Instead of taking a 2-0 series lead into St. Louis, the series is tied heading into a unfriendly barn for the next two games.
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The Blues will need to continue to physically punish the Stars as this will take its toll later in the series.
His head shaved but for a stubbly growth roughly matching that of his chin, he is almost unrecognizable from the strapping, wavy-haired captain of playoffs past, the one member of the St. Louis Blues who can nearly match head coach Ken Hitchcock sound bite for sound bite. “We’re going to have find different energy, a different gear”.
The Blues are back in St. Louis preparing for Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinal against Dallas on Tuesday night. David Backes would not give up on the Blues’ second powerplay effort and he banged home the game victor at 10:58 of OT. In the first round, Lehtonen played four games, Niemi in two.
Although the Stars were clearly the better team in the series opener, coach Lindy Ruff understands what awaits his team on Sunday. “We completely turned that around”. “We went into attack mode and stayed on it the whole time”. “We get a lead by more than a goal and it seems like we take a deep breath and maybe sit back a little bit”.
“We just stuck with it found a way to win”, said Backes. Eakin fired on net from the point and the rebound fell to a wide open Benn who slammed it past Elliott to send the game to overtime.
St. Louis Blues goalie Brian Elliott (1) and center Kyle Brodziak (28) defend the goal against Dallas Stars left wing Travis Moen (27) during the first period in Game 1 in the second round of the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs Friday, Ap.
Ruff on Saturday described Eaves “as questionable unless it comes around, but it’s awfully sore”. The team has given themselves a great chance at going into game five up 3-1 in the series, which would be ideal.
SHARKS 3, PREDATORS 2 (at San Jose, Calif.) – Joe Pavelski scored the tiebreaking goal with 2:40 left in regulation and Martin Jones stopped 36 shots to lead San Jose past Nashville.
Nashville defenseman Mattias Ekholm scored his third goal of the playoffs at 12:56 of the third period to tie it 1-1.
“The thing that impressed me the most was the way we played in OT. Really good (defensively). When you have a guy who’s 6-3 and plays like that, it really helps”. They’re just too talented not to. “It’s a hard way to play, but it’s an effective and productive way to play when everyone’s on the right page, and it’s very tough to beat”.
The top unit of Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski, Brent Burns, Patrick Marleau and Logan Couture has done most of the damage with Couture scoring the eventual game victor in the opener.
“Ours showed up early in the game, Nashville’s showed up later in the game (the Preds lost the lead, and the game, in San Jose)”.
“During the playoffs the players are obviously elevating their play, so it’s us elevating our game”, Pippa says. After eight points in five games against the Rangers, Penguins star Sidney Crosby has yet to register a point and is a minus-3 in the series.
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“I saw some of the effects of that the first two periods”, DeBoer said.
