Down the Frozen River

Tag: Patrik Berglund

  • St. Louis at Dallas – Game 2 – Backes and the Blues make it a five game series

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    The St. Louis Blues may have only managed 25 shots on goal, but they were able to level their series against the Dallas Stars by beating them 4-3 in overtime, thanks to Captain David Backes.

    Only 3:36 into Game 2, Cody Eakin collected a puck along the near boards and passed to Second Star of the Game Jamie Benn, who was positioned behind Brian Elliott’s net.  He set up a centering pass towards the left face-off dot for Alex Goligoski, who top shelfed his slap shot into the back of the net.

    The Blues took offense to that, and 35 seconds later Third Star Backes carried the puck into the neutral zone before passing to Patrik Berglund, who completed the advance into the attacking zone before passing off to Robby Fabbri.  Fabbri dumped back to the attacking Berguland, who scored a slap shot past Kari Lehtonen’s glove hand to level the game at a goal apiece.

    At the 7:02 mark, First Star Troy Brouwer and Scottie Upshall connected with Joel Edmundson to give him his first goal of the playoffs, and more importantly, a St. Louis lead.

    With 80 seconds remaining in the opening frame, Brouwer scored the Blues‘ final goal of regulation on a power play wrister, assisted by Kevin Shattenkirk and Fabbri.

    At the beginning of the second period, it was not Lehtonen in Dallas‘ net, but instead Antti Niemi, who did not yield a goal on 10 shots faced in his opening 20 minutes of work.  Similarly, Elliott saved all six shots he faced, holding the score at 3-1 going into the final frame.

    The fifth goal of the game wasn’t scored until the 4:35 mark of the final frame, courtesy of Mattias Janmark, his first of the playoffs.  His wrister was assisted by Eakin and Colton Sceviour.  Eakin dumped the puck out of the defensive zone to Janmark, who had only one Blue to beat on his way to the crease before sneaking the puck past Elliott’s left skate.

    Dallas‘ offensive push was certainly made evident 13 seconds later, when a Dallas power play shot was fired so hard it broke Elliott’s mask, but he made the save to maintain the one-goal differential.

    With 2:36 remaining in regulation, Benn scored a wrister to level the game, assisted by Eakin and Kris Russell.  Eakin won the face-off from the far dot, which he sent back to the blue line for Russell to collect and fire on net.  Elliott made the save, but Benn collected the rebound to slide the puck past the sprawling goaltender’s glove hand.

    Neither team was able to break the draw before the clock struck zeroes, so the game required 10:58 of overtime before Backes’ power play wrister proved to be the winner.  After providing the screen on Alexander Steen’s initial shot and literally jumping over the puck, he collected the rebound and scored behind Niemi’s left skate.

    Elliott earns the win after saving 31 of 34 shots faced (91.2%), while Niemi takes the overtime loss, saving 19 of 20 (95%).  Lehtonen takes credit for the poor first period, where he saved only two of five (40%).

    Now a best-of-five series, the locale shifts to Scottrade Arena in St. Louis, MO.  Game 3 will occur on a busy Tuesday, May 3 at 9:30 p.m. eastern and can be viewed on NBCSN, SN or TVAS.

  • St. Louis at Dallas – Game 1 – Lehtonen leads Stars to 2-1 victory

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    No, this is not the 1999 Stanley Cup Finals.  Just because Ken Hitchcock, Brett Hull and Lindy Ruff are involved doesn’t mean we’re going to be concerned with skates in the crease.  That being said, that game from almost 17 years ago may have been in the back of Ruff’s mind, as he exacted revenge in a 2-1 victory.

    There wasn’t much to talk about in the first period.  Only 20 shots were fired between the two teams and none of them found the back of the net, even though there were four minutes played of uneven hockey.

    Antoine Roussel finally scored the first goal of the series at the 9:36 mark of the second period, as his slap shot was assisted by First Star of the Game Radek Faksa and John Klingberg (his third helper of the postseason).  It was a coast-to-coast play, beginning with Roussel advancing the puck through all three zones.  From the right face-off circle, he passed cross-ice to Klingberg, who immediately centered the puck for a Faksa wrister that was blocked by Second Star Brian Elliott.  Roussel collected the rebound and fired his slap shot over the diving Elliott to give Dallas a lead they would not yield through the remainder of the frame.

    Kevin Shattenkirk and the Blues leveled with 8:28 remaining in regulation on a pure slap shot, assisted by Colton Parayko and Patrik Berglund.  3:44 later, Faksa earned his second point of the night with the game-winning goal, a wrister assisted by Ales Hemsky (his third helper of the playoffs) and Alex Goligoski.  Once again, it was another rebound off an Elliott block, as after Hemsky advanced the puck into the offensive zone, he passed to Goligoski who attempted a wrister that was stopped, but not covered by Elliott.  Faksa quickly advanced on the puck and slid it past Elliott’s left skate before he could seal the crease, giving the Stars their winner.

    Dallas certainly deserved to win this one, as they led in shots (42-32; led by Colton Sceviour’s five shots) and blocks (22-11; led by Goligoski’s four blocks).  Additionally, they beat the Blues at their own game, as they threw six more hits to impose their will.

    Third Star Kari Lehtonen earns the win after saving 31 of 32 shots faced (96.9%), while Elliott, who saved 40 of 42 (95.2%), takes the loss.

    Game 2 will occur at 3 p.m. eastern on May Day, two days from now.  That contest may be viewed on NBC, SN or TVAS.

  • 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.

  • Elliott Backstops Blues to 3-2 Win in Game 3, St. Louis Leads Series 2-1

    By: Nick Lanciani

    Unknown-1The St. Louis Blues emerged victorious at the United Center on Sunday, defeating the Chicago Blackhawks, 3-2. Blues goaltender, Brian Elliott stopped 44 shots on 46 shots against, picking up the win with a .957 SV%, while Chicago’s Corey Crawford turned aside 33 pucks on 36 shots against in the loss with a .917 SV%.

    Jaden Schwartz’s third period power play goal proved to the game winner as St. Louis toppled Chicago on road ice.

    Entering Sunday, David Backes had a two-game point streak with 1-1-2 totals in the first two games of the series. Backes has now extended his point streak to three games with an assist on Schwartz’s game winning goal.

    Also heading into Game 3, the Blackhawks scratched Brandon Mashinter in favor of Richard Panik and Dale Weise, while the Steve Ott returned to the lineup from an injury that occurred on December 5th for the Blues. Crawford became Chicago’s all-time franchise playoff leader in wins with his 46th career playoff victory after Game 2, surpassing legendary Blackhawks goaltender Tony Esposito. Game 3 was the 371st consecutive sellout at United Center, including postseason games.

    Viktor Svedberg and Kyle Brodziak took penalties 1:49 into the first period in Game 3 and gave Chicago an early power play. Svedberg was in the box for a roughing minor, while Brodziak received a roughing double minor, which was served by Robby Fabbri.

    St. Louis had 5 shots on goal before the Blackhawks could even record their first shot on goal, yet a slap shot from Brent Seabrook at the point beat Elliott almost 30 seconds into the Blackhawks power play, giving Chicago a 1-0 lead at 2:18 of the first period. Seabrook’s goal was assisted by Jonathan Toews (2) and Patrick Kane (3).

    Next, St. Louis’ Jay Bouwmeester served time in the penalty box for hooking Artemi Panarin at 3:41 of the first period and promptly returned to the box for having played the puck before fully exiting the sin bin at 5:46. It’s a real interference rule, look it up.

    Unknown-2In keeping with the trend, Svedberg went to the box for catching Vladimir Tarasenko with a high stick at 12:04 of the first period and gave the Blues a power play.

    All it took was seven seconds of a man advantage for St. Louis defenseman, Colton Parayko to tie the game, 1-1, with a power play goal (his first of the playoffs) that was assisted by Alex Pietrangelo and Fabbri.

    At 19:31 of the first period, Joel Edmundson and Andrew Shaw exchanged pleasantries, sending Edmundson to the box for cross checking and Shaw for slashing. The matching minors would carry over into the second period for a little over the first minute and a half.

    After one, the game was tied 1-1, with the Blackhawks leading in shots on goal (10-9), faceoff wins (17-10), giveaways (4-3) and takeaways (2-1). The Blues led in hits (16-12) and blocked shots (10-3) after twenty minutes of play.

    Sixty-four seconds into the second period Artem Anisimov put Chicago ahead 2-1 with some help from Panarin.

    Aside from the numerous saves Crawford made in the chaos of the first six minutes of the second period, the only other major event was Chicago’s last power play of the afternoon at 9:38 of the 2nd. Scottie Upshall was sent to the box for tripping Andrew Shaw, but the Blackhawks were unsuccessful to convert on the power play. With forty minutes in the books, Chicago was leading 2-1 and outshooting the Blues 34-22.

    The Blackhawks had a .774 win percentage (tied for 5th in the NHL) in the regular season when scoring first, but regular season stats ultimately mean nothing in the playoffs.

    A little over five minutes into the third period, Patrik Berglund scored for St. Louis to tie the game, 2-2. Kevin Shattenkirk (1) and Robby Fabbri (2) picked up assists on Berglund’s goal. Patrick Kane took a four-minute double minor penalty for high sticking at 11:51 of the 3rd and put St. Louis on the power play.

    Vladimir Tarasenko found David Backes who tossed the puck over to Jaden Schwartz, who in turn, capitalized on the power play with a goal. Schwartz’s goal put the Blues ahead 3-2 with plenty of time for Chicago to throw everything left at the net, including the kitchen sink. Ultimately, the Blackhawks pulled Crawford in exchange for an extra attacker, but it was to no avail as the Brian Elliott and the Blues sealed the deal.

    After sixty minutes of play, the Blues were victorious and led in hits (40-36), faceoff wins (42-41) and went 2/3 on the night on the power play. Chicago finished Game 3 leading in shots on goal (46-36), giveaways (12-9) and blocked shots (19-13), and went 1/4 on the man advantage on the night.

    The St. Louis Blues now have a 2-1 series lead heading into Game 4.

    Game 4 is scheduled for Tuesday night at 9:30 PM EST at the United Center and can be seen on NBCSN in the United States, as well as Sportsnet and TVA Sports in Canada.