Blues lose first battle to Sharks in second OT

Ah, the playoffs. The tension, the crazy bargaining with the hockey gods, the sloppy play that occurs when a game gets past the 85 minute mark.

The Blues, I thought, outplayed the Sharks for much of the game and were pretty even with them for the rest of it. Unfortunately, they seemed to forget that Antti Niemi is Antti Niemi. As has been the story all year, they got the majority of the shots, it was just that maybe the quality of shots just wasn't good enough.

Obviously, the sky will be falling for some fans - it's been a long time out of the playoffs for Blues fans, so that Game 1 took on heightened importance in most eyes. But, for the two women I saw crying, it's just one game. The key is how the team responds on Saturday to this disappointment. If they can take in the positives and eliminate the few negatives they did have, they should definitely get Game 2 under control.

We'll take it game by game after that.

Not many bullets tonight, I don't want to steal your thunder for the comments, but I will say a couple things to get 'em going:

• I really, really, really wanted to throw my hat on the ice tonight. Can Patrik Berglund be the playoff breakout player? I didn't expect it to be him, but he played a strong game tonight.
• I sat next to a Sharks fan and his Blues fan buddy tonight. I didn't know either of them before hand, but at one point a discussion about Barret Jackman got going. The Sharks fan said to me, "Jackman is a wuss." To which I said, "You are absolutely wrong." His Blues buddy then said, "I don't like Jackman, he's not good." To which I said, "You are absolutely wrong." One easy statement, two arguments ended. Jackman is playoff hockey. If he wasn't here, everyone would be wishing we had a hard-nosed defensive veteran defenseman who isn't afraid to muck it up and step up for his teammates. Ya-doy.
• Let The Jaroslav Halak versus Brian Elliott arguments commence. I couldn't care less what the arguments are. I also couldn't care less which guy gets the start, either. Both are good, if you all remember.
• There's a family who sit behind me at the games who alternate which kid they bring to games. I love how the game and being a fan get ingrained in the youngsters. I've watched these two little guys go from little dudes who yelled a lot of nonsense to pretty awesome little fans. At one stoppage, everyone was waving their towels and I saw this kid waving his towel and staring daggers at the Sharks fan next to me. Love that shit.

Don't lose your minds, people. There are games left. Saturday is important. Lets focus on that one.

Go Blues.