St. Louis Blues: NHL Central Weekly Review (2nd Round Ends/3rd Begins)

The St. Louis Blues had a heck of a week last week. Sure, not every game was perfect but considering where they are right now, there aren’t many fans complaining.

The St. Louis Blues went 2-1 over the week last week. During that time, they saw the demise of the Dallas Stars in seven games and then started a series with the San Jose Sharks.

The Blues could have had even more rest than they did, with three full days off between Dallas and San Jose, but they failed to win another elimination game when their own backs were not against the wall.

The Blues had Game 6 of the conference semifinals at home, with a 3-2 series lead and a chance to close out the Dallas Stars. Instead, Dallas scored three goals in the first period and the Blues looked stunned.

They fought back in the second and third period, but Kari Lehtonen was too good in that game and the Stars hung on. Their win forced a Game 7 to be played in the Lonestar state.

The tables turned though. Usually it is the Blues who have everything to play for and expectations of stellar, hard-nosed hockey to flow right out of the gate only to fall flat. This time it was Dallas’ turn.

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For whatever reason, they could not stop the Blues. St. Louis scored three first period goals in Game 7 and would not relinquish one until well into the third en route to a 6-1 thrashing of their counterparts.

The performance raised all sorts of questions about Dallas’ goaltending, which I’ll go more in depth into in the video below. However, the Blues came out and asserted their dominance.

In doing so, they earned a place in the franchise’s first Western Conference Final in 15 years. They also earned themselves a date with the San Jose Sharks.

Despite going 1-2 during the regular season against the Fins and losing both their games quite handily while only winning 1-0, the Blues came out well in Game 1.

Their second period would leave much to be desired in terms of play, but after two periods the score was 2-1 Blues and they would make that hold up.

Brian Elliott as well as some well positioned posts were the main reason the Blues won, but those are the breaks that winning teams get in the playoffs. Go back and look at Chicago or LA’s Cup runs and tell me there aren’t a few good bounces or lucky breaks and I’ll call you a liar.

St. Louis’s journey, whether in this series or in the playoffs, is far from over. Even so, it was a fantastic week overall for the team, the franchise and a long suffering fan base. Now they are all hoping for more.

Blues’ Weekly Stats

David Backes – 2G 2A 4P
Jori Lehtera – 1G 2A 3P
Patrik Berglund – 2G 1A 3P
Paul Stastny – 1G 2A 3P
Robby Fabbri – 1G 2A 3P
Alexander Steen – 1G 0A 1P
Troy Brouwer – 1G 2A 3P
Jaden Schwartz – 0G 2A 2P
Vladimir Tarasenko – 1G 1A 2P
Kevin Shattenkirk – 0G 2A 2P
Colton Parayko – 0G 1A 1P
Robert Bortuzzo – 0G 1A 1P

Brian Elliott – 66 saves/71 shots, 2.64 goals against, .930 save percentage
Jake Allen – 7 saves/7 shots, 0.00 goals against, 1.000 save percentage

View from the Midwest Weekly Division Recap

Looking Forward

The Blues and Sharks have three guaranteed games coming this week. They’ll face off in Game 2, in St. Louis, on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. CST.

Next: 5 Keys to Blues Making the Finals

Game 3 will be in San Jose as the Blues try to do what Nashville could not and win a game in the Shark Tank. That one drops the puck at 8 p.m. CST on Thursday and then Game 4 will also be in San Jose on Saturday with an odd start time of 6:15 p.m. CST.

Lots of hockey to look forward to this coming week. It is highly unlikely the Blues finish this series in four games, but if that somehow happened, it might just top this past week in terms of emotion.

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