The Sharks were victimized by one of the only two penalties they took in the Western Conference final opener Sunday night at Scottrade Center.
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Elliott and the Blues caught a break later in the period when the whistle blew despite Elliott not able to cover the puck.
The Blues were the ninth-most penalized team in the regular season and theyve got the second-most minutes in the postseason, although theyve played more games than anybody.
Game 2 is Wednesday in St. Louis.
In this special teams war of attrition, the Blues fired the opening salvo. Surely, the Blues defense is one of the reasons they are still alive. “Just gets you more in the game, I think”. St. Louis has prevailed in seven games over the defending champion Chicago Blackhawks and the Dallas Stars, while San Jose is coming off a seven-game triumph over Nashville. The same group had an 85.1-percent success rating that trumped all but two teams in the regular season.
It’s a strength against strength matchup and the Sharks may need a game or two to feel comfortable against a very aggressive penalty kill.
My take on game 1 and the rest of the series. With 9:14 left in the period, Elliott came up with a terrific toe save on San Jose’s Joe Pavelski, who could only sulk after his former University of Wisconsin teammate kept him off the board.
ST. LOUIS (AP) – The San Jose Sharks got just three power plays in their Game 1 loss to open the Western Conference finals, and no call when Joe Thornton’s bushy beard got tugged on by St. Louis Blues captain David Backes in the first period.
“Again, we’re not going to overreact to it”, DeBoer said, per NHL.com’s Louie Korac.
St. Louis claimed Game 1 over San Jose on Sunday, putting the Sharks in an unfamiliar position as far as the 2016 playoffs go: trailing in a series.
The difference was on the power play, the Sharks went 0-3, the Blues were 1-2.
“They were hot in the last series”, said defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, who was on the ice for 4:16 of San Jose’s six minutes of man-advantage time.
Blues coach Ken Hitchcock, informed of those comments, wanted to know whether DeBoer was whining for calls.. This would be the end of Rinne’s season, as Predators head coach Peter Laviolette sent back up goalie Carter Hutton in net to finish off the game after Marleau’s tally. Burns earned his 16th point of the postseason, second-most on the team, on the Sharks’ first goal….
While the Sharks were not overly displeased with their Game 1 performance, the Blues were much more critical of themselves.
The Blues had just enough despite a third disallowed goal in the playoffs. Jones bailed them out on several chances, especially early on in the game.
“I’m not going to tell the referees how to do their job, nor am I going to tell (NHL Commissioner) Gary Bettman or (NHL Executive Vice President Colin) Campbell how to do their job”, Hitchcock said.
That’s going to be the story of the series, DeBoer said.
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They need to cash in, or else they will cash out – just as every other Shark team has done when it has reached the National Hockey League’s version of the Final Four. We got five guys that can hurt you. Rinne over committed expecting a deke, but Ward instead skillfully slipped the puck between Rinne’s legs and into the net, taking the Sharks into the locker room after one period with a 2-0 lead.
