After a flurry of controversial calls by officials in Game 2 of the Western Conference Stanley Cup Playoff series between the Blackhawks and Blues, St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock wasted no time in letting his feelings known after the Blackhawks 3-2 victory. The Blackhawks won 3-2 to even the series at a game apiece.
Advertisement
But as the game wore on, St. Louis seemed to relax, and played a penalty-free third period.
“I was trying to lift the guy’s stick there and got it up”.
– Parayko is the first Blues rookie to score in a playoff game since Bryce Salvador in 2001.
Before Game #2 the Chicago Blackhawks talked about how important it was to get bodies in front of St. Louis Blues goalie Brian Elliott and to get some greasy goals, and low and behold there was bodies in front of Duncan Keith’s goal to tie things in the last seconds of the 2nd period, and Andrew Shaw was in front of Elliott to bang home a Brent Seabrook rebound to give the Hawks the lead they would never surrender.
Furthermore, the shift lengths of the top-nine forwards were down drastically in Game 3, registering between 42 and 30 seconds. They did let in a goal in Game 2 with less than five seconds to go in the second period. St. Louis needed more than 10 seconds to score, but when Jaden Schwartz found the back of the net with less than seven minutes to go in the third, it gave the Blues a lead which they would hold for the win.
On Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis Blues did something remarkable.
“Somebody on the bench said it’s offside”, Quenneville said. “It’s been an fantastic pace, tight as can be, close as can be, not a lot of room would be expected in that area”. I don’t think it’s going to change much.
Tampa Bay’s Tyler Johnson is doing it again. They certainly did it in dramatic fashion in Game 2.
“We just had two go the wrong way, so you know we’re owed two back the other way”.
The one thing that the Blackhawks did to really shield against any consequences of Keith’s absence in Game 1 was to amp up the pressure of their forechecking. Forsberg later fed Roman Josi, who also had two assists and relayed Forsberg’s pass through to Shea Weber, whose one-timer proved to be the game-winner.
The Red Wings outshot the Lightning in each of the first two games, but Tampa Bay’s Ben Bishop has outplayed Jimmy Howard in the goaltender matchup. “We got some tough calls right away, after that we killed them off and we did a great job, like you said it kind of, definitely settles you in”. He missed an entire month of the regular season and only got the chance to get back in the game for the Blackhawks’ final regular season game, a loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. However, veteran-laden Chicago answered back on Friday as they stole home-ice advantage with a 3-2 win. In Games 4-7 though: 43-14.
“If we’re going to beat them, we have to know calls aren’t going to go our way”. He needs to find the right mix to break the Blackhawks out of their five-on-five struggles, while attempting to find better play from his bottom six. Moose did just that stopping 44 shots in one game even though two got behind him.
Smith and Bjugstad each had one goal and one assist. 733 playoff goals-per-game average is the best in franchise history among players with at least 15 postseason appearances.
You just read Crawford say he sees a difference.
When was the last time a Stanley Cup victor averaged 2 goals in the playoffs and won the Cup? So, of course we always think that the refs have it in for us and the league is colluding against our team etc. “If I play tomorrow, I play tomorrow”.
And finally the Nashville Predators got their playoff campaign off to a winning start over Anaheim. Ryan Ellis and Roman Josi each had an assist.
Advertisement
“That’s how many shots they had?”
