Stop. Pulling. The. Goalie!!!!!

[WeWentBlues0819]

It doesn’t work. Ever. All it does is shorten games unnecessarily.

[somni]

I think they heard you

[AtillaTheBlue1]

even the announcers have had it with blues, when they pull their goalie

kerber said it as plain as it can get,"this team has ZERO urgency when they pull the goalie, NONE"

says a lot about team, and says something about the coach, if he cant get them to find urgency

[Jeff Goldblum]

Parayko looked like he had some urgency with about 10 seconds left in the game.

[a smell of green grass]

The team needs to operate like good teams do--even if everybody and the kids know that it will be nothing but a disaster. Further, we all need to find out why this team gets very little advantage from an extra man.

It is not just simply "urgency" and "getting the puck to the net", I can guarantee that.

[Younghopp1991]

The team needs to operate like good teams do--even if everybody and the kids know that it will be nothing but a disaster. Further, we all need to find out why this team gets very little advantage from an extra man.

It is not just simply "urgency" and "getting the puck to the net", I can guarantee that.

I believe its because our guys that play with urgency do not play with skill. Guys with skill do not play with urgency.
We have many problems on this team but what we need is gamers who want the puck no matter what

[Droge100]

My problem with it was that there were almost 3 minutes left in the game. You are only down by one goal. Why not wait until we get done to the last minute, then do it? I would understand if we were down by 2 goals.

[blues2112]

The team needs to operate like good teams do--even if everybody and the kids know that it will be nothing but a disaster. Further, we all need to find out why this team gets very little advantage from an extra man.

It is not just simply "urgency" and "getting the puck to the net", I can guarantee that.

I believe its because our guys that play with urgency do not play with skill. Guys with skill do not play with urgency.
We have many problems on this team but what we need is gamers who want the puck no matter what

Perfect encapsulation.

[MiamiLaw]

It's just more evidence that Monty is unable to adapt no matter what the results staring him in the face look like. Really souring on him. I am not sure what his job is if it isn't to see the issues and at least attempt to remedy them. If he was trying different things and those didn't work either, I would be much more forgiving.

[STL fan in MN]

The answer isn’t to stop pulling the goalie, it’s to improve the strategy and urgency when pulling the goalie. As in the end, it’s almost always a good strategy when down a goal or two late. It increases your odds of scoring to tie the game. It also obviously increases the odds of the other team scoring to extend their lead…but really, it doesn’t matter unless you care about goal differential as losing by 2 is the same result as losing by 1 - a regulation loss and zero points.

So again, the strategy of pulling the goalie when down late isn’t the issue. It’s the execution of that strategy that’s just not there. And obviously the frequency of being behind late in games so often is the even bigger issue.

These are the sorts of issues teams deal with when they suck.

[MiamiLaw]

The answer isn’t to stop pulling the goalie, it’s to improve the strategy and urgency when pulling the goalie. As in the end, it’s almost always a good strategy when down a goal or two late. It increases your odds of scoring to tie the game. It also obviously increases the odds of the other team scoring to extend their lead…but really, it doesn’t matter unless you care about goal differential as losing by 2 is the same result as losing by 1 - a regulation loss and zero points.

So again, the strategy of pulling the goalie when down late isn’t the issue. It’s the execution of that strategy that’s just not there. And obviously the frequency of being behind late in games so often is the even bigger issue.

These are the sorts of issues teams deal with when they suck.

In a vacuum maybe it raises the chances of scoring for the league as a whole. It does not seem to be the case for the Blues. I have no problem with pulling the goalie, but to do so with 3 minutes left and not even with clean possession is just suicidal for this group.

[blackinkbiz]

My problem with it was that there were almost 3 minutes left in the game. You are only down by one goal. Why not wait until we get done to the last minute, then do it? I would understand if we were down by 2 goals.

This is exactly how and why Oli became so detested on the Cards side. When you stubbornly do the same thing over and over, and you, the decision maker, are solely responsible for that move, and it fails the team every single time, it doesn't take long before people question if you have a clue wtf you're doing.

If you insist on pulling him, how about puck possession? less than 90 seconds to go? use guys you know will protect the puck?

Oli Marmol didn't care how well his starting pitcher was throwing, didn't care how many hitters in a row he'd just sat down, etc etc, once that pitcher came close to 90 pitches or 5 innings, for the first few years of his tenure, that SP was pulled every time. And, obviously, as the team's record shows, it rarely worked.

Sh*t is maddening to watch.

[theograce]

The answer isn’t to stop pulling the goalie, it’s to improve the strategy and urgency when pulling the goalie. As in the end, it’s almost always a good strategy when down a goal or two late. It increases your odds of scoring to tie the game. It also obviously increases the odds of the other team scoring to extend their lead…but really, it doesn’t matter unless you care about goal differential as losing by 2 is the same result as losing by 1 - a regulation loss and zero points.

So again, the strategy of pulling the goalie when down late isn’t the issue. It’s the execution of that strategy that’s just not there. And obviously the frequency of being behind late in games so often is the even bigger issue.

These are the sorts of issues teams deal with when they suck.

In a vacuum maybe it raises the chances of scoring for the league as a whole. It does not seem to be the case for the Blues. I have no problem with pulling the goalie, but to do so with 3 minutes left and not even with clean possession is just suicidal for this group.

I mean you have to do it. Suicidal? This team can’t score at ES and hasn’t since first period of the Tampa game.

[MiamiLaw]

The answer isn’t to stop pulling the goalie, it’s to improve the strategy and urgency when pulling the goalie. As in the end, it’s almost always a good strategy when down a goal or two late. It increases your odds of scoring to tie the game. It also obviously increases the odds of the other team scoring to extend their lead…but really, it doesn’t matter unless you care about goal differential as losing by 2 is the same result as losing by 1 - a regulation loss and zero points.

So again, the strategy of pulling the goalie when down late isn’t the issue. It’s the execution of that strategy that’s just not there. And obviously the frequency of being behind late in games so often is the even bigger issue.

These are the sorts of issues teams deal with when they suck.

In a vacuum maybe it raises the chances of scoring for the league as a whole. It does not seem to be the case for the Blues. I have no problem with pulling the goalie, but to do so with 3 minutes left and not even with clean possession is just suicidal for this group.

I mean you have to do it. Suicidal? This team can’t score at ES and hasn’t since first period of the Tampa game.

Have they scored a 6 on 5 goal at all this year?

[theograce]

The answer isn’t to stop pulling the goalie, it’s to improve the strategy and urgency when pulling the goalie. As in the end, it’s almost always a good strategy when down a goal or two late. It increases your odds of scoring to tie the game. It also obviously increases the odds of the other team scoring to extend their lead…but really, it doesn’t matter unless you care about goal differential as losing by 2 is the same result as losing by 1 - a regulation loss and zero points.

So again, the strategy of pulling the goalie when down late isn’t the issue. It’s the execution of that strategy that’s just not there. And obviously the frequency of being behind late in games so often is the even bigger issue.

These are the sorts of issues teams deal with when they suck.

In a vacuum maybe it raises the chances of scoring for the league as a whole. It does not seem to be the case for the Blues. I have no problem with pulling the goalie, but to do so with 3 minutes left and not even with clean possession is just suicidal for this group.

I mean you have to do it. Suicidal? This team can’t score at ES and hasn’t since first period of the Tampa game.

Have they scored a 6 on 5 goal at all this year?

It would be absolutely hilarious if they played it out 5on5 on this team. Hey…we’ve struggled scoring 6on5 so we are going to stop trying

[DawgDad]

The answer isn’t to stop pulling the goalie, it’s to improve the strategy and urgency when pulling the goalie. As in the end, it’s almost always a good strategy when down a goal or two late. It increases your odds of scoring to tie the game. It also obviously increases the odds of the other team scoring to extend their lead…but really, it doesn’t matter unless you care about goal differential as losing by 2 is the same result as losing by 1 - a regulation loss and zero points.

So again, the strategy of pulling the goalie when down late isn’t the issue. It’s the execution of that strategy that’s just not there. And obviously the frequency of being behind late in games so often is the even bigger issue.

These are the sorts of issues teams deal with when they suck.

In a vacuum maybe it raises the chances of scoring for the league as a whole. It does not seem to be the case for the Blues. I have no problem with pulling the goalie, but to do so with 3 minutes left and not even with clean possession is just suicidal for this group.

I mean you have to do it. Suicidal? This team can’t score at ES and hasn’t since first period of the Tampa game.

Bingo!

This team right now is barely NHL competent offensively and terribly undermanned with Thomas, Holloway, and Suter out, and playing a group of younger players who just aren't there yet at the NHL level.

It's my belief the expectations coming into this season were high but not really unreasonable. Almost everyone has contributed to the collapse. With all the key injuries piled up it's clear the front office decided this season isn't worth investing assets to save, and I agree. Stick with the plan, this team lands where it will but the plan moving forward remains intact, though there are more question marks about specific players and whether they fit.