The Blues were only two points behind Dallas in the regular-season standings for the top seed. When they open that box of chocolates, neither one knows exactly what he’s going to get. This isn’t enough on its own to give Elliott the nod over Jones, but the gap in Inner Slot save percentage is huge, with Jones stopping just 73.2 per cent of shots from that area, and Elliott at 78.9 per cent. “He only plays (16) minutes, I think it pisses him off a little bit”. His coach, Ken Hitchcock, said he knew Elliott was poised for a bounce-back gem of a performance in a pressurized situation. St. Louis won its first-round clincher at home, when Brouwer scored the Game 7 victor against defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago.
Advertisement
It wasn’t much of a contest when it came to hometown viewers for the second round series between the Stars and St. Louis Blues.
“It was probably the toughest time in my career”, Seguin said. “And they’re going to be a tough opponent for a number of years because of what they’ve got”. “It’s not easy to be a ref out there”.
“He [Kari Lehtonen] would want them back”, head coach Lindy Ruff said. “It doesn’t matter whether I like the call or don’t like the call….” I should have taken him out sooner. Dallas, Lehtonen 6-3 (8-5), Niemi (20:00 second, 10-8).
We would not, and I’ll say it again, we would not have gotten to Game 7 [against the Blues] if it wasn’t for the play of our goalies in Game 6.
Patrick Eaves scored the lone goal for Dallas, breaking the shutout early in the third period.
Against the run of play St. Louis scored first, at 05:23 on the powerplay. While they were only credited with seven shots on goal, they had a ton of chances.
“I could see the one-timer coming over”. “One of those fortuitous bounces right on my tape and slammed it home before anyone could realize where it is”. Fabbri and Stastny each have three goals now in the post-season.
Fabbri is the youngest player in Blues history to score in a Game 7.St. Louis was 52 seconds into a power play resulting from a hooking call on Goligoski against Tarasenko at 4:31 of the first period.
All the pulling of the goalies means, Ruff said, is that it’s a close, tension-filled series.
“We’re in it either way. win or lose, we’re in it”, Childs said.
NOTES: Lehtonen allowed three goals on five shots.
They reached it Wednesday night thanks to their second Game 7 win of the postseason when the crushed the Dallas Stars 6-1.
Advertisement
On defence, the Blues remain strong, exiting their own zone with control at a higher rate, blocking more passes in their own zone, keeping the pressure on by blocking clearing attempts at the opposing blueline more often, and are more involved in creating scoring chances. The Stars also lost 6-1 in Game 3 of this series. But I think Brian Elliott, who made 37 saves in that March shutout, and the team’s ability to win on the road (5-2 this postseason) will give the Blues the edge. Elliott needed a moment to gather himself in the third period, and get a new facemask, after Spezza’s point blank shot went into his grill.
