[ad_1]
A quick tour around the Enterprise Center before Saturday's Stanley Cup final match 3 offered an intensive course on understanding paranoia and superstition against Blues fans.
A man in sweater Brett Hull touched the statue of Hull to wish him good luck. Others gathered in a circle and threw back shots of alcoholic Jello, on behalf of goals scored. A woman was wearing a replica Stanley Cup tin foil over her head, as if to announce the desired price while blurring the frequency of UFOs. You know, unfair officials.
Find me a fan base that does not think the league and its officials are against their team. No news there. But what happens if the team admits that they feel the same?
A Blues team that had, at least until now, stressed the importance of controlling what it can control while ignoring everything else made a notable pivot Sunday.
It was calculated. Will it work? Time will tell us.
"We were the least penalized team in the league so far," said Blues coach Craig Berube. "So, I do not agree with all the calls."
A restless Bérubé was referring to the seven penalties the Blues had been scored in their 7-2 loss to the Bruins in Game 3. That brought the Blues penalty total to 17 in this series, four more than the Bruins. Boston had 14 opportunities to play on the power play compared to the Blues' 10 goals. So much for the officials who swallow the whistles and screams of the evening during the championship round. Of course, the physical presence between the Blues and the Bruins does not make a non-starter call – if both teams will survive.
Among the signs in the crowd Saturday night, there was one that said "Bérubé 2020". He sounded like a politician on Sunday.
He described the loss of the third match as "difficult to evaluate" because of the penalties. He even came prepared with data – and repeated them – to bring his argument home. Jeff's lobbyists could have learned something. This was the game in great shape. The Blues do not seem to be able to stop Boston's deadly power play. So, try to limit the power games.
"We were the least penalized team in the league in the first three rounds," Bérubé repeated, adding, "I do not know."
The Blues average of 6 minutes and 19 seconds of penalty per game between the start of the playoffs and the Stanley Cup Final is indeed the lowest average of all the other teams in the playoffs. The Bruins placed second, recording at 6 minutes and 21 seconds. In this series, however, the Blues record an average penalty per minute of 11:20 compared to 8:40 by the Bruins.
The Blues have a penalty differential of minus-17 this post-season. A bit of context: The second-worst post-season penalty differential belonged to the eliminated Avalanche. They were a minus-7.
The Blues also have the worst differential of penalty minutes in the post-season, minus 50 – 22. The second worst belongs to the Bruins. They are less-27.
The Blues, hoping to play as many as five against five, seem to see prejudices. Their opponents seem to see the byproduct of playing a bruised style. Officials see it become a big story to enter match 4. That's the last thing they wanted to see.
Berube wanted to start this conversation. This is a curve ball of the tight-lipped coach. A team that has treated a disastrous officiating blunder in its latest series as an insect on the windshield now suggests that officials are throwing strips of nails.
Nothing proves that the league wants to keep the Blues of the Stanley Cup. To be honest, the Blues should be the most friendly team in the league. Another Boston Championship? It's as boring as Kris Bryant's weekend at the Busch Stadium plaque.
Yes, Timo Meier's missed pass in the third game of the Blues-Sharks at the Western Conference finals was terrible, so much so that the league pulled those officials off the ice and sent the costumes in. excuse. It was an embarrassing mistake, not a job on the inside.
As for the suspension of a match of Oskar Sundqvist who prevented him from playing in match 3 after his big hit on Matt Grzelcyk, it was not so surprising. In the void, the punishment corresponds to the crime. It's easy to find conspiracy theories when you compare and compare sanctions in an organization that competes with the NCAA because of a lack of consistency.
NHL officials are often bad, almost always incoherent and exposed to a replay system that does as much to display errors as to correct them. But these officials are they against the Blues? Hard to sell there. The official commentary of the Blues seems to be a shrug of the shoulders and a thumbs up.
Bérubé and his Blues Sunday have talked a lot about the need to minimize penalties. But the proposed adjustments – keeping the game between whistles and not being drawn into extracurricular activities – do not make much sense. Most of the blues penalties occurred between whistles.
The Blues managed to balance their physical play with a minimum of minutes in the penalty area in the first three rounds. They have trouble doing it now. What's changed?
"We are not officials," said Blues forward Brayden Schenn on Sunday after being questioned. "We go there and we play the game. So at the end of the day, we do not see what they see sometimes. At the end of the day, you do not worry about the officials. "
The Blues seem at least a little worried.
The team that once told us to look away from the officials just put them in the spotlight.
It is time to know if it was a desperate attempt or the next call of Berube.
[ad_2]
Source link