Chris Thorburn does not duck punches often, but he did here. Image via clydeorama/Flickr

I love wins that bust slumps. What the St. Louis Blues did Thursday night against the Nashville Predators definitely counts as a slump-busting win, and a great way to kick off a long road trip. 60 minutes of regulation play and five minutes of overtime were not enough to decide it, but two goals in the shootout by the Blues paired with none by the Preds finally decided it, 3-2. With the Preds’ top enforcer out, and with the game playing with the ebb-and-flow that it did, it is totally not shocking that there were no fights in this contest, and it’s almost better off that none did. The Blues stay at 29 fighting majors collected on the season, currently good for a tie for 10th in the National Hockey League in the category with this afternoon’s opponent. The Blues’ fight record stays at 13-5-11.

From Nashville to . . . Winnipeg? Yeah, that’s how this road trip is going to be. Next is an afternoon contest in Manitoba with the Southeast Division leaders, the Winnipeg Jets, in the two teams’ only matchup of the season. Since moving the Thrashers from Atlanta to their fair city, Jets fans have pretty much bought into anything in Jets colors, a sign of a nearly impoverished hockey fan base rejuvenated by the return of the sport after a 15-season hiatus. It creates excitement, even when you consider that these are basically the Atlanta Thrashers. Moving along . . . the Jets have fought 29 times, which – as noted earlier – is tied with the Blues for 10th in that category. The Jets’ fight record is not nearly as grand, though, at 9-11-9.

The Jets are led in fights by big Chris Thorburn (6’3”, 230lbs, 7-4-0) with 11 fights. He is followed by a pair of brawlers with six fights each – namely, Mark Stuart (6’2”, 213lbs, 1-4-1) and former Canuck Tanner Glass (6’1”, 210lbs, 0-2-4). The rest of the Jets’ six fighters have flown solo, and they are Captain and former Blackhawk Andrew Ladd (6’3”, 205, Win), Jim Slater (6’0”, 200lbs, Draw), Evander Kane (6’2”, 195lbs, Draw), Jason Jaffray (6’1”, 195lbs, Draw, currenty with St. John’s of the AHL), Johnny Oduya (6’0”, 190lbs, Draw) and Blake Wheeler (6’5”, 205lbs, Loss).

This sure seems like the kind of game that could lead to a fight, as this is the only time the two teams will meet each other this season. There are also several former Western Conference and Central Division opponents that play for the Jets. A heavyweight bout between Thorburn and Ryan Reaves, though, would be quite a show, with something like Glass vs. BJ Crombeen being a nice mid-card bout, possibly.

Now, to start another winning streak.

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights

This Cutie has be a point leader for the Blues

Here is who I’ll be “keeping my ears open for” tonight:

Alex Steen #20:  This cutie currently sits in second place on the Blues for points and leads the team in goals.  While his 21 points fall 3 shy of point leader David Backes, Steen currently has 10 goals- 3 more than Backes.  Many people speculated that last year was a fluke when Steen ended the season with 47 points (24 goals and 23 assists).  Obviously, Steen’s achievements last season were not a fluke as he is one of the leaders for this season.  Steen has points in 4 of his last 5 games, and a total of 10 points in his last 10 games.  Steen is producing more than some of the players that are expected to have big games.  Keep your eye on this cutie to keep carrying his teammates offensively- he seems as though he will stay one of the main point producers for awhile.

Thrashers Cutie to Watch:  The last game the Blues played against Atlanta ended in a shoot out win, which is pretty typical for a Thrashers lost.  Atlanta has taken points in 8 of their last 10 games.  5 of their 16 losses this season have come after regualtion play has ended.  They have had a knack for earning points in their games, and they have been rewarded by being the current leaders in their division.

This Cutie seems to fe a great fit with the Thrashers

Here’s who I’ll be watching for tonight:

Andrew Ladd #16, Left Wing:  This Cutie currently leads the Thrashers in goals and has the second most points on the team.  He spent the past 2 seasons in Chicago, where he averaged less than 20 goals a season.  Apparently Atlanta is a good fit for Ladd, he currently has 12 goals and 19 assists with the Thrashers.  His point total, 31, in the first 35 games of this season are only 7 shy of his total for 09-10 and 18 shy of his 08-09 total.  Ladd is on a 2 game point streak, and he has been in the plus column for 4 of his last 5 games.  Keep your eye on this cutie to be looking to keep his point tally increasing against the Blues tonight.

I am often petrified of this man. Image via Zimbio

Two disappointments occurred in last night’s game.  First off, the Blues lost 3-1 to the Vancouver Canucks on home ice.  Secondly, they did not engage in fisticuffs despite many good opportunities to do so.  By virtue of a fight last night by the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Blues now stand in a tie for second in the NHL with the New York Rangers with 34 fighting majors on the season, and their fight record does still stand at 16-10-8.  It’s certainly not the end of the world, just as the team’s injuries and struggles aren’t the end of the season.

We have covered the Atlanta Thrashers once already this season (find October 30th’s report here).  Since then, the Thrashers haven’t really changed much, fighting at a not so steady clip of 14 times on the season.  That’s currently good for a tie for 21st in the league.  What’s impressive, though, is their record in the few fights they’ve been in – 5-2-7.  It makes you wonder why this team doesn’t fight more often – it can’t hurt if you pretty much know you’re gonna win or draw!

A triumvirate of Thrashers lead the team with three fights each, and they are Ben Eager (6’2”, 235lbs, 1-0-2), Eric Boulton (6’1”, 225lbs, 1-1-1) and Chris Thorburn (6’3”, 230lbs, 0-1-2).  Past that, it’s a bunch of solo fighters . . . namely, Zach Bogosian (6’3”, 215lbs, Win), Evander Kane (6’2”, 195lbs, Win), Rich Peverley (6’0”, 195lbs, Win), Jim Slater (6’0”, 200lbs, Draw) and Alexander Burmistrov (5’11”, 170lbs, Draw).

It has been noted before that the Blues fight a lot against the Chicago Blackhawks, and the Thrashers have three former Hawks on their team (Eager, Andrew Ladd and Dustin Byfuglien).  It would be interesting to see if any Blue can coax a fight from any of these guys.  If they do, for the love of God I hope they go after Eager or Ladd and NOT Byfuglien . . . that beast-tank scares me.  I’d say the best opportunity would be a bout between someone like Eager and someone like BJ Crombeen.  Or perhaps Thorburn against Brad Winchester.

A top-flight Eastern Conference team on the road?  Don’t mind if they do, actually.

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights

Boulton won’t sing, but he takes no Boll. Image via, of all places, the Wall Street Journal (A very minor prize to the one who gets one of the references in this caption)

There were no fights in Thursday’s 3-0 Blues win over the Nashville Predators, but there was an incident involving quite possibly my least-favorite NHL player in the history of ever – yes, Jordin Tootoo was at it again, this time blasting Carlo “Splodeybones” Colaiacovo with a hit that should get him suspended (which obviously means I do not agree with Jeff or, for that matter, Darren Dreger, on this – to a degree) for at least a couple games.  Seriously, Tootoo brings close to no value offensively and very little value defensively, save for cheap moments like this.  Nearest and dearest to my heart . . . he doesn’t fight when challenged, especially after he does any of his stupid stunts (Hey, Tyson Strachan tried).  WHY IS HE STILL IN THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE?!  Get him out, now.  The Blues remain at 9 fights on the season, and while that was good for sole possession of 4th in the NHL on Thursday morning, things change fast early in the season.  That total of 9 fights is now tied for SIXTH with several NHL clubs, but with a fight record of 5-2-2, everyone’s looking at the Blue Note for inspiration at this point.

The Atlanta Thrashers are a solid young up-and-coming team and, thanks to some salary cap problems with the Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks (I STILL hate saying that), were the beneficiary of a few more young players – one who should have been a Conn Smythe Trophy winner in this reporter’s opinion and all whom fought last season.  The Thrashers fought 40 times last season, good for 19th in the NHL, and they amassed a more-than-modest 16-13-11 record in these fights.  This year has been a different story, as they’ve only fought twice this season.  Both fights were judged draws, and one of the fights involved a current Thrasher that is a familiar foe to the Blue Note.  The last time the Blues and Thrashers fought was in a game on November 30, 2008 in Atlanta (which some might remember as the game Keith Tkachuk picked up his 500th career goal), and the fight involved BJ Crombeen and Eric Boulton – both of whom happen to still play for their respective teams.  The problem?  The game was not televised, so there is no video evidence of the fight happening.  Can we blame this on Gary Bettman?  I’ll go ahead and do that.

Leading the Thrashers in fights last season was Boulton (6’1”, 225lbs, 4-3-6) with 13 and Chris Thorburn (6’3”, 230lbs, 2-4-3) with nine.  That would be 22 out of the team’s 40 fights from just two players, so it is quite clear who the enforcers are.  Other Thrashers fighters from ’09-’10 include Jim Slater (6’0”, 200lbs, 2-2-0) and Boris Valabik (6’7”, 245lbs, 1-1-2, assigned to the AHL’s Chicago Wolves) each with four, young up-and-comer Zach Bogosian (6’3”, 215lbs, 3-0-0) with three and über-young superstar Evander Kane (6’2”, 195lbs, 1-1-0) and Colby Armstrong (6’2”, 195lbs, 0-2-0, signed with Toronto) each with two.  Single-fight players were not-their-problem-anymore Ilya Kovalchuk (6’3”, 230lbs, Win, obviously with the Devils now – via trade), Ron Hainsey (6’3”, 210lbs, Win) and Evgeny Artyukhin (6’5”, 254lbs, Win, Free Agent, also 1-0-0 with Anaheim).  Added from the Blackhawks were eight fights from Ben Eager (6’2”, 235lbs, 3-3-2), two from Andrew Ladd (6’3”, 205lbs, 2-0-0) and one from my Conn Smythe Trophy choice from the 2010 Cup Finals, Dustin Byfuglien (6’5”, 265lbs, 1-0-0).

This year, the Thrashers’ two fights were contested by Thorburn – who worked a draw with Anaheim beast-tank George Parros – and familiar foe Eager – who went even with San Jose’s Frazer McLaren.

I could certainly see Crombeen going at it with Boulton or Thorburn.  He gives a few pounds to each but loses no reach advantage with either.  And is “Cam Watch” in full effect?  Cam Janssen was removed from Injured Reserve on Thursday but did not play.  This would not seem to be the type of game he would play in as he does not match up fight-wise with anyone.  And, really, who would you remove from the lineup right now, other than Brad Winchester?  (Then again, I would like that.)

Keeping the home winning streak alive is a must.  Get it done!

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights

This man is SCARY big. Image via committedindians.com

Saturday’s Blues loss to the Dallas Stars held true to the Throwdown Lowdown report posted Saturday morning – the Stars had yet to fight during this young season, and they did not drop the gloves with The Note on Saturday.  So the Stars remain one of two teams in the NHL yet to fight on the season (the other being the Florida Panthers, who are too busy getting their radio guy to make awesome goal calls), while the Blues are entrenched in a three-way tie for third in the NHL (with the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Washington Capitals) with 5 fights.

The Chicago Blackhawks show a propensity to not fight around the league, but when they play a divisional opponent (chief being the Blues), they shed the gloves like they’re not even there.  This year, the Hawks are tied for 22nd with several teams, whom each have contested one fight.  The Blackhawks’ lone fight involved Jacob Dowell, who was essentially destroyed by the Sabres’ Cody McCormick.  Last year, the Hawks fought a paltry 36 times, good for 21st place in the NHL.  They were 11-12-13 in those fights; 10 of these fights came in games against the Blues and only 12 of the 36 total fights were contested by players that still play for the Blackhawks.

To recap the ten Blues-Blackhawks fights . . . in a fight-filled January 2nd contest in St. Louis, current Thrasher Ben Eager defeated BJ Crombeen, current Wild Cam Barker took down now-Panther Mike Weaver, Jonathan Toews lost to David Backes and commenced to vomit in the penalty box, current Oiler Colin Fraser worked a draw with Carlo Colaiacovo and Eager did an encore, being rewarded with a loss to Barret Jackman.  On February 6th in St. Louis, Barker worked a draw with Jackman and current Thrasher Andrew Ladd defeated Eric Brewer.  On March 30th in St. Louis, Cam Janssen worked a Blackhawk Double Victory, first taking down Eager then taking out Nick Boynton.  Finally, on April 7th in Chicago, Brent Seabrook and Brad Winchester worked a draw.  Click each opponent’s name for video of each fight.

Last year, the Blackhawks were led by Eager (6’2″, 230lbs, 3-3-2, traded to Atlanta) with eight fights.  Following him were Fraser (6’1”, 190lbs, 0-2-4, traded to Edmonton) with six, Troy Brouwer (6’2”, 214lbs, 3-1-0) with four, Brent Seabrook (6’3”, 218lbs, 1-0-2) with three and Ladd (6’2”, 200lbs, 2-0-0, traded to Atlanta), Adam Burish (6’0”, 189lbs, 0-1-1, traded to Atlanta) and Boynton (6’1”, 218lbs, 0-2-0 with Chicago and 0-4-1 overall) with two each.  Hawks with one fight each included Radek Smolenak (6’3”, 180lbs, Loss, signed with a Czech club), Dowell (6’0”, 199lbs, Draw), Bryan Bickell (6’4”, 223lbs, Loss), Toews (6’2”, 210lbs, Loss), Kris Versteeg (5’10”, 182lbs, Draw, traded to Toronto), Dustin Byfuglien (6’4”, 255lbs, Win, traded to Atlanta) and Duncan Keith (6’1”, 196lbs, Draw).  In addition, free agent acquisition John Scott (6’8″, 258lbs) went 5-0-1 in fights last season as a member of the Minnesota Wild.

Whatever happens, if the Blues get into a fight, they do NOT need to be messing with Scott.  The man is massive and scares the living crap out of me.  As far as size matchups go, Brouwer could work a good fight with Crombeen if either offer.  Of course, the one I WANT to see is the rematch between Toews and Backes, if for no other reason to see if Toews will throw up in the penalty box again.  I’ll note that they DO match up VERY well size-wise, but Toews can only take his physicality in small doses.

So, how about holding a 2-0 (or bigger) lead this time, boys?  Let’s get it done.

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights

I had the great honor of being in attendance for Saturday’s tilt between the Blues and the Blackhawks.  Despite the result, it was a great time – especially since there were TWO fights in the contest.  The first one – pretty much a hug-out between SIR JAXX (Barret Jackman) and Cam Barker (I blame it on Barker . . . he seemed not ready to throw fists, but . . . oh well) – was scored a draw at Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights, whereas the second fight between Eric Brewer and Andrew Ladd was called in favor of Ladd.  The second fight, I thought, was even, but I also am biased (obviously).  Jackman is now 1-0-2 on the season and Brewer is now 1-1-0.  With the two fights, the Blues did not move up or down in the season standings, holding steady at 5th place with 48 fights on the season and a 21-14-13 season fight record.

The Colorado Avalanche are one of those teams with a mixture of a bit of everything – youth, locker room vets, skill players, tough guys, grinders and big boys.  Much like the rest of the Northwest Division, the Avs are not allergic to fighting – they have fought a collective 43 times on the season, good for 7th place in the National Hockey League.  However, they do not have a propensity to win fights – they’re 7-14-22 on the season, this despite starting the season 0-8-10.  The Blues and Avs did not fight in the previous meeting between the two teams back on December 7th at home.

10 Avs have fought this season, and the leading fighters on the team are wingers Cody McLeod (6’2″, 210lbs, 2-3-8) and David Koci (6’6″, 238lbs, 1-4-5).  As you can see, McLeod is big but Koci (who last season was a Blue for, like, five minutes) is much bigger.  Center Matt Hendricks (6’0″, 215lbs, 1-3-2) is next on the list, but he is on IR with an ankle issue.  Others with multiple fights are winger Chris Stewart (6’2″, 228lbs, 2-0-2), defenseman Ryan Wilson (6’1″, 207lbs, 0-1-2), veteran winger Darcy Tucker (5’10″, 178lbs, 0-1-1) and winger Chris Durno (6’4″, 205lbs, 0-0-2).  Among these fighters are 6 of the 7 fight victories the Avs have recorded this season.  They LIKE to fight, they just don’t WIN fights.

The dream matchup of the evening involves whichever between Cam Janssen and DJ King plays and either Koci or McLeod.  If it’s King, I’d like to see him go at Koci.  If it’s Janssen, he and McLeod match up well size-wise.  I would also not be against a fight between someone like Jackman and a wily veteran like Tucker, although that’s a bit of a size mismatch.

One road game, then back home.  The Blues need to make this one count against a very formidable foe on in Denver.

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights

Chris Thorburn is all like, "STAY HERE, TANNER!" Image via treehugger.com (of ALL places!)

As expected, the fists flew in Stampede City on Monday night.  As anticipated, one of the fights was between Cam Janssen and Brandon Prust.  And as we all know he can, Janssen took down Prust, with an impressive finish to boot.  Unfortunately, Janssen got involved with Brian McGrattan earlier in a matchup that proved to be a bit much for Cam.  So with the 1-1-0 record on the evening, Janssen moves to 8-3-2 on the season.  The Blues as a team are now 21-13-11 and hold tight at the 5th spot for number of fights on the season with 45 – only one behind the Tampa Bay Lightning.

So now it’s our “good pals” from Canada’s beautiful Pacific Southwest, the Vancouver Canucks.  There have been three games between the two already this season – two at home, one at their place – and all 5 fights that took place were in St. Louis.  There were four fights on November 10th – Kevin Bieksa and BJ Crombeen traded victories and Janssen worked a draw with Darcy Hordichuk before defeating Tanner Glass later.  In the New Year’s Eve game, Rick Rypien defeated Janssen amid controversy over tape on his hand, which he received a game misconduct for.  So Vancouver is 2-2-1 against the Blues this season in fights and they’re 14-9-18 in 41 scraps this season – the 41 fights represents 7th place in the NHL in ’09-’10.

As most of us know, Vancouver has several players willing to drop the gloves.  I count 9 different Canucks with fights – 6 of which have shed the gloves multiple times on the season.  The leader of the pack is center Rypien (5’11″, 170lbs, 4-2-5).  We are not guaranteed that Rypien will fight in this game, as he just returned on Monday from a bout with food poisoning.  We’re also not likely to see defenseman and “old friend”, Bieksa (6’0″, 205lbs, 3-1-1).  He is on injured reserve with a leg laceration.  Another defenseman who may be out is Willie Mitchell (6’3″, 210lbs, 0-0-2) – he’s day-to-day with a concussion.  This leaves us with three other Canucks players involved in multiple fights – wingers Glass (6’0″, 200lbs, 4-2-4) and Hordichuk (6’1″, 215lbs, 3-2-4) and center Ryan Kesler (6’2″, 205lbs, 0-2-0 and fresh off getting destroyed by Andrew Ladd of the Chicago Blackhawks).

There’s still bad blood between these two teams stemming from last year’s playoff series, so you can expect pretty much anything as far as pugilistic activities in this game.  But your best bets begin and end with any combination of Janssen, Crombeen or Brad Winchester (who has a lot to prove after his fight on Saturday) against Glass, Hordichuk or Rypien.  Maybe we’ll get lucky and David Backes will return to take on a member of someone’s Olympic squad.  Since we can eliminate Team Canada goaltender Roberto Luongo, we’ll go to other participating nations: Kesler is a Team USA teammate, Henrik and Daniel Sedin are on Team Sweden, old friend Pavol Demitra is on Team Slovakia and Sami Salo is on Team Finland but is currently day-to-day with a groin issue.  The options for Backes are admittedly light here, so if he’s looking for a fight, he may want to sit out one more game.  Oh, who am I kidding?!  BRING HIM BACK!!!!!

Two in a row in Western Canada?  Why, that sure would be swell, wouldn’t it?

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights