By winning Game 1 of the Underachievers’ Ball, 2-1, the Blues exposed a bit of the San Jose Sharks’ soft, unbearded underbelly. At this point of the playoffs, why the hell not them? After fighting through two tightly-contested seven-game series against two divisional rivals, the Chicago Blackhawks and Dallas Stars, the Blues will face an opponent outside the Central Division for the first time this postseason as they go up against the San Jose Sharks.
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It’s one thing for the Edmonton Oilers to take a chance on Cam Talbot, the Buffalo Sabres on Robin Lehner, when those teams know all that’s really needed is for their young goalie to grow gradually with his team and, hopefully, one day compete for a Cup.
The post Matt Nieto improves; Tommy Wingels, Brenden Dillon among those excited for first conference final game appeared first on Working the Corners.
The St Louis Blues withstood some intense late pressure from the San Jose Sharks to seal a 2-1 victory in game one of the NHL Western Conference finals on Sunday.
St. Louis: The Blues’ physical and structured game wears down teams over seven games.
San Jose Sharks: 6 Division Titles, 1 President’s Trophy, 3 Conference Finals Appearances with a 3-12 record.
The issue is that two teams have already tried to do so and failed.
Through two rounds, the Sharks boasted the top point-getter in the National Hockey League in Logan Couture (17) and the Western Conference’s top goal-scorer in Joe Pavelski (nine). It was Hertl’s third goal of the playoffs.
The Sharks are 4-11 all-time when losing the first game of a playoff series.
Backes opened the scoring with a deflection and is tied with sharpshooter Vladimir Tarasenko for the team lead with seven goals in the playoffs, mostly because he’s fearless in front of the net waiting to pounce on rebounds. Either of these two could very well be the difference maker in this series and are worth keeping an eye on.
Unsurprisingly we have another close matchup in net as well. “No, I just have to find a way to put that in, regardless of what goes on”. Jones only has one full season as an National Hockey League starter under his belt compared to the 9-year veteran but hasn’t shown any signs of weakness so far in the postseason, much to the Kings and Predators dismay, and will need to keep up his level of play to guide the Sharks past the Blues.
The Sharks made no changes to their lineup from Thursday’s Game 7 clincher against the Predators.
Teams that win Game 1 win the series 69 percent of the time in all situations and more than that when the home team is the winning team in question, but numbers are not just meant to be heeded but also to be mocked when needs must be met. The Sharks have cards to play, and presumably will play them sooner rather than later if we are to get the long, grindy, white-knuckly, bruisy, overtime-laden series we were promised by the hype-ocracy.
Imagine making the playoffs 25 consecutive years and never reaching a Cup final.
They begin a three game series tomorrow night at the San Diego Padres.
The captain had to settle for an assist on San Jose’s only goal (after it was originally credited to him), but Pavelski was easily the most risky skater on either side.
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Here’s why this is the best possible series for a Western Conference Final from an objective standpoint. “We’re the third overall team, we’re right behind them”, Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said.
