A view of the arena and Stanley Cup playoffs banner before the game between the Dallas Stars and the St. Louis Blues in game two of the first round of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the American Airlines Center.
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The Blues, in the playoffs for the 40th time in their 48 seasons and still looking for their first Stanley Cup title, will play Nashville or San Jose in the Western Conference finals.
Blues coach Ken Hitchcock hasn’t revealed his starting goaltender, though it appears after today’s skate that he’ll stick with Brian Elliott, even after St. Louis’ No. 1 goalie was pulled in Game 6. That’s why they’re such a successful team – because they play with that risk. The Blues dominated to advance to their first Western Conference finals since 2001. “He only plays (16) minutes, I think it pisses him off a little bit”. 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. Our fans have been fantastic. St. Louis is 5-2 on the road this postseason….
There has been plenty of postseason disappointment for the Blues, throughout their history and in recent years under Hitchcock.
For the first time since 2011, neither the Blackhawks nor the Kings will represent the Western Conference in the Stanley Cup Final.
“Once Game 6 was in its closing moments, ticket prices for Game 7 jumped 17 percent”, said Leyden. It shows that they have fixed parts of their mistakes and found more confidence within their team.
If he gets another chance, his fortunes could change just as abruptly as Elliott’s did in this Game 7.
No one outside the team seems to know what exactly is wrong with Seguin, who was knocked out of the lineup by a cut to his Achilles tendon on March 17 and returned to action for Game 2 of the Stars’ first-round series against Minnesota.
The Eastern Conference Final set itself after the Penguins defeated the Capitals Tuesday night.
“Never been back since”. I think you can rely on him to at least be a threat…and sometimes that’s enough. Micheletti, by the way, played three of his six National Hockey League seasons for the Blues and did time as a Blues broadcaster.
Despite not producing the best play in game seven, the Stars’ offense really is not a problem.
While the plan was to provide help for Lehtonen, there instead were often questions about who was the No. 1 goalie.
The big advantage the Blues have at forward is how well they carry the puck into the offensive zone and attack off the rush, moving the puck East-West more often and more successfully than the Sharks have.
Lehtonen surrendered three first-period goals, all of them soft, and when his replacement, Antti Niemi, was beaten from the right wing by a David Backes slapshot 3:50 into the second, it was all over but the crying in Big D.
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Troy Brouwer, Robby Fabbri and Paul Stastny each had three points and Brian Elliott stopped 31 of 32 shots for the Blues who eliminated the Stars four games to three. “We expected the veterans to play, but he’s a 20-year-old kid and played with such competitive composure….”
