Dallas rookie center Mattias Janmark had a breakaway goal 4½ minutes into the final period, and Dallas was nearly immediately on the power play after the ensuing faceoff. “Yeah, nothing serious, just a real bad shot [Eaves] took to the leg and should be just day-to-day”, Ruff said.
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When someone remarked to Jason Spezza that they didn’t’ know much about Faksa, the veteran center responded, “Well, you’re going to learn. It’s fun. Everyone is ramped up”.
Thornton scored into an empty net with 55.6 seconds left – which proved to be the victor – before Nashville’s Ryan Johansen scored with 3.2 seconds remaining to make it a one-goal difference. Martin Jones made 29 saves.
The third period. I’m not one of those that hammers Ken Hitchcock left and right. “He’s … willing to absorb the puck and then make a play after that”. Some credit to them for bottling things up. “We thought we were going to get an odd-number rush and they got a couple of hooks on [Radek Faksa] just before, going through the middle of the ice, which I was frustrated with”. The rebound came to Backes and it put back the rebound past Antti Niemi, who replaced Kari Lehtonen in goal after the Blues scored three times on five shots in the first.
The Blues still held their two goal lead with seeming comfort going into the third period, especially considering how well they had played in the third periods of nearly every game this playoff year.
Whether it was by direction of the coach (most likely) or simply from the players (unlikely but possible), the Blues dumped it in and went for a change nearly every single time they crossed the redline. We need to hold home ice.
Ward has long played his best hockey in the postseason, most notably when he scored seven goals in 12 games in 2011 to help lead Nashville to its first appearance ever in the second round.
He started the comeback by setting up Hertl near the side of the net late in a power play early in the third. They’re just too talented not to.
Benn scored the OT-forcing goal with 2:36 left in regulation. He stickhandled past Rinne before tucking the puck into the net. However, the Stars still managed 34 shots on Elliott and if not for a very slow start – giving up three goals on 5 shots – this could have been a different story. Game two is Sunday at the SAP Center in San Jose.
But Couture and Wingels answered with the empty-netters to clinch the win.
He gave us a little tease for Tuesday’s game at 8:30 p.m. against the Dallas Stars.
Somehow, whether it’s playing harder or playing smarter – and you might want to bet on the first option – the Blues have to return to the way Hitchcock wants them to play, because if the Stars had finished even a small percentage of the chances they created in Game 1, the task of turning momentum the other way would seem much more daunting. They defeated the Los Angeles Kings but are facing a Nashville Predators team that beat a known-to-falter Anaheim Ducks team in the first round.
The Predators struck early in the second after Matt Nieto was sent to the box for tripping in the offensive zone.
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The Sharks have relied heavily on the power play this postseason, converting on 7 of 24 chances (29 percent).
