One: Why’d you have to go and make things so complicated? – With apologies to Avril Lavigne (and all of you), the Kraken tried their complex Soviet Red Army team approach to goal scoring against the Stars and as has happened before, it once again didn’t work. Instead of simply putting pucks to the net and working hard to make stuff happen off deflections and rebound chances, they tried to put on a high-tech passing clinic and attempt the perfect shot.
It may have worked for Valeri Kharlamov, Vladimir Petrov, Boris Mikhailov, Sergei Makarov, Vladimir Krutov and Igor Larionov in the 1970s and 80s (Google it), but neither of them nor any reasonable facsimile plays for the Kraken. Thus, the Kraken must get more than nine shots on goal the opening 40 minutes against the Blues. We know the Kraken can do it because they went 15-6-3 for a six-week stretch ahead of the Winter Olympic break and did it by keeping things relatively simple and “greasy” with some physical net front play.
Whereas Kharlamov, Petrov and Makarov tended to leave it all on the Winter Olympics ice, collecting medals by the truckload, the Kraken seemed to have left their game in the Winter Olympic break. They need to shake off the rust and remember the hard work that got them this far. The Blues are not a team going any place fast this season. The Kraken might be but need to take care of business with 25 games to play. They fell out of third place in the Pacific Division on Wednesday courtesy of Anaheim’s third period, multi-goal comeback win over Edmonton.
And while the Kraken still hold the second wild-card spot, three points up on Los Angeles, it’s time to get after it.
Two: I think we’re alone now. There doesn’t seem to be anyone around – If we’re going to quote brilliant Avril Lavigne prose, might as well throw in some Tiffany. OK, it’s really Tommy James and the Shondells, but Tiffany fits more with our musical theme. The Kraken can’t let the Blues throw a pop music dance party in front of Philipp Grubauer the way they let the Stars shimmy on up to Joey Daccord. They need to “clear the room” so to speak, like a bouncer in a Boston night club the very second the clock strikes 2 a.m. Three of the Dallas goals were off tip-ins. The other was from a guy standing so close to the Kraken goal line he might have triggered the red lamp had he moved another half inch forward.
Look, we know the Kraken can do this. They’ve been one of the NHL’s top defensive units all season by deploying a combination of physical muscle, shot blocking and proper positioning. They struggled to have any of that against the Stars. We’ll assume it’s partly because the Stars are very big and very good. But so are the Vegas Golden Knights and the Kraken threw them out of the nightclub by 2:01 a.m. And that was in Las Vegas, not Boston.
Our guess is it’s mostly the darned Winter Olympic break again. It’s one thing to practice systems play. Quite another to do it in game situations. The Kraken don’t have Slava Fetisov (another Red Army guy) on defense. They can’t get away with easing up on the “details” that coach Lane Lambert wisely preaches. To win this game, Grubauer needs to be feeling quite alone and thinking, “Hmmm. There doesn’t seem to be anyone around.”
Three: And I guess that’s why they call it the Blues – OK, Elton John is no Avril Lavigne or Tiffany, not by a long shot. But for this “Know your foe” segment, it’s fair to say the Blues have come a long way since winning the Stanley Cup seven (!!!!) years ago with Vince Dunn, Jaden Schwartz and company. And not in the right direction. This is a team looking at a rebuild, with centerman Robert Thomas a coveted trade deadline piece. And Thomas won’t even face the Kraken as the team announced Wednesday he’s taking a personal leave of absence until Friday.
The Blues sit second worst in the conference at just 49 points, which is 14 worse than the Kraken have even after losing to the Stars.
They’ve also dropped three straight and eight of 10.
They have the fifth worst offense in the league at 2.56 goals per game and the second-worst defense at 3.51 goals allowed.
As Lavigne might say from her Sk8er Boi hit: “Can I make it any more obvious?”
OK, here goes. Pavel Buchnevich leads the Blues with 34 points, which is only three more than Jared McCann has in 24 fewer games. The aforementioned Thomas has 33 points, though he’s played 15 fewer games than Buchnevich, explaining some of the deadline interest.
Jake Neighbours leads the Blues with 14 goals, which would be tied for third on the Kraken. The difference is, the Kraken have allowed two-thirds of a goal fewer per game with the NHL’s No. 9 defense. Remember, the Kraken are a defense-first team, so their offensive numbers need to be placed in context. The Blues allow goals as if they’re facing the Red Army every night.
Jordan Binnington is a good goalie, having gotten Team Canada to overtime of the Winter Olympics gold medal game. Now, word on the street is he might go from playing for the Canadians to playing for the Canadiens – as in Montreal. That’s the latest rumor anyway.
Binnington has not played nearly as well for the Blues this season, though the team in front of him may have something to do with that. When it comes to the Blues, the names Binnington, Thomas and Jordan Kyrou are all over the place as deadline fodder. It’s only been four days since the Olympic finale. We’ll see whether the Kraken get Binnington or Joel Hofer in goal.
As for the Blues, Elton John might plead not to let the sun go down on him. But it’s setting fast in St. Louis. It’s up to the Kraken whether they want to hurry the process along.
Projected lineup (not official):
McCann - Beniers - Eberle
Catton - Stephenson - Tolvanen
Schwartz - Wright - Gaudreau
Winterton - Meyers - Melanson
Dunn - Larsson
Oleksiak - Montour
Lindgren - Evans
Grubauer
