The St. Louis Blues started their run to the cup tonight against the Wild at Scottrade. Jake Allen would get the start in goal for the Blues. Devan Dubnyk would start for the WIld. The forward lines would be the lines that we saw toward the end of the year. Schwartz/Stastny/Oshie, Jaskin/Backes/Berglund, Steen/Lehtera/Tarasenko and Ott/Goc/Reaves. The defensive pairings would see Gunnarson playing tonight (why?!?!?) with Pietrangelo, Bouwmeester/Shattenkirk, and Jackman with Michalek.
First Period:
The first period didn't start out like the Blues wanted it to. Jason Zucker thought it was a great start:
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Allen not getting any help, and then over correcting led to that one. 1-0 bad guys. The Blues effort level would be decent for the first period of the game. They came out with some sort of energy. For about the first 15 minutes (if that to be honest) they played well. Allen would do his best to keep the Blues in it. Sloppy play wouldn't help the cause either.
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More of the same for the Blues in the first period though, as the Blues wouldn't score. 1-0 after one.
Second Period:
The first period was ok. The second period? God awful. The Wild seemed to suck the life out of the Blues and Scottrade. It didn't help that the Wild scored another goal early in the second. This time it was Matt Dumba.
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Getting a secondary assist on the Dumba goal was former Blue Chris Stewart (because of course). Lifeless. Seriously, you probably could have put the Wolves on the ice and it would have been a better effort. I kid...only kind of. Speaking of Stewart, he received a loud ovation in the second period. For getting knocked on his ass:
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That had to be the highlight of the period, as once again the Blues were held scoreless. It was not looking good for the boys in blue. To be honest, they looked like their give a shit factor was still in the locker room. Only a few guys (and I do mean a few) stood out.
Third Period:
The Blues first two periods were well, shit, but hey the team would show up for the third. Jaden Schwartz would finally get things going with his first goal of the playoffs;
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It was a great deflection off of the stick and in. The Blues, and the building finally had some life back in it. There was hope. The Blues would almost score on the shift after the goal. Alexander Steen would have a great chance but Dubnyk would answer. As he did for much of the night. The Blues best period by far was this period. I mean it's not like the Blues didn't have their chances to score. Here's Backes right at the doorstep
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Dubnyk would of course keep it out. The Blues would have to pull Allen and Minnesota would take advantage.
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David Backes would take a penalty late, but with about a minute left Steen would keep us glued to the tv because of course they want to mess with us.
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But alas, the Wild would add another empty net goal and beat the Blues 4-2. The Blues made it interesting, but couldn't get it done tonight. It was a lackluster effort overall. If they want to even up the series Saturday, they need to play like they did in the third. It's only one game folks. Hopefully they'll figure things out sooner than later.