A pro hockey team spends more than seven months building cohesiveness, chemistry and racking up points from their games in the regular season. Through long road trips, injuries, ups and downs, it all comes down to one thing; playoff position and the attempt to gain home ice advantage when the post season arrives. And it takes just one game to lose that advantage. This is what happened to the St. Louis Blues who hosted the Minnesota Wild in game one of the opening round playoff series.
The Wild came away with a 4-2 victory in which the Blues barely challenged their opponent. Minnesota’s speed and concentrated effort to clog the neutral zone frustrated St. Louis, preventing them from gaining any sustained pressure in the offensive zone and limiting their ability to control the puck.
Jason Zucker opened the scoring just under three minutes into the game when he streaked down the left side, firing a low shot as he neared the end line. Blues rookie goaltender Jake Allen made a right pad save, but the left-handed Zucker corralled the rebound, swung around the goal and slammed the puck into the open net for the 1-0 lead. Allen seemed to overplay the shot which left his right pad caught to the side of the goal, preventing him from sliding across more easily to make a save attempt.
Minnesota kept the pressure on St. Louis, limiting their offensive attempts to seven shots in the period, before extending their lead just more than four minutes into the middle frame. On the power play due to St. Louis center Paul Stastny off for hooking Minnesota centerman Charlie Coyle, Matt Dumba blasted a drive from the left point past a screened Allen and Minnesota strengthened their hold on the Blues.
The period ended with Minnesota dominating in shots 14-4 and extending their two-period advantage to 21-11. The Blues were unable to muster up much offense until just more than seven minutes into the third period.
After gaining sustained pressure on Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk, the Blues worked the puck back to the point for a chance. The Blues Patrik Berglund dug the puck out of crowd sending it back to a waiting Kevin Shattenkirk. He sent a drive toward the goal which St. Louis sniper Jaden Schwartz tipped past Dubnyk. The goal brought the Scottrade Center to life, narrowing the Minnesota lead to 2-1 and breaking the shutout for Dubnyk who was appearing in his first ever NHL playoff game.
While St. Louis pushed for the equalizer, it was not to be. With the Allen pulled for an extra attacker, Mikael Granlund deposited the puck into the open net for a 3-1 lead with just more than a minute to play. When play resumed, Blues captain David Backes was off for a cross-checking penalty against Mikael Granlund. While shorthanded, St. Louis’ Alex Steen crossed into the zone and slipped a drive past Dubnyk to close the score to 3-2.
Devan Dubnyk (photo by SpyderSports)
It would not matter for St. Louis who allowed a second empty net goal by Jason Pominville with twenty seconds to play, securing the victory for Minnesota and stunning the sell-out crowd.
Coach Ken Hitchcock made it clear this was not the start, to the game or the series, the Blues wanted and will seek to move in a different direction with a much better outcome for game two.
That battle is set for Saturday, April 18th at 2:00 Central Time in St. Louis and the Scottrade Center. The series shifts to the Xcel Energy Center in Minnesota for game three on Monday, April 20th at 7:00 PM Central and game four on Wednesday at 8:30 PM Central.
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