boudreaux, which I gotta be honest, are two of the you know, Bruce Broodrew, of course, has seen a ton of success in his career as a coach, but Rick Tocket, young in his coaching career, but you know, has had a lot of success as well. I'm I'm thinking that they they need a rebuild. I think they just need to start over. It's it's a lot.

SPEAKER_03 19:29

So it feels like uh Vancouver kind of goes in waves. My time of remembering Vancouver being not successful, but more successful than where they are now was like when they had the Sedan twins, they had Roberto Lelongo. That was a time in Vancouver where like you you got a little afraid when you saw Vancouver coming up on the schedule. Then they kind of went through that lull, and then they get Quinn Hughes. And Quinn Hughes, what was he was fourth overall pick however many years ago? He's not that old, but you bring in such a great young talent and great defenseman. You make him your cat your captain very young. And Quinn Hughes is a generational talent. I mean, all the Hughes boys are, but defensively he's just so sound and he just he's so fast.

SPEAKER_00 20:23

So we're living in a very s special era to have him and Kyle McCarr both in this league at the same time, and unfortunately for us, they're both in the central division now. But I mean that those are like you said, those are generational talents, but their skills are just unmatched. I mean, they're matched for one another, and it makes like there's a lot of talk about the awards kind of at the end of the year, and of course, the Norris is is a big one, but it's so hard because you feel like both of them probably deserve it most of the time, but you can only give it to one. And I think both of them would say that it's a really nice thing to have another player in this league that pushes you when you're at that level. I think sometimes when you're that good and you have such a specific skill set, there's not a lot of comparison to have. But they're both they're both just incredible players, and to see that type of talent, it's easy to see talent from forwards, you know, it usually comes through in points. And even skating, and but it's insane what Kyle McCarr and Quinn Hughes put up. Yeah, I they put up a ton of points, they eat up a ton of minutes, they're true one a defenseman. Like they are, they are 100%. They are def like the true in the truest sense. They're playing in every situation, they're reliable, they eat up your minutes. They're also both pretty young. You know, they've got defensemen play longer than forwards a lot of the time, and I'm interested to see how long these two can play because they do have more of that. That forward acumen sometimes in some of their their skills. But yeah, I mean Vancouver is just I don't know how they dig out of this one. I thought the the blues put together a a good game here. Um like we did a good job of getting ahead, but not laying off the gas, is kind of how it felt to me. Is that how it felt to you?

SPEAKER_03 22:20

Yeah, it was it was a little the first period was a little rough, it felt like. So they talked about this, so the blues had played and they had two days of rest in between like the Jets game and the Flames game, and then again the Flames game against the Canucks. So when you look at that, you have one of two m ways to go about this. You think, okay, they're gonna come in, they're gonna come in hot, they've had Rust, they're gonna play great, or you're gonna say, oh god, they had Rust, they're gonna come out sloppy. And I felt the first period was a little more sloppy than on top of it, which for me, I was a little frustrated because I was like, okay, this is your 32nd team in the league. You should be outscoring them, outplaying them, whatever. And really, you get no scoring for the first period and a half, and then Pew Suder is the one that breaks through. Shout out to Pew Suter. My brother and nephew said that he was gonna get the first goal, and so put a little put a little bet on that and won me some money. Scoring against his former team. Yeah, you gotta go to the next you gotta go to the nar the narrative when you're betting things like this. So went with the narrative and it worked out. It was kind of a weird goal, too. He was falling and he hit it in while he was falling, so it was a fun goal to watch, and he was so excited about it, which love to see that Pew Sudter is doing well and got to play so well against his former team. And then, not even what was it, a minute and 19 seconds later, we get Pavel Buchnevich with a goal. It was a beautiful goal, too. A one-timer-ish kind of goal. So it's good for to see him producing because he's kind of been snake bit in the last three games, and he's just been circling, he's been so close on them too. So to see him get a goal, that was good. But then third period, uh Phil Peronic gets a power play goal, and uh you're two to one at that point. And the Canucks tried to make a push for this, not gonna lie. But Bennington stood on his head, and then we tap it off with a Jordan Cairo empty neck goal with a Logan Mayu assist, and you mentioned this in the intro, Alexa. I just I have to eat my words because Logan Mayu has been looking like a different defenseman since the Olympic break, and really before the Olympic break, but since the Olympic break, he has just been you see the work that he's been putting in and you see the development piece and what working with a top defenseman like Philip Broberg is doing for him. And not saying when he was working with Cam Fowler, he wasn't gaining the traction and wasn't gaining the skills. I think he's gaining skills that are good for the solid stay-at-home defenseman piece with Cam Fowler, but now he's learning how to be that push forward going in, going to the net uh player when he's playing with Philip Broberg, and man, he's just looked like a different player out there. I I don't get as nervous when he's out on the ice.

SPEAKER_00 25:33

Yeah, you know, I think I know I say this a lot, but I I think the reason for his like level up even in the last two weeks specifically is just confidence. Like I think he is playing a lot more sure on his stick. He looks a lot more confident when he has the puck, and he's also not afraid to go to the dirty areas. You know, when you have such a tough phase, like he did at the beginning of the year, you hardly want to play your own position because you're afraid you're gonna make a mistake. You definitely don't want to go to the riskier areas and start making plays. And we talk a lot about defensive pairs and finding the right mix, and it feels like a bit of an art finding the right pair for any player because I think we're seeing a really, really solid defense right now, and these are not pairs that I think we would have ever guessed. I mean, you've got Pereco with Lindstein right now, and them has been a great pair. You've got Broberg and Mayu, which is like if you had told me that's what it was gonna be, I would have been like, yeah, no, I don't I don't think so. I don't think that's a good idea. I'd eat my words on that.

SPEAKER_03 26:40

It's funny because I was I was also telling my dad last night when we were playing the maple leafs. I've actually really enjoyed Justin Hall coming in to play with us. I feel like he kind of brings just a steady Cam Fowler-esque play. I don't think that he is as steady as Cam Fowler, but I feel like he's providing the the quality that we need him to be right now with Fowler. I mean, he even went and got his first goal as a blue and his first goal of the season last night. He was so happy when he scored two. It was so cute. They panned to him like, and he's pointing at himself. It's like it was.

SPEAKER_00 27:20

It was me.

SPEAKER_03 27:21

Yeah, it was the cutest thing ever.

SPEAKER_00 27:25

But I think you're so right. I mean, think about that dynamic compared to what we had earlier this year, and it's just from adding that one person. Well, we add Lindstein too, but you've got Pereco Lindstein, Broberg Mayu, Fowler, Hall.

SPEAKER_03 27:39

I mean, that is Hall and much more and Tucker had been coming in as well as Kessel. So personally, I prefer to see I mean Tucker now being injured right now, so it's between Hull and Kessel. Personally, I prefer Hall coming in to the game.

SPEAKER_00 27:58

Just any of those three pairs out there, you've got a good variety. Cam Fowler and Justin Hall, you know they can hold it down, even if that's all out there and they'll do their job and they'll be defensemen. And I I think that's great because Broberg and Lindstein and Mayu right now, and Preko always has kind of that good judge of when he should be shooting. Those four guys shoot enough. And I don't then they're paired with the lines that need that. When you put Hall and Fowler out there, they just need to make sure that the puck doesn't get to the risky areas and they just need to protect the goaltender. It allows them to focus on that a little bit more. They've been great at it just kind of controlling the game, making sure it doesn't get out of hand, it gives time for rest for your other players. Um, but they trust that they can handle that of our success as a team, I think, the way our defense is set up right now.

SPEAKER_03 28:54

No, you're a hundred percent right in that. And I don't as much as I'm sitting here looking like, yeah, I do miss Justin Falk to an extent, but I'm also looking at the chemistry that they're building right now, and I don't know if that chemistry is coming from it's just that time of year where they've played together for so long, and now we are in the point where that chemistry is built and they're just running on the momentum, or it's they see the push. I I'm not quite sure what the mindset is in the locker room, but the vibes are high. And uh as much as you sit there and you're like, Well, no, you need to think of like skill and you need to think of this. A lot of the time uh momentum comes from the chemistry, and uh, you need the players to produce, and you're getting players to produce, you're getting consistency from that Thomas Holloway and Snuggerude line. You're getting consistency from you know, your Dvorskys, your yeah, Kairu coming in, and I'll t say it once and I'll say it again. When the defense is getting active and the defense is producing, the blues are more successful. Totally it's uh crazy to me to see how uh that offensive mindset has been so uh defensively offensive mindset has been s has been shifted since the Olympic break, but it truly has, man. You're seeing the defense rush in more. And I don't know if it's just the confidence, but because it felt like before they were so worried about and you get you're getting good goaltending too, so you're more confident in your goaltending, not needing to stay back more. So that's part of it too, is they're feeling confident in all areas.

SPEAKER_00 30:45

Yeah, and you know, you touched on something there that is so true. When the defense are getting active, it it does make a huge difference. But a lot of that is truly just that we still, you know, we're winning these games and they're good games. But the stat that really stood out to me yesterday is as they were running through Hofer's stats before the game, it wasn't even Hofer Hofer stat, it was the Blues average goals per game over this stint, and it's only 2.7. It's not that high. We talked, we talked about this a lot this year. You need at least three league average is 3.2, and so, or at least that's what it was towards the beginning of the year. I'd be curious what it is now, because it feels like the scores have been lower this year, but you have to have enough production. And as good as the blues are right now, and they're great, they're playing really good hockey. 2.7 average goals is not enough to win games consistently. And defense, even just getting one goal every two games, is all that we need to push us. I mean, we're we're only a quarter of a goal from being where we need to be. So it's not a huge stretch, but the defense is often it's the difference. If they can get active, it helps, especially because when we talked off the top about the amount of forwards that are really playing well right now, the forwards are producing and really across pretty much across all four lines right now, mostly the top three. But we've seen a lot of production out of them, so they they need help. It's not that they're not producing, they just that that little bump is is always helpful. So Kairou gets the empty net in that Vancouver game, like you said, so that kind of just puts the final nail in the coffin there. But Mayu has two points in that game, and Broberg has a point two. So that that pair is just they're just they look really good right now.

SPEAKER_03 32:36

Yeah, and then you they come home for a three-game homestand here this week, and let me tell you, the Enterprise Center was just rocking this week. So you start off on Tuesday with a game against the Washington Capitals, which it's always fun to have the Capitals in town get into see Ovi. I love watching Alexander Ovechkin play. I it's he's one of my favorite players.

SPEAKER_02 33:01

But you know who I don't like watching play? I know what you're gonna say. Go for it. Tom Wilson.

unknown 33:08

Tom.

SPEAKER_02 33:08

Tom Wilson, I'm coming for you.

SPEAKER_03 33:11

Tom Wilson is playing.

SPEAKER_02 33:12

And I'm not afraid to say it.

SPEAKER_03 33:16

Tom Wilson, let me tell you, you you were on my radar of uh people that I was I was starting to like, possibly like a little bit more, uh, especially after the Team Canada. Unfortunately, you dropped back down after the play on Jimmy Snuggerude. But touch Jimmy. You know how to do it. There's two things that happened in this game that drove me wild.

SPEAKER_00 33:41

Well, even it's so funny because like I think it it changes so often who that player is that you're like hands off my insert player here. Like with for the Islanders, it's hands off Matthew Shaper, right? Like, but for the blues, I feel like that player has changed for a while. It was so funny because we all knew Jake Neighbors could stand up for himself, but for a while it was don't touch Jake Neighbors, don't you dare. And let me tell you something. It is Jimmy Snuggerood right now, and everyone knows it. They don't tolerate it. That hit on Jimmy Snuggerude brought the entire team out in absolute melee. There was it was like hands off Jimmy Snuggerood, don't touch my teammate like that. I will not tolerate it. Let's see how many people we can fit in the penalty box. Like, you know, Alexa, I looked at it. I love to see it.

SPEAKER_03 34:30

Let me tell you something on this too. It killed me because all of this is going on, and like there's like different pieces to it. So the original stuff happens with Wilson and Snuggerude, and they're in the box and they're chirping at each other in the box, which I loved it. I love seeing Jimmy Snuggrood.

SPEAKER_00 34:50

He is laughing his butt off, chirping at Wilson, and Wilson looks angry, and I loved it. It was my favorite part. Wilson was so angry while he was chirping at Snugrood, and Snuggroot was just laughing, chirping back. I'm like, that is a kid that is playing with so much confidence right now. He is playing incredible hockey. But to see him in that type of environment still carrying that confidence, he tends to be pretty quiet, or he has been so far, because in part of that is just as a rookie. That's just what happens. But I mean, just so great to see that out of him, truly. Um he was not chirping any prisoners there.

SPEAKER_03 35:26

He's chirping. You also have Stenberg that's already in the box because of his fight. So, and then while all of this is going on and they're chirping each other in the box, there's more that's going on at center ice, more pushing and shoving. So you got more people in the box. And as they're explaining the penalties, you know, usually at that point, that's when the captains come over to kind of talk through it. It killed me watching Alex Ovechkin standing there for the Capitals, and then here comes Jake Neighbors just beep booping along and standing and talking to Alexander Ovechkin of all people, and this ref. And it just there was a so much pride in in my heart at that point. It just made me laugh, and I was just so excited to see that.

SPEAKER_00 36:10

But the other funny thing, the reason Jake Neighbors is beep booping over there is because at this point Thomas is still in this game, which we'll get to that later. But but Thomas gets a penalty box. Yeah, he's next to Snuggerood in the box, and while Snuggerude is chirping Wilson, like Thomas, I gotta be honest, Thomas looks angry the majority of the time, and I think it's just how his, it's just his it's just how he looks. It's just a but he he's got a mean side eye, and he is sitting in this penalty box next to Jimmy Snuggerood, and he is side-eyeing, like listening to them, and it is hilarious. Smiling, listening to Jimmy Snuggerude chirp Tom Wilson. Like he just he just couldn't stop smiling. He thought it was so funny. He was like, he was so proud. It was like a proud, proud leader moment for him, I think. But he was it was like a proud dad moment. Proud dad moment. Um this lots that happen.

SPEAKER_03 37:11

So this is all going on, I believe this happened in the first period. It was early in the game. Because then we get to the second period and who scores, but none other than Jimmy Snuggerood. And let me tell you, this is a beautiful goal. It is he is set up at the top of the circle, and he just lets this one timer go. And boy, howdy, do I love a good one-timer set up snipe goal that Jimmy Snugger is gonna be able to do it?

SPEAKER_00 37:41

And assisted by Meiun Broberg. I mean, I you can't make this up.

SPEAKER_03 37:47

You can't make it up, man. So the game continues on, and the third period rolls around, and I guess Pierre Luc Dubois, I'm gonna I'm gonna throw his name out there so that people know. Uh, not too happy. He decides that he's a WWE star now, and suplexes Robert Thomas into the ground. No, to be fair, Robert Thomas gets a penalty in this, and after watching it in the moment, Alyssa in the 300 section is furious.

SPEAKER_00 38:20

I know, I'm like texting everyone that's at the game, and I'm like, guys, everyone's like, why is there a penalty on Thomas? And they know I'm watching on TV, so they're like, why? And I I'm like, it's before that. So before the playlist there's not a penalty on him when Pierre Luc Debois Hulk smashes him into the ground. It was before that, and it was a warranted call. Like, it was so completely yeah, it was two completely separate instances that happened to be called at the same whistle. And unfortunately, the person that they called it on was the one that was Hulk smashed into the ground, and so everyone thought he was getting in.

SPEAKER_03 38:58

Yeah, there was a it was a d it was a it was a double-edged sword on that one, man. Um so Thomas is laying on the ice after being suplexed into the ground. Um and man, watching the replay, I I couldn't quite tell like where he hits.

SPEAKER_00 39:17

Um like his forehead.

SPEAKER_03 39:20

So I thought it was more like his chin when he went down because it looked like when he was hauling off, like they were trying to like hold his chin. But again, yeah I'm in the 300 section, so I didn't get that great of a view. But he's taken out for the rest of the game, put into concussion protocol, I believe. It wasn't confirmed that he went into protocol, but Montgomery after the game said that he passed protocol, so I had just made the assumption. This was another one of those situations where your star player gets hurt, and you've got the team rallying behind him. It didn't look like it so much in the moment because when it happened, they didn't quite go after Dubois or anything like that in that moment. I think the concern was with how Thomas was laying on the ice. Um he didn't move.

SPEAKER_00 40:11

I do believe there were several players that went immediately over to him and they were like, Are you okay? Like, do you need us to get a trainer? You know?

SPEAKER_03 40:18

Uh I do believe Preeko was out there at that time, and Pareko's very good about the calm demeanor on that one, but also taking things seriously and making sure that things are handled in that moment. And it does take a minute for Ray to go out there because Thomas kind of like lays there, then he kind of gets on his knees with his head down still. So it was you're sitting there watching, and you're like, okay, okay, you know, what what's going on? Finally, they get Ray out there. Ray gets him up, and he just immediately goes to the bench and into the locker room, which I was kind of expecting. They're still talking through like what the penalty's gonna look like. I I see that the the put up the Thomas penalty, but then Pierre Luc de Bois let me try that again. Pierre Luc Dubois gets called for an intent to injure penalty, which I don't think I've seen an intent to injure penalty call in ages.

SPEAKER_00 41:13

Um yeah, because it has to be really obvious, in which this this was very obvious. Yeah, he gets an intent to injure, which is a he gets a mash penalty for that. He gets kicked out of the game. It's 10 minutes misconduct on top of that.

SPEAKER_03 41:27

Gets kicked out of the game, and he's angry about it, man. He's angry, which I'm not quite sure if he expected what he expected in that situation, but you know, go off king. Um and I don't know, man. I'm watching this game and it just felt like the blues had the edge the whole time. It just felt like Washington just was a beat behind almost, and I don't say that often about the Washington Capitals because you look at it and you look at the talent that they have. I you're they're not a a beat behind. But even on these power plays, man, and let me throw this out there, and I'm probably gonna get flack for saying this, but you mean to tell me after all this time of Alex Ovechkin playing that we haven't caught on that he's gonna stand at the top of the circle and wait for a one-timer to score. You mean to tell me that we haven't caught on to this for how many years? The man has made his living in one spot. Great player. I love him to death. I I love Peapaw because you know he's old and is still I love him, I love him to death. But it's so true. It was like the it was like the Patrick Kane era in in uh Chicago. Like he made his living on the other side, like same spot on the other side of the ice. Not obviously with Ovechkin, but I mean they're opposite because of the way they shoot, because Ovechkin's a right hand shot, Kane's a left-handed shot, but I don't know. I just I look at this game and you blanket them. You Joel Hofer gets his what was it, sixth shutout of the year that night? Yeah. Insane numbers. And Washington gets 21 shots on goal, so it wasn't like a light game for Hofer. You we out hit them and we outshoot them, we barely outhit them, but we outhit them and we outshoot them. Otto Stenberg gets a beautiful goal, and again, this line of Stenberg, Dvorsky, and Burgerin are just they're working at overtime right now with how well they're playing. They just they're connecting, they have a lot of chemistry together, and I I love watching them work together. But shout out to Hofer on this one. You keep big name players off the scoreboard. You're keeping Ovechkin off the scoreboard, you're keeping as much as we don't necessarily like him, Tom Wilson takes a slap shot at Hofer and knocks his mask clean off. That's how hot the hard the shot was.

SPEAKER_00 43:56

Yeah, he made him he made him bleed. Yeah, bleeding. Him a cut on his face. I mean, and Dylan Strom's another one. Um, you know, he's been great for very for quite some time. Also, um, you know, Cole Hudson just came up, just signed a contract uh with the Capitals. So he played in this game, he played 20 minutes as a rookie defenseman playing in one of his first games. Um, Sandine's on this team. I mean, they've got some big name players. There's a reason that Washington has been decent. Um and of course, Alexandra Ovechkin, to your point, they've got enough players and enough chemistry that um, you know, this is a this is a good team to blank for sure. And I like seeing that we did it with production from that Stunberg line or the Dvorsky line, maybe we call them, since Dvorsky's the center. But um, you know, Kairu gets another empty neck goal, just the production across the board. Also, Janice and Bergren did great for us. That was a that was a claim off waivers.

SPEAKER_03 44:54

He's been yes, he has been, he has been fantastic. He has just earned his spot on the lineup for the blues, which I love seeing. We talk about players kind of coming in off the waivers and and things like that, trades, things and of that nature, just looking for that fresh start. And Bergen was one of those guys looking for a fresh start, and he has truly made a name here in St. Louis. I don't see a reason why he's not extended right now. I don't see a reason why he's not a permanent fixture on that third line with Stenberg and Dvorski.

SPEAKER_00 45:26

He they did say last night he's a restricted free agent. We will probably have the rights to him to get to sign him first, which is great as a reminder. Restricted free agents, you have a little bit of a different dynamic there. You get a chance to sign them first, and then if you don't, then you can get you can either hit the market or uh you could do what Doug Armstrong did, and you can offer sheet those players and offer to pay them more than the team that owns their rights. That's what he did with Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg, who apparently are now coined the offer sheet boys, which I'm totally fine with. Um, but it sounds like he's probably gonna earn that deal, and my guess is he's gonna be relatively cheap. Um but he is an RFA, so you're gonna have to put money on him that's enough. He's played well enough that that's probably gonna be a tough one. We're gonna have to give him enough money that someone doesn't pull a Doug Armstrong and offer him more.

SPEAKER_03 46:22

This is this is a good game overall. Two nights later, we get the San Jose Sharks in town, and the San Jose Sharks are they were a playoff team, they were playing really well, they had a lot of great vibes going, and then after the Olympic break seems to have been kind of a struggle point for them. Just a lot of inconsistencies, a lot of losses, whether it be big losses or losses like how they had against the blues, where it's by one goal in overtime, things like that. So what was once just surviving on the power of friendship, uh while they still have the friendship, it seems as though uh that vibe is just slightly decreasing.

SPEAKER_00 47:09

But they're relying they're relying too much on Celebrini, I think. So Celebrini doesn't have a point in this game. And yeah, of course it doesn't have to be a lot of things. Celebrini doesn't when Celebrini doesn't have a point, they are like one sixteen and one or something. Two sixteen and one, something like that.

SPEAKER_02 47:28

That is insane.

SPEAKER_00 47:29

Yeah, they don't win when he doesn't have a point. That's a point, not a goal, a point. Just a pull. He didn't have a point in this game, which is a rarity for him. Obviously, he's only done it in what the the math on that for 18 games. The you know he but we we managed to keep him quiet, and we see the same players kind of sneak through here on the score sheet too.

SPEAKER_03 47:53

So yeah, this is uh this is a a tight game in my opinion, as well. So we have no first period goals. It's very quiet in the first period, but then we turn around and it's quiet for most of the second period, too. This takes us all the way to about three minutes left in the second period, and that's this is when we get a Dvorski goal, and assisted by Dylan Holloway and Jimmy Snugger. Again, players that are consistently getting out on the ice and producing.

SPEAKER_00 48:29

So And Dorski played with that line because Thomas was out, so even though he passed protocol, he didn't play Thursday, and Dvorsky slot I mean, big promotion for him, slotted into that center spot on that line that's been so good lately. Thomas, Snugger, and Holloway have been just lights out, and yeah, they immediately produce a goal, which is in the second period, but still for a line that you know hasn't been playing together a ton. Really great to see that from him. Yeah, no, very great to see.

SPEAKER_03 48:58

It was a very quiet game. I mean, it was a lot of back and forth, a lot of relying on goaltending, something that happens in I can't remember if it was the first or the second period, but it's the same thing you know what I'm you know what I'm gonna say. Um there comes a play where uh Walker is crashing the net and still giving uh the room so he doesn't get called for a penalty. Um however, he is pushed into the sharks goaltender and in that play by a sharks player. By a sharks player. So he's pushed in by a sharks player, a good call, pushed in, falls on the goaltender. So Orlov and Walker both get called for roughing as um they're pushed into the net. And so the sharks goalie gets hurt in this play, unfortunately, and they both get called for roughing. So as this all goes on, it's still zero to zero at this point. This goes on, you get the calls. It was a very weird situation, and the sharks were on top of the players at that point, but it wasn't like a response like I was expecting for somebody going going after your goalie. And it was a very weird situation, and so we end the second period up one nothing with five minutes left in the third period. Alex Winberg gets on the board for the shark, so it's one-one. Now, this is a game where I'm thinking, man, we need this extra point. We're working for this playoff spot. The sharks are in the running with us right now. We need this extra point. Well, we go into overtime and with three seconds, and this overtime was wild, man. It was it was a great overtime. It was amazing. It was a lot of back and forth. Hofer standing on top of his head. I mean, Hofer has been amazing this past couple of games. But Hofer coming out making great saves, just a lot of back and forth, a lot of just golden opportunities for both teams, but specifically the blues, and the blues held possession really well during this overtime. Well, there's about 10 seconds left, and Hofer makes the save, gets the puck to Broberg, Broberg gets the puck to Holloway, Holloway just starts skating down and a beautiful stretch pass from Broberg.

SPEAKER_00 51:43

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 51:45

And Holloway is looking at it, and I think he describes it as like, I didn't really look at it as a breakaway, but I was working hard to make sure that I could um get past because Celebrini was on the back check, and I I think Celebrini played all four minutes and 57 seconds of the overtime.

SPEAKER_00 52:03

I think you're right. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 52:05

With three seconds left, here comes Hollywood Holloway, cuts in the middle and just barred down a beautiful shoulder side goal against the Sharks to win it with three seconds left in overtime. I was on my feet screaming with how beautiful this was, and you could just see how Holloway is fitting in with this crowd, and he's smiling, he's just working so well with this team right now. He's one that's come back from his ankle injury and has just thrived. And I love seeing him have the success that he's having. He is playing with this aura and this confidence that I haven't seen from a blues player in a really long time. And so that's been it's been great to see. We get the extra point out of this, and it's beautiful. I love every second of it. And you can just tell that the team is rolling with the punches, and they are just taking everything with stride, and they are just loving the the confidence from each other. I think they're building off of each other, is is the way to put it. And really that that rolls into this game against the Maple Leafs. Um again, the Maple Leafs are a struggling team, unfortunately. Um to say the least. Uh to put it mildly. I mean, so to start off, you have no Mitch Marner because he he signed in Vegas. Now you have no Austin Matthews because of the MCL thanks, Gudis, which justice is served. The karma has has good.

SPEAKER_00 53:49

Okay, but I'm kind of salty that the karma has come back so soon because they play the Leafs tomorrow night, and I was looking forward to seeing what happened. Assuming nothing.

SPEAKER_03 53:59

But I was gonna say now we'll never know. What's the TikTok sound? I hope you're hungry for nothing. For nothing. So first period a lot of back and forth, but the blues outshoot the it was like I think eight to three outshooting them in the first period. No goals in the first period, which is wild to me. Joseph Wall came in, played really well that first period, and then you have second period, none other than Jimmy Snuggard, and let me tell you, this was a beautiful goal that he scores. It was. It's a tic-tac-toe play. The pass from Cannes Fowler to Snuggered, and Snugger just like tips it past Wall. It's it was beautiful. It was absolutely amazing. I want to point out something. This is as close to 40 shots on goal that I've seen us have in a really long time. The blues get 38 shots on goal. Your Toronto Maple Leafs get a whopping 13 shots on goal. Wild.

SPEAKER_00 55:03

How often can you say that at the end of a game a team outshot another one three to one? That's terrible.

SPEAKER_03 55:10

That's that's bad.

SPEAKER_00 55:12

I mean, it's so funny. So we were uh I we drove back yesterday, and so I was in the car with my mom, and she doesn't watch a ton of hockey, but she does listen. And I said that Bennington was playing, and of course, she had been listening to me talk all week about how good Hofer's been, and she was like, ah, why would they put Bennington?

SPEAKER_03 55:29

And I said, Well Unfortunately, we have to let Joel Hofer breathe every once in a while.

SPEAKER_00 55:35

We do, and I said, and it's the leafs, and you know, whatever. And so we get like through the second period, and I'm watching, we're home at this point, and so I'm watching like in the living room, and she's like, Is it five to one? And I said, Yeah, and she goes, Is Bennington still playing? And I go, Yeah, but we're winning. And she was like, No, I know that's good. He's only given up one goal, and I said, Please only face 11 shots at this point, but yeah, he still played well, which he did. He played a great game. There was a there was a couple of saves. They'll tell you it can be hard to stay on your game in a game like that where you're not facing many shots. Um, I he played a good game, and the bottom of the bottom of the game, Toronto just wasn't putting enough on net.

SPEAKER_03 56:23

No, and the defense did a really great job of blocking them out. I there's a couple grade A chances that the Leafs had. They hit the post, I think, two or three times during the game. The one, I think it was a shot by Willie, it was kind of like an odd shot, and it went off the post and like just went straight in front of the net. And I think Pereco was out at that point, and he had knocked it out. There's one where Kelly came in on a semi-break, did a forehand backhand, and the backhand went between the five hole of Bennington, and Bennington was able to like close the legs and save it, which it was a great save. And I just remember looking at my dad, I was like, oh my, oh, oh my! So, but yeah, 13 shots on goal. That that's mmm. But the third period is where uh the action comes alive. But we do get a Justin Hall goal in the second period as well. He tips it in from a shot from Jordan Cairo and an assist also by Pavel Buchnevich. And let me tell you, he was so excited when he got this goal. I was so happy for him. He's again another one that just has had a rough go in his time, in his career, and kind of seems like a reset was what he was needing, and this has been a good reset for him.

SPEAKER_00 57:34

Broadcast the this is his first deflection goal, like in his career. So they had the NHL analyst on the broadcast last night, and he broke down Hall's total career goals, which he only has like 14 career goals or something like that. Um, and he o this is his first deflection goal. That was kind of nice to see, and I gotta be honest, deflecting a puck from Jordan Cairo is no small feat. Um he puts it off on his shots and passes.

SPEAKER_03 58:03

He does, but this is a goal where the defense is getting active in the play, and having that is key to I again the blue success, man. It it's wild with how well the uh the defense is playing right now. But then the third period comes around, and we get a early uh goal by the Maple Leafs. Jake McCabe comes in, gets a goal assisted by uh ex-blue Dakota Joshua and Jacob Quillen. So you look at this and you're like, okay, the the Leafs are trying to make a push. And they were making a push at this point, but and quite literally right after that, they go on the power play, and none other than Pew Suitor here with a short-handed goal. And might I add, this goal, the pass by Robert Thomas was a bouncing puck, and Pew Suitor was able to get enough umph on it to get it past wall, and it was a beautiful goal. He was all by himself. I don't know what was happening and how the Leafs had mismanaged that, but you have you one let a team come in on a short-handed play and get into the zone. And second, you leave the second player all alone in front of the net, and a player like Robert Thomas, who's able to pass with his eyes closed, blindfolded, one-handed. He gets a pass right in front to fill or to PewCenter, and we get a short-handed goal. So again, it's three to one at that point. Three minutes later, Dylan Holloway with an assist by Jordan Cairo and Jake Neighbors. This is a great play. Again, you're leaving it's a great player in Dylan Holloway. He was literally all alone in front of the net and gets a shot, and his celebration was so cute. He skates over to the boards and jumps up into the boards. He was so excited.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:01

Which Yeah, there was a kid sitting there, and so the kid was just going absolutely crazy. It was a really cool, like fun shot to watch on TV because the kid was just so excited that he was even there. We've seen that really around the league lately. There's been some more like crowd-integrated Sully action, if that makes any sense at all. There's we got a couple teams that are doing the stare down. The Dard has done the stare down. There was one last night, I want to say it was Calgary. They're staring down the opposing team's fans when they score and stuff like just all in good fun. And I think um it's a fun time to do that. And with the blues playing like they are right now, had another sold-out crowd last night. Baseball's back. We had both Thursday and yesterday, we had day gate day baseball games and night uh blues games, and it's made for I think a really fun atmosphere at all of those games. Yeah, I loved seeing that from him though. I thought it was a really fun celebration, especially at that point in the game where you know now it's four to one. So sometimes those celebrations feel a little premature if it's a close game, but that just felt like kind of the final nail in the coffin a little bit. Um 100%. So yeah, that was a it was great to see for sure.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:14

But Philip Roberg gets a power play goal, a beautiful shot from the point. Again, deep set defense getting active. Power play goal assisted by Jake Neighbors and Robert Thomas, and it was a beautiful shot. He stops and waits and then takes the shot on Wall, beats Wall beautifully top corner. It was amazing. I absolutely loved just the overall effort that the Blues have given. And Dylan Holloway was the f I believe the first star of the game. This game. Yes, he was. He had a goal and assist, and he had made a a comment about like just how he loves St. Louis on a Saturday night. Like the crowd was into it. It's it's fun playing.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:54

He said St. Louis on a Saturday night, there's no place I'd rather be. And I was like, all right, Mr. Mr. Aura and Charisma, you just said that about him at the last game. He's like, he's playing with so much aura. And I was like, he is, but okay, you're milking it, Dylan. I can think of a lot of places I'd rather be than St. Louis on a Saturday night. Right. Duly noted. And um, yeah, I mean, he was so excited. One call out I would love to make on this game. Um, there was some talk on the broadcast about this last night. Jake Navers was the first on the ice yesterday and the last off the ice. And to the point that um, you know, there's been some footage this week from the reporters that were at practice that the coaches are ending practice and skating off, and the players are staying, like the majority of them and still working on other things, which is great. But um, Vitali said that Navers was the first one on the ice and he was on the ice so long after everyone, after practice had ended yesterday that he thought for some reason he may be a healthy scratch because generally you see your game players are off the ice first. I guess he asked him about it. And out of, I mean, we just went through the last six games, Jake Navers has not been as prominent on the score sheet as he usually is. He basically said, I'm just just I I I believe that if I put the work in, that I'll get out of it what I want. I've just had a little bit of a rough bout, and it's so funny because we've been winning, so nobody's been saying like Jake Neighbors just really isn't doing enough. He comes out and he grabs two assists last night at the at the tail end of the game, too. We were already three to one by the time he was on the score sheet, but he just kept persisting and was able to pull off a little bit more production, which hopefully brings him some comfort. We know he's a hard worker, but we've seen this out of the team. I the it feels like media 101 that when someone asks you about like your goal or your play if you're a goalie, that you redirect it and talk about the team. Um, but that's what they're doing right now, and it doesn't really feel like it's something that they had to be taught to do. What they all keep saying is we're just playing for each other. And while it seems so cliche and so basic, we've seen plenty of examples throughout the league that not everyone's playing for each other right now, but the blues are. I think you said this off the top, the chemistry really does matter, and I think it it means a lot that they've been able to, with some big names going out at the deadline that they've pulled together and they keep producing. Because even though we see a ton of Snuggerude and a ton of Holloway, a ton of Broberg in these score sheets, you still see a sprinkling of everyone. And even if they're not on the score sheet, I can look throughout most games and find a play or a moment that would have been really different if a player hadn't done their part. I think everyone's putting in a full effort. I've always been a believer that, you know, and I want to be clear with what I'm saying here, but I've always been someone that believes that teams that from top to bottom, you can see the production and the effort from uh across the entire lineup. Those are the teams that should be feared the most, especially going into the playoffs. And I'm not saying that I think the blues, you know, should be feared going into the playoffs. That's not what I'm saying at all. But I do believe that it makes for a much more successful team when you can see that production across all four lines. The 2019 Stanley Cup team is a great example of that, but the Florida Panthers are also a good example of that. Um, and I think Edmonton is a good example of the opposite of that, where they have a really great top two lines, but compared to the other two, they're just not great. I think that if you want to win in this league, you know, that one player, Macklin Salabrini, is not enough for the San Jose Sharks to be great. Matthew Schaefer isn't enough for, you know, on his own. Connor McDavid isn't enough on his own. And the Blues are putting together great wins and working really hard together, and we see the effort from every single person that's on the ice every single night. And I think it'll make us much more successful in the long run.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:00

I agree with you there. We've also talked about how teams that yeah, you have your line one, line two, line three, and line four. And I think something that the blues do, and I think it might frustrate some fans of like how we don't have just like a set one, line one, line two, line three, line four. You kind of have that rotating line, and Montgomery does a really great job of integrating different players and at different times. I think a team that can roll with the punches and can produce and be uh powerful with all four lines rather than just like your top line sprinkled in with your bottom three lines. I I think when you have a team that can roll with it and have production on all it makes a big difference. Um we've seen that on the flip side with like Edmonton. If McDavid and uh Dreisell are not performing, it it's kind of hard to see those W's come across the board for them because those are your top guys and you're having a struggling defense and goaltending, so it's hard to produce when you're not able to hold it in on the back end and you're not getting the production from the top end. So that is tough, but of the last ten games, the blues are currently hold on, I just I just read it. We are currently 7-1-2, which insane behavior, if you ask me from the blues. Yeah. You see the production, you see how well they're doing, and I super proud to see the push that they're making right now. Even like it's one of those like things where like if we make the playoffs great, then I would be so happy. But if we don't make the playoffs, you're just so excited with how they built the chemistry these last couple of weeks. I'm happy to see just the overall vibe of the team and the chemistry and the uh brotherhood that you see from this. So I it's been a lot of fun the last couple of weeks. Now we have a really tough test coming up the la next couple of weeks. You got some really tough teams. You've got a California stretch, which you have a streaking San Jose Sharks, so it could go one way of if Macklin Cellebrini doesn't produce, then you're gonna struggle to see them get on the board. But yeah, they'll want that game back. They will want that game. They will. So that that's gonna be a tough game. You've got the Anaheim Ducks, who one of the top players in their division. You've got the LA Kings who are also pushing and fighting for a wild card spot, and then you've got two games back to back against the Colorado Avalanche, so top of the central division. Now, you this can go one of two ways. Are you gonna start to see the Colorado Avalanche back off and let some other players come in and play and let your McKinnons and your Lannisgog and all those guys take a rest so that they're ready for the playoffs? Or are you gonna see them just try to stomp out every opponent that they have and get as much points as they can? It it can go one of two ways, but that's well and that doesn't work in our favor.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:08

Yeah, and it doesn't work in our favor that we're a central division team because if it comes down to the wire like that and it's between like the San Jose Sharks and us, the Colorado Avalanche would rather dump us out and let uh let San Jose in. Oh so looking at the kind of the standings right now, we've got two teams eliminated in the league, the Canucks and the Rangers. And we've got two teams clinched, and they're both in the central. The Avalanche have 106 points already, and the Stars have 99 points. Yeah, so those two teams have already clinched a playoff spot with 10 games left. I mean, they've played 72 and 73 games respectively. So um the blues sit only four points out of the final wildcard spot. The predators have that spot right now as of Sunday morning, March 29th. They have 77 points, but they've played 73 games, and we've only played 72. So we have some extra space there, but there are four teams between us and them in the standings right now. The Kings are in here, the Kraken are in here, the Jets are in here, and the Sharks are tied with us, and they have a they've played one less game than we have. So um, this is gonna be a really, really tough league to, or you know, division conference, now that I've said everything, a really tough conference to crust the wild card. All of these teams are are fighting pretty hard. Uh and but we're on a four-game win streak, and everyone else on this list has lost one or has only won one game. So they're not building off momentum like we are, which will work in our our schedule. Should be interesting. One thing I want to call out too, as I I got curious as I as we were running through today, I made a note of our scoring and our goal differential in the second period because it really feels like we've maybe solved our second period problem. The blues have not given up a goal in the second period across any of those games that we just reviewed. So the last six games, we have not given up a goal in the second period, and we have scored seven goals in the second period.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:20

Because if you think about it at the beginning of the year, you the second period period's been terrible. Yeah. Yeah. And usually statistically, our second period over the last couple of years has not been good. So I just don't know what shifted or what sparked that because yeah, that's that's a good stat.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:41

There's been a couple games, you know, mixed in there where we didn't have any scoring in the first, and I wonder how that plays into just the mindset when you go out in the second. Maybe you're you don't feel like you're crawling out, and so you don't have to be as aggressive. You can play a little bit more safe and maintain, and then get back to your more aggressive game in the third. Um but that's a good thing. And it's not because necessarily our power play is bad. We just aren't on the power play very often. We haven't been drawing many penalties, so we're doing a lot of this at five on five. We talk about the playoffs and what's required to be a successful team there. You really have to have good special teams. Special teams are usually the difference in the playoffs. We're not getting a ton of practice there, which we're not really taking too many penalties either, at least not ones that aren't balanced. We tend to be drawing one at least to even ourselves out. We're more four-on-four right now, it seems, but yeah, not getting a ton of power play right now.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:48

And the one thing that kind of brings solace to that is yeah, special teams are important in the playoffs, but you play a tighter game in the playoffs, so you're not seeing as many chances for the power plays. So I feel like we have the edge there where you know some teams who yeah are really good on the power play and kind of rely on that power play action might not see that, so it might be a little bit harder. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:13

Right. Well, I'll be honest, I don't know that I have a chirp for this week. My chirp is playing great, I have no chirps.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:21

My chirp is just I don't understand how the department of player safety didn't um give Pierre Luc Deball anyway.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:30

Yeah, fair.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:31

That's a good call out disciplinary action for Yeah, because he's never been offender, too.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:37

Um, I just feel like that's a good call out.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:40

We we've talked about the Department of Player Safety a lot the past couple of episodes. I I don't I think I understand the inconsistency of it all. It it just seems very frustrating in a sense because that play that Dubois made granted it didn't put uh Thomas out for an extended period of time, but it still put him out for a game. So imagine if that would have been Thomas out for the rest of the season because of a play like that. And again, it doesn't go back to uh the intent to injure there was just ridiculous. I I hate seeing a player that is just uh wanting to go out and injure because here's the thing with that if you want to argue of he was falling and just Thomas happened to be there with that. No, he grabbed on to him when he was falling. He knew what he was doing in that. He knew. And I just have to uh sit, think on it, and say it was something in the moment that I was very frustrated on, and after watching the play again, I realized that yes, it was kind of like a bang bang play, and it happened, but Pierre Le Dubois was sitting there and was whining about it and was chirping at the refs the whole time that it was happening, and I get you're trying to plead your case in that situation, but i y there was the intent to injure there, whether he thinks or not, there was something intended there. He knew what he was doing when he fell and grabbed onto Thomas like that, and thankfully Thomas is okay. But if the Department of Players' Safety can look at that and say, okay, he intended to injure and still decided no disciplinary action was involved there, then I don't know what it's gonna take. Do they have to like sever something to you've got people that are without MCLs because players are intentionally kneeing or intentionally cross-checking or whatever the case may be to players? It it just How can you look at one and say, Oh yeah, that's a five game, and then look at another where it was a head injury, potentially, neck injury, head injury, and say, Oh, yep, no, we we're not gonna give them anything. That I think was just frustrating.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:09

So the GM meetings were not this past week, but the week before. I think there's two sets of GM meetings a year, one in the fall and one in the spring. They were in Florida this year, and George Paros is the head of player safety. And uh one thing we probably haven't touched on, because I don't think it had happened yet, we of course covered Austin Matthews having the MCL tear. They asked Connor McDavid about that, and he basically said, I think it's time that player safety reevaluates the way that they're calling these and the way that they're disciplining people because players keep getting hurt. And that's a big statement. You know, we know Connor McDavid and Austin Matthews are friendly. Um, they, you know, they're not like best friends or anything, but they do, you know, work with each other, they've done commercials together, whatever. They're they've always been friendly. Um Canadian market players, they're in the face of the NHL, in my opinion. I mean, I know that there's other people, but I mean big name players that two of the big ones. Yeah. And he came out and said, I'm not, you know, I think that there needs to be a reevaluation. Every time something happens, the players are unhappy, the coaches are unhappy. If everyone's unhappy, why would we keep doing it the same way? And I thought it was said very plainly and very directly. I thought it was really well said, and I thought it was something that he really didn't have to do that he did anyway. And I love it. They went to the GM meetings that week, not the players, but the the management groups and then the NHL leadership went to the GM meetings, and George Paros was asked about it. And to give him some grace, I guess any boss in that situation would stand up for their staff. But he basically says, I don't see any problem. I think that we do great work, and I think that there's a lot of consistency, and I don't see why we should change it. And it got really, really, really bad feedback. But on top of that, you know, most of that stuff is kept private. There are journalists there. Um, like Elliot Friedman was there from Canada, of course, who has 32 Thoughts with Kyle Bukowskis. They were both there. He was click-clacking into Orlando um with Kyle Bukowskis, who is so funny, was in St. Louis last night because it was the hockey night in Canada games since we played the Leafs. Anyway, I listened to their podcast religiously, but they were there, but those rooms are are closed, and so there's not like a recording of what's said, it's just kind of taking things that are discussed. And the feedback on that statement online did not go over well at all. But on top of that, there was a question proposed regarding CT um and head injuries, and George Paris kind of blew that one off too, and the mixture of the two made for a really upset group um across the league, because I think that you would have to be maybe stupid to say that you think CTE and and head injuries aren't a problem in any sport, uh football and hockey, especially though, and the role that they play. But on top of that, to say that after everything that has happened this year, and I think, like I said, I think Connor McDavid said it really well. If coaches aren't happy, if players aren't happy who are being injured, and if players aren't happy who are being suspended, clearly we're doing something wrong. Nobody is feeling good about the outcome of these things. If nobody feels good about the outcome, why would we leave it the same? And I think that's really well said, but the the response from player safety and George Parrow specifically was I don't see any problem and I don't see why we would change it. I was shocked truly by that response, as was I think most of the league. And suspensions are always a challenge because keep in mind that the NHLPA is representing both the person that caused the injury and the person that's injured. And so, you know, that that's always a challenge for them, but nobody's happy. I just I felt like his response was really tone-deaf and I think that most people felt that way, and I'm really curious to see what the future of player safety looks like. One call out that was made that I didn't really align in my brain was that uh the previous head of player safety, who I can't recall, um, he's a very well-known name though. I just I just can't remember. Is it Brendan Shanahan? Might have been Shanahan.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:57

He he he did it for a while.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:00

They did the videos where they showed a video of the play and they explained the call and why the suspension. Yeah, and it was really well done, and I really loved it. And I didn't really realize that the alignment or the that the stoppage of that came with the new leadership group, but it did. That was a call-up that was made online this week, and I think that's true because there was a lot of transparency in why the suspension was given. It goes through and it says, at this point, the player's shoulder connects with the player's head. This is a hit to the head.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:35

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:35

And so it felt very obvious, but it was just very well done. And, you know, I think that everyone's pretty frustrated, but I'm curious to see what the outcome is there because the response has been poor, and I wouldn't be surprised if you know that if if they build on that and try to see what kind of changes we can make to that process. That doesn't have to be part of a CBA, so it's certainly something that could be adjusted, but we just need more consistency in seeing players. It sounds like a really greedy thing to say, but from the NHL perspective and from the owner's perspective, losing players like Austin Matthews, like Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, it hurts the bottom line. It loses teams' money.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:26

And while that's not what I care about as a fan, no, I care about the fact that I'm getting ready to see the Pittsburgh Penguins play the Salos Blues, and I don't know if Sidney Crosby's gonna be able to play.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:35

I bet right and so why would you buy a ticket, right? Why would you buy a ticket and go to that game? Like, I I am not watching the Leafs anymore. I am not watching the Leafs anymore because Austin Matthews isn't playing, and that is just I have no desire to watch them because Austin Matthews isn't playing. Now, I don't live in Toronto, and so it's not like they're losing a ticket from me. I, you know, was gonna be really disappointed that I was gonna be out of town for the game where the blues played the Leafs last night, but then I was like, oh, I really I don't really care anymore.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:05

Well, yeah, now you don't have to buy and now the I mean losing a ticket in that aspect.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:10

Right. And those things matter, and while I'm not saying they matter to me personally, owners and NHL are losing money, they have so much of it. But my point is there are other factors that are at play, and so I'm curious to see what kind of trouble they raise to try and maybe get a more consistent process because it's more than just not everyone's happy with the outcome, which is what I care about. I want players to be safe, but I want hockey to be able to be kind of reserved in its form where that physicality is still a part of the game. We don't want to over-officiate games and you know it's a delicate balance, but it really just feels like right now we're not protecting players enough. And it's been a really physical league this year, and I think that there's probably ways to control it. And if George Paris can't figure out what they are, then that's fine. But maybe we need to find someone else that can try and preserve hockey in its form and what we love about it, but still protect players for the good of the game and for a variety of reasons. So we'll see.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:13

I'm with you on that one because it feels as though you you're losing big name players, and even when those smaller players that uh as people online like to say you're, you know, fourth line comfort player, you got people that are losing out on wanting to go to games because oh, well, I mean, if my favorite player isn't playing, what's the point of going to the game? For people that truly love the game, like I love the game of hockey, and even though somebody's not playing, I'm not gonna be super upset. I mean, I'll be upset, but I'm not it's not gonna stop me from going to a game. Whereas for some, I mean, you're losing out on the potential uh of growing the game and having people come to the games and see and spend the money and uh hopefully gain a love of the sport because just the inconsistencies. That's hard. That's really hard.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:05

Yeah. All right, so let's go over standings a little bit here. So the Eastern Conference right now, this is as of March 29th at noon. The Atlantic, you've got the Buffalo Sabres leaving that division with 98 points, Tampa Bay behind them at 96, and Montreal at 92. And then in the Metro, we've got Carolina at 98 points as well. The Islanders at 89, the Penguins at 88. So those are the six teams in the Eastern Conference playoff spots. Right now, the Bruins in the Blue Jackets are in the wild card spots. This is kind of crazy. If you had told me the Bruins were gonna return to the playoffs this year at the beginning of the year, I would have said, okay, I will believe it when I see it.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:47

Yeah, they had a rough time.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:48

I mean, certainly there's still a lot of hockey to play. But you still have, but that's kind of crazy.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:53

10 and 12 games, right? For most teams.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:56

Yeah, they've played 73 games. The Bruins have, and so have the Blue Jackets. I love seeing the Blue Jackets in here. They've put together a great season, they've worked really hard. Talk about a team that, again, sees production across their entire lineup. The Blue Jackets are a great example of that. Of course, it's been a very tough past few years for the Blue Jackets. They're the only team that I can recall right now that have made a coaching change this year. It's been a very interesting progression for them. Ottawa's one point back, and so is Detroit. All of those teams have played 73 games, so they're pretty even there. And then the Flyers are still in it with 84 points. The Capitals have 83. The Devils, Maple Leafs, and Panthers, it's gonna take a lot for them to break these spots. The Devils have 76 points, Leafs have 75, Panthers have 73. So those three teams are probably looking at being officially eliminated in short order here. Again, the Blue Jackets have 87 points. So um, it would take a lot for those teams to catch them. And that's without the Senators, Red Wings, or Flyers, or Capitals for that matter, playing a role. So that's what the Eastern is looking like. Then if we go out to the West, we talked about the Avalanche and the Stars already, clinching spots in the central division with 106 and 99 points. The wild are currently in the third spot as expected. They have 94 points. And then the Pacific, the Ducks lead their division right now with 86 points, which talk about a stark contrast there. The lead of the Pacific is 86 points. But right now, if you have 86 points in the Eastern Conference, you're not even in the playoffs. So that's a little bit of a tough pill to swallow for some of those Eastern Conference teams. But regardless, the Pacific Ducks are at the top, 86 points. Edmonton has 83 points, and the Golden Knights have 80 points. So those are your top three Pacific spots. And then your two wild card spots in the Western Conference right now are Utah with 82 points and Nashville at 77. Still some teams in the mix. Here. So you've got the Kings with 76 points, the Kraken at 75, the Jets at 74, and the Blues and the Sharks at 73. The Flames have 70. And then the Blackhawks have 67. The Flames and Blackhawks is probably going to be a little tough, but still a ton of teams in the mix for those for the final wild card spot. Utah's got five points on Nashville right now. So I think it would be hard to catch Utah, but not impossible. So it's really a matter of fighting for that last spot. It should be an interesting next couple of weeks. Most teams have between seven and ten games left. This is where we start to see teams kind of start to get that elimination. As Alyssa mentioned earlier with Colorado, they've already clinched a spot. So interested to see what their lineup looks like the next couple weeks as they hopefully give some players that are maybe a little banged up, some rest. Right now, standings are usually the big news in the league. The only other thing that is kind of cropping up right now is the NCAA championships are wrapping up. And so you're starting to see a lot of those college players start to make decisions about whether they want to uh join the NHL or stay in the NCAA. We've seen a couple of signings over the last few weeks for other teams. I don't believe the Blues have made any signings yet. And I can't remember his name.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:17

It's a French name. Give me one second, I will find it.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:20

Yeah. He so the Blues have made one signing, one St. Louis note. Jack Anderson is from St. Louis. He's from South County. I know this because I grew up in South County. He signed with the Dallas Stars organization and is playing in their AHL affiliate right now. He signed, I think, about a week and a half ago now. So exciting for him, exciting for St. Louis. Nice to see another St. Louis kid emerge in hockey. But it's a fun time. You start to see those players start to make those decisions. And it's nice. Some of these teams that are fighting for a playoff spot, we saw Jimmy Snugger come in and really elevate our game last year coming out of the NCAA. And it makes for a really fun last couple of weeks in this league. Now that's a norm. We went through a pretty long span where we didn't see a ton of that, but we've seen more players that are jumping out of those NCAA games. And again, the NCAA right now is really the closest thing we have to the compete level and the intensity level of the NHL, even compared to the AHL. The NCAA is almost a little bit higher, especially these players that are playing in like the final four or the frozen four, they're playing on really competitive teams. So it's a pretty natural progression for them to jump into the NHL. Again, Jimmy Snuggerwood was a great example of that last year.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:34

So the college forward that we signed is Felix Trudeau. He is currently going to join the Blues affiliate, the Thunderbirds, on a professional trial for the remainder of the season. He's a 23-year-old who dressed in 39 games during his second season at Sacred Heart University. It's the NCAA-AHA. Gotcha. So he uh seems like he's got a fair amount of war awards kind of going into it. Um fair amount of points. He spent his first two collegiate years at the University of Maine.

SPEAKER_00 1:31:12

It's a nice uh call out. While I think it would be a bit of a stretch as I'm looking at this right now, we talked about Steve Ott going to the Thunderbirds mid-season because they were in a bit of a rough patch and were really not playing very well. While they're still it's it was a big hole to dig out of. They're not completely out of the standings for the AHL yet. That's one of the hardest things sometimes after the deadline is you want your AHL team to continue to prosper. So you don't want to bring up all your AHL players to the NHL and then your AHL efforts kind of fall apart. Those things matter. The Thunderbirds have managed to put together, I think, a pretty good run under Steve Ott. So nice to see them finding some consistency as well, especially with Lindstein and Stenberg coming up and playing in the NHL full time.

SPEAKER_03 1:32:06

Yeah. And just I want to throw out a shout-out to Lindstein and Stenberg right now. I just feel like they're playing some amazing hockey right now, and they're taking the chance of of making the lineup consistently and they're running with it, which I absolutely love. I know that they've talked to Linstein about his transition back into the NHL and how it's been been for him, and he just has uh and I'm a big uh Colton Preco appreciator in in every sense of the imagination. And I know a lot of people are I don't want to say angry, but they're uh upset at the fact that he didn't wave his no-trade to leave St. Louis and bring in some of those young uh players that we could have potentially gotten with that. Uh but Linstein called out that Pareco has been a great uh person to help with the transition into the NHL. He's talked about how he loves that Pareco is very vocal on the ice and is constantly yelling plays at him, giving him corrective feedback, but also telling him what he's doing right, what he's doing wrong. And as much as uh people are upset with the fact that this didn't happen, I think uh looking at it in the long-term view, I think we're gonna be happy that we have the the offensive-mindedness that we have in Perico, but uh yes, he is older on the older side for defenseman, but I think it brings a lot of veteran presence to our defense that with how young our defense is right now, I think him and Fowler are really good leaders on this uh blue line right now. And am I saying that there's not a chance of the blues trying to deal him in the offseason? I'm sure that there will be plenty of uh things going forward that will be trying to get rid of Pereko. And I understand that from a business standpoint of what the blues are looking for, but right now I see him being a great leader on the blue line, and I love that. So that's just my totally agree. That that's my two cents of it. Just another call out as well. The blues did um their hockey fights cancer night to um raise awareness and raise money for Seitman Cancer Center with um Kelly Chase, and there's a lot of blues alumni that come in. Um Paul Businett was a big name that came in for for this. He had a lot of blues alumni uh and David Backus, Scotty Upshaw, um Pat Maroon, all of them playing raising money for Simon Cancer Center, and uh Kelly Chase while with his fight with cancers. All the blues players also made an appearance the uh that night to the game, so it's it's nice to see that you still have the togetherness in the team bonding that they have in.

SPEAKER_00 1:35:00

So totally that's a great event that Kelly Chase puts on every year. I think he calls it puck cancer, which I think is so funny. Um, but he's done so much great work, and obviously his fight is one that's been really on the forefront for a while now. He seems to somehow still be at games, and um, you know, he's certainly having a little bit of a hard time right now, but he puts he's put on a really great event, and he really lifted that event off the ground when he was still a little bit stronger, I think, physically, and um even played a period, I think, that first year that we went. Yeah, I do think his sons have played a couple years. He's got Dirk Spentley comes out a lot of times. Um Garth Brooks. Garth Brooks comes out, yeah. He gets he gets a lot of people in there, and then um did Monty play this year? I know Mike Weber played last year.

SPEAKER_03 1:35:52

Uh Mike Weber played this year. Monty did not, he was uh coach for the the blues alumni side versus just the alumni side. So Paul Bizzanet came in between the periods and talked with Dino Danito Victor and Cam Jansen last night. And hilarious. So, for those of you who don't know, Paul Bizzanet had a professional tryout with the blues, and so he talked a lot about that in his interview. But um he mentioned he's like, you know, this this is just a great organization. I loved even just the two weeks that I was there for the tryout. It was a great time, and like I really wish I would have gotten a chance to play for this organization. Even not playing for him and just having the tryout was amazing, and they still treat me with a lot of respect, still ask me to come to all these events, which is great. But him and Cam Jansen were just chirping back and forth with each other, and it made me realize like I love Paul Businett, and I love his frisky, just overall attitude and everything. But I love that this event just gains a lot of traction from the NHL and it gets the attention that it deserves. Shout out to Paul Businett and Paul Bizzanet stayed because he's a big Toronto Maple Leafs fan, stayed for the game last night, and he was man roaming around the halls of enterprise, like taking pictures with fans. He was he was involved, he was on the broadcast for both TV, but he also came in uh in between the periods and did some things and following him on the socials, he was roaming around. He's I found the one guy that has a Bizonet jersey, so it was fun to see.

SPEAKER_00 1:37:33

Yeah, he's um I'm a big ball Paul Bisonet fan. I think his career was not one full of like production and success. He was known for being an enforcer and he played a lot of time for for the Arizona Coyotes, but he is on the Barstool Spit and Chiclets podcast with Ryan Whitney and Keith Heandel now, and they do a lot of great work. But when Puck Cancer started a couple years ago, they talked about it on the podcast, um, is an event that was happening, and then I believe it was the second year they actually had Kelly Chase come on and they interviewed him. And anytime you get an opportunity to listen to Kelly Chase, he's a great storyteller. He has so many great stories that are so funny from the guys that he played with. Um, but they've done a great job at building it up, and it was nice to see that Paul Bisnet was able to come this year. I was bummed I wasn't. This is the first year that I wasn't able to go because I wasn't there.

SPEAKER_03 1:38:26

And I was gonna say, and usually you and I go and I forgot about it happening. Usually I was I was gonna go and I kind of forgot about the the timing of it, but it uh great event, and just like you like we've said before, just the traction that it's getting and I I think it really brings in the community aspect of absolutely they've done but they've done great work um on that event, and the blues players came last year too.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:52

Always nice to see them supporting the city. Well, they always talk about community eyes.

SPEAKER_03 1:38:56

I was gonna say, and they always talk about how Kelly Chase is just a forefront in their mindset each day. Another player that they talk about a lot that brings in the spirit for who this team is. The other day was a five-year anniversary of Bobby Plaguer's passing, and they always talk about how Bobby Plager is a just a driving force on who they are and who they've created and the mindset in their locker room. The blues honored Bobby during I believe it was the game against the Washington Capitals, because I even joked I said, Man, each year that we play on in and around Bobby's anniversary, we usually try to get at least five points, five goals, whatever it may be. And even though we didn't get the five goals that game, you could definitely tell that he was there that night. He just he you could tell by the spirit of the game, and it's I've mentioned this before, and I think you and I both say it all the time about how this is just the that blue-collared town and the blue cow collar player mindset, and Bobby Plaguer was really the driving force of that blue-collar same with Kelly Chase. And so seeing them still even now Bobby's been gone five years, and even with Kelly Chase making his fight with cancer, you still see the presence that they have in the locker room and how it it changes who the blues are and how they respond to things. I think that's just something to keep in the back of the mind of how we are that blue-collared force, which I love so much. I totally agree.

SPEAKER_00 1:40:36

Alright, well, a good two weeks of hockey.

SPEAKER_03 1:40:39

Good two weeks of hockey. We've got some heavy games coming up. We got a week-long California trip, so a lot of late games. I'm a tired teacher who's been on spring break. I don't need these late night games. I'm not built for these late night games. I know. It's tough. But it should be a good week of hockey. So we'll join you next week. We might, depending on timing. I know we play in the afternoon on Sunday, so we might record Saturday, depending on how everything works out. Thanks for joining in this week and hope you have a good week. Enjoy some late night blues hockey. And maybe some cardinals. Maybe some cardinals, yeah. We're on track for for 162-0, baby.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:24

That's more than you can say. Uh, I you know, I made the really like the really tasteless joke yesterday when the race came back and tied it in like the ninth inning. Um, I was like, those are the cardinals I know. I said the same exact thing. It's okay. You made me eat my words and we won. So yeah, we'll see. Um, they should be probably about to throw first pitch for the third game. So we'll see if we can make it three and all. That'd be pretty fun.

SPEAKER_03 1:41:47

It'd be pretty fun.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:48

So the kids are alright.

SPEAKER_03 1:41:50

That's the that's that's the model, man.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:52

JJ Weatherholt, he rocks. Jimmy Snuggerude, he rocks. We were hoping when we talked a month ago that the kids are gonna be alright. It looks like the kids are alright.

SPEAKER_03 1:42:02

The kids are doing alright. I appreciate it. So all right, blues fans. Well, enjoy your week. Stay warm because you know it's gonna be 80 degrees and then 50 degrees, so enjoy that. Lovely St. Louis weather, and uh we'll see you next week. Bye!

SPEAKER_00 1:42:22

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 with flavor. You're welcome.