Not only that, but it felt like they could never get past their rivals from Chicago.
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There was a rocking atmosphere inside the Scottrade Center in a game that came to life 15 minutes into the first period.
So now that we’re down to the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Tampa Bay Lightning in the east as well as the San Jose Sharks and St. Louis Blues in the west, who should you be rooting for to get to the top of the mountain? Game 1 had a coaches challenge, a lost puck and a beard tugging episode and it’s ONLY GAME ONE! Hes 4-0 with a 1.29 goals-against average and.954 save percentage in five career playoff appearances against the Sharks. He has been just as good in the playoffs, better when you consider the stakes. He will have to rebound in Game 2.
Backes, a pending unrestricted free agent, continues to boost his stock on the free-agent market as he picked up his seventh goal and 13th point in 15 games.
Unfortunately, the lead didn’t last long. No matter which Sharks player has the puck, he seemingly controls it with a string.
The Blues got through one period with a tie. Our penalty killing was even better. They were outshot 16-5 and it was actually worse than that from a visual standpoint.
On the one hand, San Jose went toe-to-toe with the Blues in their own barn, outshooting the hosts 32-23, winning more than 57 percent of the faceoffs and completing dominating the second period. St. Louis forward Jori Lehtera skated across the blue line and fired. well, blindly. He broke the pattern in the second period. However, the Blues usually don’t get those kinds of goals, so it was good to see. Don’t you hate when that happens? This was during the final three minutes of frenzy in the third period when the Sharks were desperate.
Blues coach Ken Hitchcock thought his team was fortunate to survive the last 2:29 after the Sharks pulled Jones. We created a lot. “Again, this might take seven games”. Burns took a fluttering slap shot from the point, which was deflected by both Pavelski and Tomas Hertl before bouncing past goalie Brian Elliott. They’re a heavy hard team. In fact, St. Louis was the team to strike with the advantage on Sunday.
That’s all anyone can ask, really. “I have confidence we’re going to get that fixed for next game”. They’re going to get their licks, their chances. “We didn’t fall into their game”.
This is a series pitting two evenly matched teams. Some they’ve won and some not.
I think the biggest thing for the younger guys that are having our first taste of playoff hockey. every shift is so important and every game is big, but enjoy it too.
Just 34 seconds elapsed between the opening goal by Backes and Hertl’s answering goal redirected a shot by Pavelski with the puck bouncing past Elliott. That’s not to disparage that group as a second unit, it’s just that they’re the second unit for a reason (it’s because they’re not as good as the first unit). They need to call the game accordingly. No penalties were called. The best defense against that unit: Stay out of the penalty box. Even when they did make some mistakes, they were there to make up with them with some great back-checking efforts. Offensive zone penalties are particularly foolish. Ultimately were denied by an aggressive St. Louis’ penalty kill backstopped by Elliott. Pavelski and Elliott were roommates at Wisconsin.
That can be credited mostly to Brian Elliott. They just go on the ice. Fabbri had a couple breaks where he might like to have shot instead of passing it up or placed the shot differently because it got blocked. Fans of the Blues scoff at such piffling agony.
The problem with not winning games you should in the playoffs is there are so few available to win and losing four games is infinitely easier.
So far, you could say that history is repeating itself, with a now-critical Game 2 coming up Tuesday night.
The Sharks hit the post twice in the closing stages of the third period as the Blues held on for the win on home ice in St Louis.
Tommy Wingels will be back in the lineup Sunday for the second straight game as the Sharks are not making any lineup changes.
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“I found watching our players, it was exhausting”, Hitchcock said. Maybe he’s trying to get the refs to pay more attention to him.
