“In the heat of the moment”.
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The Blues were up 1-0 after 20 minutes and it could have been more.
This was the game Blues fans have been waiting for in this round. Jagr had a team-best 66 points this season.
Seconds before the Stars went the other way and scored the overtime game-winner, Lehtonen got his left pad on a point-blank Jori Lehtera shot, set up by Vladimir Tarasenko, and his teammates responded.
The Stars hope to even the score when they head to the Blues’ home turf at Scottrade Center in handsome St. Louis, Missouri on May 5.
Elliott said it was important for Edmundson to forget about the mistake and move on, focusing on playing better as things roll forward. “When we’re lighting the lamp like that, it only helps our favor when you’re putting your foot on their throat and finishing the game the right way”. After having two, maybe even three if we’re generous, games of solid second periods, the Blues decided they could not tell what color jersey they were wearing. The Stars aren’t likely to panic, realizing they dictated much of the pace in Game 5, but lacked favorable bounces. Throw out Game 3. The Blues talked about it before the game. When you’re trying to win a game, if stuff like that happens, you reach outside your character, you reach for something to grab onto, and you move forward in the series.
The Stanley Cup playoffs are on.
“We’re all tied up here and we’ve got to put this one behind us like we put the other ones behind us”, Blues captain David Backes said after the Game 3 defeat. If they can’t match the intensity of the Blues, then this series could be over quick.
“We think of it as one game”, Backes added. Elliott gave the credit to the Stars for making a good play and for Eakin for putting the shot in about the only space where it could have gone in the net. “And they’ve bought into the way we’ve been doing it and it’s led us to this point”.
The Stars lineup is in more flux as Patrick Eaves has traveled with the team and might play tonight. The man-advantage lasted just 23 seconds for St. Louis though, as Alex Steen got the gate for interference.
“It was a good bounce”, said Tarasenko, with a small smile.
Now, the Blues look to take a commanding lead in the series.
They were most certainly aided by suspect goaltending in the Dallas end.
After practice Ruff stated the consideration that goes into selecting a starting goalie is his desire for consistency, not just in skill level or performance but in maintaining balance among Kari Lehtonen, Antti Niemi, and the rest of the team. Jason Demers’ shot off the crossbar was ruled a goal on the ice but was waved off after video review.
That was the only hiccup in a solid first period for Lehtonen and the Stars.
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“It’s players that were drafted with a talent base and a skill, but it’s the mentality part that has to develop coming into pro hockey”. “There’s some puck luck in the game and they had all the puck luck”.
