They’ve never won a Stanley cup. And this, right here, is why the Blues will win this series. If not for an early whistle, a couple of posts and a brilliant effort by goaltender Brian Elliott, they don’t come out of Game 1 with a 2-1 win over the San Jose Sharks.
Advertisement
Joe Pavelski thought he had tied the game. It was only his second goal in 15 playoff games this season. The puck was on the Shark captain’s stick. They’re so good on those, so good. Blues bench boss Ken Hitchcock was quick to respond to his coaching counterpart, telling reporters that “We were told not to whine for calls, so we’re not going to whine for calls”. I’m not concerned about it. I know where our group is. “I think that’s going to play into it, too”.
In Sunday’s second period, the Blues were outgunned, outmanned.
Through the first two periods of play the Sharks not only dominated the scoreboard, but also in shot totals. The puck trickled over the goal line as Joel Ward made an attempt at stabbing it in, but the referee claimed to have blown the play dead before the goal was scored.
An expected third period push by the Predators immediately proved disastrous, as the Sharks muscled their way into a four-on-one breakout and made no mistakes.
“Close”, Vlasic said. “When I shot it, I was trying to create something with the traffic in front of the net. I didn’t think I was an inch away from scoring”. Which earned them nothing. “That’s not on Jonesy – we’ve got to score more than one goal”. They need to call the game accordingly.
If Bishop can’t go, Andrei Vasilevskiy will fill in as the Lightning try to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 2 will take place on Tuesday. Ultimately were denied by an aggressive St. Louis’ penalty kill backstopped by Elliott.
Brent Burns turned the puck over to the Blues center in the neutral zone and then backed off of Lehtera, who charged into the zone.
With all of the talk going into the series about the potent Sharks power play, it was the Blues that got the first man-advantage marker as Backes tipped home a point shot from Kevin Shattenkirk. And that was it. The Sharks were defeated by a blind man. Or at least a blind shot.
“When we put in a good effort and you don’t get the results you want, it’s tough to separate”, Pavelski said. Saying that, it’s obviously unlikely that the Blues will stay out of the box for an entire game. They’re the breaks that Blues fans usually look to the sky about and ponder why they don’t happen to their team. They have been here before. If they win the Cup, they’ll build a statue of Elliott – but perhaps it would be more fitting if they named a wall after him.
The St. Louis Blues came out and played a very solid first period.
The Blues went 1-for-2, capitalizing on Logan Couture’s trip of Robby Fabbri, his first penalty of the playoffs.
All that’s lacking is that elusive Stanley Cup, though the Blues did reach the finals in the franchise’s first three seasons in the league when the Plagers were on the prowl. So the ScottTrade Center was loud and raucous Sunday.
Advertisement
San Jose general manager Doug Wilson gambled big on Jones, surrendering a first-round draft pick to acquire him and make him the Sharks’ undisputed starter based on what the netminder had shown in 34 appearances over two seasons as a backup in Los Angeles.
