St. Louis Blues: NHL Central Weekly Review (1st Playoff Week)

The games haven’t been flashy and they’ve given fans some nauseous moments, but the playoffs have been everything people could want. To top it off, the St. Louis Blues have shown determination unseen in recent years to take a series lead

In case you’ve been hiding under a rock for a week or so, the St. Louis Blues are in the Western Conference Quarterfinals against their bitter rival, the Chicago Blackhawks. St. Louis has shown a bit of mental toughness that has been missing in recent years and taken a 2-1 series lead.

The Blues opened up the week with a game 1 win on home ice, but they had done that before. It took overtime to decide things between these two rivals, but that had happened before. St. Louis was a bit fortunate to win as they were outshot by a decent margin, but David Backes got the game winner with a “shot” that deflected in off a Chicago defenseman.

After the game, the Blues’ coach, Ken Hichcock talked about the physicality.  As is his way, he had a bit of fun with the media saying he wasn’t pleased with the number of hits in game 1 (41) and said his team had to get up into the 70’s to compete with Chicago.  Most of us took the bait.

Regardless of number of hits, the Blues came out and outplayed Chicago for large stretches of game 2.  Despite this, and some rather dubious calls by the officials in Blues fans’ minds, Chicago ended up winning by a final score of 3-2.  That would knot the series up at a game apiece.

This gave the Blues a scenario that this group had not faced before.  In three straight playoff series, the Blues had gone up two games to none only to be swept away.  Now they had to go on the road and fight for survival being tied.  The Blues did just that.

Whatever’s happened in years before, (the Blues) aren’t the same team. – Corey Crawford

Game 3 was mainly on Chicago’s side.  The Blues got outshot again and relied on Brian Elliott to keep them in the game.  Moose did just that stopping 44 shots in one game even though two got behind him.  After a lackluster couple periods, the Blues put it together in the third and won on a powerplay goal from Jaden Schwartz for a 3-2 win of their own.

The Blues now own a 2-1 series lead with the next game coming in Chicago.

Blues’ Weekly Stats

David Backes – 1G 2A 3P
Vladimir Tarasenko – 1G 1A 2P
Patrik Berglund – 1G 0A 1P
Jaden Schwartz – 1G 1A 2P
Jori Lehtera – 1G 1A 2P
Robby Fabbri – 0G 2A 2P
Kevin Shattenkirk – 1G 1A 2P
Colton Parayko – 1G 0A 1P
Alex Pietrangelo – 0G 2A 2P
Brian Elliott – 105 saves/109 shots, .963 save percentage, 1.29 goals against

View from the Midwest Division Recap

Looking Forward

One could argue that the team that played the best has lost all three games, though game 3 would somewhat dispute that since St. Louis played very well despite being outshot.

Home ice has not mattered much at all despite some fantastic crowds in both buildings, but you know that both the Chicago fans and their team are going to bring it in game 4.

Game 4 will be Tuesday, in Chicago, at 8:30 p.m. CST. Game 5 will return to St. Louis with the same time for puck drop on Thursday evening. A potential game 6 would be back in Chicago on Saturday with a start time to be determined.

Next: Blues Must Up Their Shot Totals

Regardless of how any individual feels either team played in any game, the Blues are up. They have proven they aren’t the same team as in year’s past and even Chicago’s own goaltender Corey Crawford has said as much.

St. Louis could potentially put a tight sleeper hold on the Blackhawks if they can steal both in the Windy City.  That might be too much to ask for the way the series has ping ponged so far, but it is no longer beyond the realm of possibility.