Hockey fans are learning of all the new little rules the NHL is implementing for the 2013-14 season. There's the new goalie pad regulations, the jersey tuck rule and one that affects fighting. Beginning this season, players will be given a two-minute penalty for removing their helmet before a fight. One bout could equal seven penalty minutes for a player.

Brett Gallant of the New York Islanders and Krys Barch of the New Jersey Devils found a way around it before their second tilt Thursday night: both purposely took off the other's helmet.


Every rule has its loophole and Gallant and Barch have found it for this one.

From Rule 46.6:

Helmets - No player may remove his helmet prior to engaging in a fight. If he should do so, he shall be assessed a two minute minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. Helmets that come off in the course of and resulting from the altercation will not result in a penalty to either player.

Because this loophole has now been discovered, it won't be long before there's yet another rule ensuring that if this situation were to occur again before a fight, both players will be assessed an unsportsmanlike minor penalty. Count on it.

Barch and Gallant would end the night with three fights and a game misconduct for each after the trilogy ended.

From the Litter Box Cats recap:
Defense cannot be optional for the Panthers, who will likely have trouble to keep up with high-scoring teams like the Blues.

 mega_bassist wrote:
Lapierre was suspended for five games for that gnarly hit on Boyle.

 whembly wrote:

'Hawks are still a scary team... I hope the Blues can keep up.

Niklas Kronwall took a puck to face this morning; blood in the beard, needs stitches, but still expected to play tonight. Yes, he is a warrior. And surprisingly, the puck is ok after being hit by Kronwall.

chaos0xomega wrote:Hi, I'm a die-hard Devils fan... would you like to run that "losing streak" by me again?

On Friday night with the Anaheim Ducks taking on the Hurricanes in Carolina, the game stretched into overtime and that's when Ducks star Corey Perry broke his stick. Instead of getting one off his own bench, he went the shorter route and just took one from Hurricanes forward Alexander Semin.

No really, that's exactly what he did. With Semin sitting on the boards ready to make a change, Perry smoothly skated by and simply took the stick right out of Semin's hands. All of a sudden Semin couldn't hop on the ice for his shift and Perry made off like a bandit.

The Hurricanes and Semin in particular were incredulous on the bench but Perry really did get away scott-free; he avoided a penalty on the play.

 mega_bassist wrote:

 whembly wrote:
Blues win again 6 to 1 agains Dallas!

Had a chance to go to tonight's game... but didn't feel up to it.

whembly is an idjit.

Never skimp out on a Blues game!

Also...isn't it a little early for the Christmas hats?? I remember that starting in December

 djones520 wrote:

 Alfndrate wrote:
Jesus the Senators played terribly on Thursday.

Now that was a good ole fashioned ass wuppin.

That enforcer of yours is making himself look like a major ass though. Franzen has never been a fighter, never fought once in his entire career, and he just got back after a HUGE concussion injury, and he's talking gak because Franzen refused to fight him. What a punk.

Franzen wrote:“He usually shows up when the game’s over and tries to be the hero, puts his cape on and goes and flies out there,” Franzen said of Neil. “He doesn’t like to take heat from fans and coaches, I think. He usually steps up when the game is over and shows everyone that he really fights hard.”

 whembly wrote:
Ugh... ugly loss for the Blues last night... blanked out by the 'Hawks 0-4.

Worst defensive performance all year. Kudos for 'Hawks for taking advantage.

Anyone know how long Kane is out? Twinge is knee I think.

 whembly wrote:

 mega_bassist wrote:
Blues were first to clinch! It was a hectic weekend for sure, though. Damned Flyers shutting us out!

I missed that Flyers game... driving back from Denver. (oh how I hate driving through Kansas!)

Does Miller seem "off" now?

 Hlaine Larkin mk2 wrote:
With the way Philly are playing they'll be really hard to beat in the play-offs.

 Alpharius wrote:
Plus the Bruins won the Cup in '11, and had a chance last year as well...

And I hate to break this to you but the Bruins look really good right now too!

chaos0xomega wrote:
Its not that I dislike the Blues, I just don't like them, as in I don't care for them, the team means nothing to me, its just another one of the 25 teams I dont have any opinion on (as opposed to the two teams - Rangers and Flyers - who I loathe, and the three teams - Devils, Sharks, and Penguins - which I support).

 djones520 wrote:
Leaving your feet after contact isn't a problem. It's when you leave feet before.

 djones520 wrote:

But you are correct, that should have been called all day long, with a disciplinary hearing to boot.

 djones520 wrote:
Well this is being weird... I see Alf posted, but the lastest post I'm seeing is one from Whembly days ago.

 mega_bassist wrote:
It's was an ugly weekend for the Blues, especially that Avs game. I saw some nasty arguments over that game, but I'm sorry, both teams were certainly not acting very professionally. Also, Miller REALLY needs to keep an eye on the puck. He's good at making the first stop, but it's like he loses track of it, and they always get it in on a rebound shot.

The Blues couldn't buy a goal down the stretch, much less a win, and now we're stuck with the hardest first round opponent we could've gotten. Here's why none of that matters.

I's no secret that the Blues didn't end the regular season particularly strong. 6 straight losses, 2 straight shutouts, and only 4 even strength goals the entire month of April (2 of which came against Buffalo). The severe slide in play took a team that at one point had a 54% chance at the President's Trophy and dropped them all the way down to 2nd place in the Central Division, into the path of the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Chicago Blackhawks. To say that Scottrade Center is suffering a crisis of confidence is like saying you should RSVP "no" to a Game of Thrones-themed wedding. (Nerd translation: an understatement)

Many of you have been searching for even a single reason why you should be optimistic about the postseason chances. And I'm here to tell you that in fact no, I do not have a single reason you should think the Blues stand a chance against the Hawks.

I have five.

1. The regular season never meant jack in the first place.
Yes, Ken Hitchcock made a point of saying the Blues were actively pursuing the President's Trophy, and no one wants to head into postseason play on as sour a note as the Note has. But let's get one thing perfectly clear: it never mattered whether the Blues had clinched the top spot in the league by 15 points or sneaked into the playoffs on the last day as the second wild card. Like all other teams - in fact perhaps more so, given both the recent and ancient history of the franchise - this squad was always going to be judged by what they did in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. As far as this roster was concerned, the regular season was nothing more than an extended try-out for their respective Olympic teams (which 10 of them took full advantage of), followed by a 7 week warm-up for the real test.

6 straight losses to end the regular season? As of tomorrow night, that means just as much as those 11 goals in 2 games against the Florida Panthers. I shouldn't have to tell you guys this - as Blues fans we know all too well. No one outside of St. Louis could tell you that the Blues won the President's Trophy in 1999-2000, but they sure as hell can tell you how the LA Kings sneaked into the playoffs as an 8-seed and won the whole damn thing.

2. Reinforcements are on the way - they even brought a Tank.

While it is true the Blues were struggling before their extreme injury situation, the fact is that 8 key players were missing from action in the regular season finale: David Backes, T.J. Oshie, Alex Pietrangelo, Vladimir Tarasenko, Patrik Berglund, Vladimir Sobotka, Barret Jackman, & Brenden Morrow. That's 40% of the roster, mostly right from the top of the depth chart. And according to Hitch, none of them would have been able to go had Sunday been the first game of the playoffs (though whether or not you believed the coach is another matter). Sure, "everyone goes through injuries," but rarely are teams missing the top 40% of their roster all at once.

But what's that? Is that a bugle I hear?

Hitch says that every injured #stlblues would play before the first-round series is over.

— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) April 15, 2014

Not only is Tarasenko skating on a regular line, he is doing everything ... looks terrific. #stlblues

— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) April 16, 2014

That's right folks, the cavalry is on the way. That Backes, Oshie, and many of the others should be a go for game one is not too surprising, and Berglund does still look unlikely off the bat, but getting Tarasenko back is monumental.

The Blues current down-ward trend in PDO began after the March 15th game against the Predators when Frank the Tank went down with a mystery hand injury. The Blues offense has been sliding downhill ever since, so getting 91 and his team-leading 58.7% corsi rating is quite a get for a team desperate secondary primary scoring.

3. The Blackhawks aren't exactly tearing it up, either.

Again, no team in the league has limped into the postseason as much as the Blues. However, the Hawks have been pretty hot and cold lately as well. They've gone 5-6-0 in their last 11 games, including having lost their last 2 games of the year 4-0 to the Capitals and 7-5 (!) to the Preds (!!!). And have a look at their PDO chart lately:

That sharp slide comes with the obvious caveat that Chicago has been missing Jonathan Toews since April 1st and Patrick Kane since Morrow was shoved onto his knee on March 19th. However, don't assume simply adding those two means the Hawks will steamroll through the series. Especially because...

4. Home-ice advantage means better matchups.

Have a look at Rocky & Bullwinkle's possession numbers in the four games they played against us this year, along with our team numbers in that same game:

October 9th in St. Louis (3-2 OT win): Toews 46.2% CF; Kane 39.3% CF; Blues 52.1% EV FF
October 17th in Chicago (3-2 SO win): Toews 69.2% CF; Kane 47.6% CF; Blues 51.7% EV FF
December 28th in St. Louis (6-5 SO win): Toews 51.4% (+13.1% CF relative); Kane 37.4% CF (w/ 1g, 2a); Blues 53.8% EV FF
March 19th in Chicago (4-0 loss): Toews 66.7% CF; Kane* 72.7% CF; Blues 43.1% EV FF (37.5% at EV close)
*Kandy Kane played less than 8 minutes before he left the game.

As you can see, the Blues had significantly more success against Laurel & Hardy when they had last change and could match the SOB line against them. It's also worth noting that in the 12/28 game, the following Blues all had CF of 60% or greater: Backes, Tarasenko, Magnus Paarjarvi, Jaden Schwartz, and Pietrangelo. In the game in March, when Hitchcock couldn't get the exact matchups he wanted, the team suffered greatly. There were other reasons for that debacle, but having the last line change will make quite a difference.

If the Blues can take full advantage of favorable match-ups, this will be a significantly more competitive series than we first thought. Which is good, because...

5. If the Blues can beat the Blackhawks, they can seriously win The Stanley Cup.

All year long as the Blues tore through the league, that one question was in the back of our mind: "Is this team a legitimate Stanley Cup contender?"

Well, we get to find out right away.

Despite the Blackhawks 3rd place finish in the division (propped up by 15 charity points, BTW), Chicago is arguably the biggest Cup favorite. No one else the Blues could face in the West would be a bigger challenge than the Hawks. San Jose? Merely the Hawks without the winning pedigree or 20-Cent. The Ducks? They're as doomed to fail as the NHL Guardian Project. You wanna talk about goal scoring trouble? The Hurricanes scored more goals than the Kings. The Avalanche? Heh, please.

If the Blues can beat the Blackhawks, they'll have as good of a shot to make the Cup Finals as they've had since 1986. What more reason do you need to believe this could happen?

 Alfndrate wrote:
The Blue jackets game was blacked out in Ohio lol. Not even cable providers want us to see them get stomped.

Quenneville grab his own balls, $25,000 fine. Lucic spears another man's balls, $5,000 fine. That's the NHL for ya

 djones520 wrote:
Facebook post from Mikes Babcock's Hair (an actual account). I'm sure Dogma will like it.

Quenneville grab his own balls, $25,000 fine. Lucic spears another man's balls, $5,000 fine. That's the NHL for ya

 djones520 wrote:
That's gonna be a 2 game suspension at least for Seabrook...

 whembly wrote:

And Seabrook needs to be suspended for all playoff games... that hit was dirty:

 whembly wrote:
Wow... I figured he'd get at least 5 games.

 djones520 wrote:
The balls on Brendan Smith, willing to fight Chara. God damn... probably for the best that the linesman stepped in and told him to go cool down.

 dogma wrote:

 whembly wrote:
Wow... I figured he'd get at least 5 games.

That's because you support the Blues.

The NHL ruling is nonsense given that many similar hits have gone unpenalized, and without disciplinary action. I can see the charging ruling, but interference? No, it is yet another example of NHL incompetence.

 djones520 wrote:
The balls on Brendan Smith, willing to fight Chara. God damn... probably for the best that the linesman stepped in and told him to go cool down.

Chara can't fight, I would go at him all day if I were an agitator*; pretty easy when Chara is a defenseman.


*I'll take the Smith/Chara fighting trade if I'm Detroit.

 whembly wrote:

And you support the 'Hawks.

 whembly wrote:

Honest question... do you really think Backe is really that dirty? All we see is an outstanding defensive (offensive) player who can shut down other skilled players. I really think the battles between Backes and Towes are legendary...

 whembly wrote:

Doesn't means Chara isn't less intimidated... dude is a giant. o.O

 dogma wrote:

 whembly wrote:

And you support the 'Hawks.

In my weaker moments.

In general I try to support the game, and I think the NHL, and the NHLPA, have been doing a poor job of it.

 whembly wrote:

Honest question... do you really think Backe is really that dirty? All we see is an outstanding defensive (offensive) player who can shut down other skilled players. I really think the battles between Backes and Towes are legendary...

I think it is questionable. It seems against the rules, but not necessarily dirty.

I was wrong to use the word "clean", previously.

 whembly wrote:

Doesn't means Chara isn't less intimidated... dude is a giant. o.O

He's tall, but not big. A shorter man could skate through him easily, probably drawing a penalty too.

As to the possible fight: planting and delivering a forceful punch on ice is pretty hard, and these guys have been hit bunches of times; so (in my opinion) Chara's size is not intimidating. What is intimidating is a 5 minute fighting major for Boston's best player.