Blues Must Play Statement Game
It’s all over but the weeping. The Blues are down 0-3 in the best-of-seven series against the highly skilled and experienced Canucks.
They can’t win the series now. But they can still pound out an exciting Game 4 victory, give their fans something to cheer and remind the NHL that they are still on the climb.
Also, they have a chance to bruise give the Canucks a few more bruises. That team loves to talk on and off the ice, so Game 4 gives the Blues a chance to answer with some action.
The Canucks don’t like getting bumped. “Our guys have been [receiving] a lot of cheap shots in this series,” Canuck coach Alain Vigneault complained after Game 3.
Instead of hitting the Canucks for 25 to 30 minutes, the Blues need to hit them for 60 minutes to test their will.
To that end, Hockey Guy enjoyed watching Cam Janssen play. He threw a few huge body checks and had the Canucks on the run.
They weren’t going to fight him, of course, and Cam wasn’t going to take selfish penalties by getting overly aggressive. But he still had an impact.
B.J. Crombeen, on the other hand, let the Canucks goad him into a couple of needless penalties. This was his first rodeo, so he’ll learn from the experience.
The Canucks shrugged off the loss of Mats Sundin to a groin strain, largely because his on-ice impact hasn’t been all that great.
Steve Bernier showed why the Blues made a bid for him last summer. After missing a golden opportunity, he bounced back to score a classic playoff goal.
As a canuck fan I wanted to applaud both teams for a fantastic series. It isn’t over yet, I can see St. Louis coming back in game 4. There is no reason to single out either team for good and bad hits, they have both pretty even in that department. My only complaint was when the Canadian anthem was sung last night there was a lot of booing, even though people say it wasn’t a boo but they were saying blues, a lot of horn blowing as well, either way it was in bad taste to treat the visiting team like that. There was only cheering for the American anthem when the Blues were in Vancouver. I wonder if they will still cheer if the teams come back to Vancouver for a game 5, I sure hope not, I hope the fans in Vancouver continue being classy in these situations.
Susan, there’s a reason they call them Bluesiers, and class has nothing to do with it.
Canuck coach Alain Vigneault is one of the biggest cry baby coaches I have ever seen! Geez, every post I read, it always has him crying about something. I guess he never notices the cheap shots the Canucks put on the Blues? Good thing Bertuzzi still isn’t a Canuck, we’d have players in the hospital.. 7SEVEN7
I think the fans were saying BLUES at the end of the anthem.
Ahhh, too bad the Blues are blowing this series, I was hoping they would go far enough in the playoffs to play against the Wings so the Wings could show them how a real team plays playoff hockey.
Susan — as others have pointed out — those were not boos. St. Louis Blues fans are smart enough to know that our team is loaded with Canadian players…
Susan-
I attended the game Sunday night and I am glad you mentioned the booing and horn blowing. My wife and I were embarrased by the behavior during the Canadian anthem. There is nothing wrong with booing the other team and individual players during the game, but lets show a little class during the anthems. Please keep in mind that a good portion of the players from both teams are Canadian.
Every playoff series you will hear one of the coaches complain about cheap shots: the coach of the team with more skilled players. Vigneault is simply trying to gain an advantage, even a slight one. Murray whines as well, earlier in his career he was primarily known for it. Murray’s ranting on the bench at the end of game 2 was absurd given he had first change and put out Crombeen. This has been an entertaining first round series with two teams at different levels of development. The Blues have a great future to look forward to as the younger guys get a clue, but the Canucks may be on their last throw depending on who gets signed this summer.
Susan, it is well known locally that the Blues have the highest hoosier quotient among their fans.
Blues fans,
Please show some class and do not disrespect the anthem of another country. I am sure that it would be an ugly scene if the U.S. anthem were disrespected tomorrow night. No excuses!
Make me proud to be a St. Louisian and a Blues fan.
In peace.