Before the puck drops on Scottrade’s freshly paved ice tonight at 8pm, let me toss out a few thoughts. Warnings, ideas and basic sports prose sprinkled with analysis and attitude. A pregame warmup session if you will allow the description to take flight. The Cardinals avenged last night’s pathetic loss to the Cubs today with a nailbiting 5-4 win, so all the focus is on the BLUES. Here we go.
- Chris Stewart. The enigmatic winger has gone missing for 2 weeks now except for one great pass to Barrett Jackman in Game 2. Seriously, this is the main problem with Stewie. He is passionately streaky. He doesn’t play it low key and take a game off. He takes a group of games off. There are times where his energy level is also suspect. He skates around, gets into a few scrums but doesn’t crash the net enough. His job is to score goals and he isn’t doing that. If Hitch wants to bench a guy, pick Stewart or demote him. Time is running out, and this guy isn’t doing anything.
- Andy Mcdonald. The little guy hasn’t scored a goal since Mitchell Boggs’ last save and can’t hit the net with a shot. Like Stewart, his job is to make plays, score goals and avoid concussions that make him miss 45 games. McDonald is MISSING. He isn’t leaving a dent on the ice, and looks slower every game. He shows up tonight or he needs to be demoted. He also happens to make 4 million dollars. When was the last time he had a big game? Don’t hurt yourself thinking.
- David Perron. The Frenchman has done little outside of hump Jonathan Quick’s leg before every whistle. He hasn’t scored in a long time and looks flaky out there. Perron is a playmaker and not paid to be a pest. He makes nearly 2 million dollars to put pucks in the net, and that is as simple as it gets. Let Chris Porter get into Quick’s head. Perron needs to light up the damn lamp.