How to watch Game 2 between San Jose and St. Louis.
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The turning point in the game came in the second period when the Blues were outshot 15-5, but took the lead on a long shot from Jori Lehtera.
The San Jose Sharks did not get the jump on the St. Louis Blues in the first game of their Western Conference Final series.
With so much focus on the Sharks’ NHL-best power play going 0-for-3 in a 2-1 loss to the Blues in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final, the inevitable questions found their way to both coaches.
Elliott was outstanding in net for the Blues.
This Blues playoff hockey interview is brought to you by the National Blues Museum in St. Louis. Games will be won by a hair, the way it was Sunday with the Blues prevailing 2-1 in Game 1 and the Sharks perhaps unlucky after outshooting the hosts 32-23 and owning the larger share of Grade A looks.
“I just got the puck and shut my eyes and shot it, that is about it”, Lehtera said.
“Close my eyes, keep it simple”, he deadpanned. Like I said, when the Backes unit isn’t going, then the Stastny unit comes through every time for us.
Late in the first period Sunday, Sharks center Joe Thornton and St. Louis captain David Backes tugged at each other’s beards in an unusual exchange.
His save on his college buddy Joe Pavelski, in that second period, was something out of a yoga class. With the Blues up 2-1, Moose extended his right leg and not only stopped the shot but also corralled the thing, forcing a face-off. He got into space on the goal and the save that Elliott made on the tweeted status above, Pavelski wormed away from the defense as well.
“The tragedy of the second period was we spent the whole period in their end and lost the period 1-0”, DeBoer said.
Regardless of the outcome I expect a very fun and entertaining series.
“I think you’re going to see a desperate San Jose team”.
Blues coach Ken Hitchcock, informed of those comments, wanted to know whether DeBoer was “whining for calls”.
“I thought we did a great job”.
“One-on-one hockey is for November and February”, Hitchcock said Saturday.
“Did you see me in Juniors?” But we got that positive feeling. “If they take five or six minor penalties a game this series, the Sharks’ power play will make them pay eventually”.
Earlier in the day, Hitchcock suggested his power play is nearly as unsafe as the Sharks because he can send out two different looks with a pair of units that he plays almost evenly. “I think the goals were there tonight, and we just didn’t stick them in”.
“They were hot in the last arrangement”, Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said.
The Blues, playing in the conference final for the first time since 2001, scored the game’s first goal at 15:04 of the opening period on a power-play.
“I just got the puck and I closed my eyes and I shot it”, Lehtera said. The ice tilted favorably toward the Sharks for the second half of Game 1, and it wouldn’t hurt the Blues to maintain more sustained pressure in the offensive zone going forward. St. Louis is one of the most penalized teams in the league, regular season and playoffs.
Whenever it seems like hes down and out and we may give up what we call a bad scoring chance, he has a knack for really just working to get back and getting a piece of it, defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk said. They’re so good on those, so good. “There’s where he’s so valuable”.
For instance, on San Jose’sthird goal, the sequence of inevitablity started with a San Jose dump-in.
But Blues managed to sneak out of the frame with the lead, taking advantage of a Brent Burns turnover in the neutral zone and a soft goal surrendered by netminder Martin Jones.
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Of all playoff teams, the Blues rank third, right behind the Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks (31.6 percent).
