Down the Frozen River

Tag: Erik Gustafsson

  • Chicago at St. Louis – Game 7 – Brouwer and the Blues advance

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    With a 3-2 win in the Scottrade Center Monday night, the Blues are off to Dallas after eliminating the arch-rival Chicago Blackhawks.

    Exactly a minute into the game, Jori Lehtera redirected a Jay Bouwmeester shot into the back of Corey Crawford’s net to give the Blues a one-goal lead.  Bouwmeester’s initial shot from the blue line was assisted by Jaden Schwartz.

    The Notes doubled their lead with 6:17 remaining in the opening period with a slap shot from Colton Parayko, assisted by Patrik Berglund and Alexander Steen.  Steen dug the puck out of the corner and passed to Berglund at the near face-off dot.  Berglund dumped off to the rookie, who fired from almost on the blue line to give the Blues their second goal.

    Marian Hossa pulled the Blackhawks back within a goal with a slap shot with 1:30 remaining in the frame.  His third goal of the series was assisted by Richard Panik.  The offensive threat began in the Hawks‘ defensive zone when Schwartz blows an edge and ends up on his back.  Panik collected the puck in the neutral zone and made the cross-ice pass to Hossa just before he crossed the blue line.  Hossa fired his slapper from just outside the right face-off circle.

    Just like they have all series, St. Louis made certain to make their presence along the boards known, as they led the Hawks in hits, 20 to seven.

    Thanks to a Kevin Shattenkirk hooking penalty causing the first power play of the game, Andrew Shaw leveled the game with a wrister assisted by Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith, the only tally of the period.  Keith started the play at the blue line, passing to Toews who quickly dumped to Shaw along the goal line to Second Star of the Game Brian Elliott’s stick side.  In what was probably an attempted pass to Patrick Kane on the opposite side of the crease, Shaw’s puck hit Bouwmeester’s leg as he was sprawled on the ice and trickled past Elliott’s left skate.

    Just as Chicago had the only goal in the second, St. Louis had the lone tally of the third to break the tie and win the series.  The series-clinching goal belongs to First Star Troy Brouwer, his first of this postseason, assisted by Third Star Robby Fabbri and Paul Stastny.  The play starts on Erik Gustafsson’s stick, as he is working to advance the puck into the neutral zone before Fabbri throws a full body check to break possession.  Alex Pietrangelo collected the puck and dumped it back into the offensive zone, where Stastny collected.  Working hard to maintain possession, he finally finds Fabbri in the far face-off circle, who dumps to Brouwer waiting in the crease.  Brouwer’s initial shot finds the right post, and the second was a fan, but the third time was indeed the charm, finding the back of Crawford’s net.

    Elliott earns his first Game 7 win in his first Game 7 appearance, saving 31 of 33 shots faced (93.9%), while Crawford takes the loss, saving 23 of 26 (88.5%).

    As the lower seed, a maximum of only three games will be played in St. Louis next round when they face the Dallas Stars.  No date or time has been released for when that series will begin in North Texas.

  • St. Louis at Chicago – Game 4 – Shaw’s penalty overshadows his three point night, Blues win 4-3

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    The Blues arrived in Chicago tied with the Blackhawks in their Quarterfinal series.  With two impressive road wins, they come home to St. Louis with the opportunity to punch their ticket to the Semis after winning 4-3 in Game 4.

    The only goal of the first period was an absolute rifle from First Star of the Game Vladimir Tarasenko on Corey Crawford’s glove side, assisted by Jori Lehtera and Jaden Schwartz with 5:58 remaining in the frame.

    Although the Notes had the lead on the scoreboard, it was actually the Blackhawks who led the period in shots with 14, but St. Louis countered by continuing their physical ways with a solid 17 hits in the opening frame.

    By deflecting an initial slap shot from Marian Hossa (who was set up by Erik Gustafsson) into net, Andrew Shaw leveled game for the Hawks at the 9:12 mark.  Third Star Duncan Keith struck again 3:57 later on the power play to give Chicago the lead, assisted by Shaw and Patrick Kane.  With 2:29 remaining in the period, Tarasenko struck again to take advantage of an Andrew Ladd interference penalty with a power play wrister assisted by Alexander Steen and Kevin Shattenkirk.  As the last goal of the period, the game entered the second intermission tied at two-all.

    After two, Chicago still led the game with 28 shots to St. Louis‘ 15, but the Notes had a 20 hit lead on the home Hawks.

    A minute and a second after play resumed, Keith was caught holding Lehtera.  35 seconds later, Schwartz earned the Blues their second lead of the night with a power play wrister assisted by David Backes and Shattenkirk.  Steen waited 3:10 before increasing the Blues‘ lead to two goals.  It was a sweet steal on a pass in Chicago‘s defensive end that he fired over the surprised Crawford’s glove.

    Keith pulled Chicago back within a goal with 5:20 to go in regulation with a wrister, assisted by Artemi Panarin and Shaw.

    The game effectively ended with 2:04 remaining in regulation when Shaw was called for interference against Jay Bouwmeester.  Before making his way to the box, Shaw was seen choosing two particular fingers to convey a message to the referee, and they certainly weren’t thumbs up.  Following the horn, Shaw initiated a scrum with Pietrangelo in Second Star Brian Elliott’s end, and he continued to fight even after the referee was making every attempt to separate the two.

    These actions in addition to some choice words that, if I’m to trust my lip reading abilities, were homosexual slurs directed at the official, Shaw may be receiving at least a fine from the league, if not a suspension.  It is a shame that he allowed the Blues to get to him so much, as he had one of the best games of the night for the Blackhawks before all the debauchery.

    Elliott earns the win after saving 39 of the 42 shots he faced (92.9%), while Crawford takes the loss, saving 16 of 20 (80%).

    With that win, the Blues return to St. Louis with a 3-1 series lead and the opportunity to punch their ticket to the Western Semifinals on Thursday at 9:30 p.m. eastern.  That contest can be viewed on NBCSN, SN or TVAS.