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First Period
Tonight the St. Louis Blues came out strong and hard after playing pretty poorly last night in Carolina. The second line of Derek Roy, Jaden Schwartz, and Vladimir Tarasenko had spurts of brilliance during the first period. They seemed to have mind melded on the plane ride back from Raleigh last night, and it certainly showed tonight. At 9:11, Senko and Roy set the young Canadian Prince of Wales for his 17th goal of the season and first goal of the game. The would go on to continue to fight the Preds for the second half of the period. Both teams were tired but neither was going to budge an inch for one another.
Second Period
The second period would see a roaring and revving Blues hockey club come out of the locker room. They would continue their assault on the Nashville net with a barrage of shots hitting their mark. At 3:31 Roy would be the spark plug of the Blues second goal, passing the puck to Jay Bouwmeester who would blast it on net allowing David Backes to deflect it into the back of the net.
Unfortunately the blue and yellow's energy would not hold up for the entire second period as they slowly began to sit back and make mistakes. These mistakes allowed the Predators to get a leg up on the Blues in the game. The Preds slowly gained momentum and by the end of the period they had a grip on the game. At 16:48 Paul Gaustand would score putting the score at 2-1. With the lead still in tacked, but tables turning towards the side of the Predators the Blues would go into the second intermission tired and slightly defeated.
Third Period
The Third period was the worst period the Blues had this game. It was slow and frustrating, as the Blues fell back on bad habits. Nashville would score at 3:25, tying the game 2-2. The Team from St. Louis seemed flabbergasted and lost early on in this period, unfortunately leading to more mistakes. At 7:33 Roman Josi would take the lead from St. Louis, taking advantage of a bad puck bauble by Magnus Paajarvi at the offensive blue line. 16 seconds later Vladimir Tarasenko would take matters into his own hands, quite literally. He would lead a rush down to the Nashville zone, toe drag the defensemen and blasting a snap shot past Nashville's goaltender, tying the game up 3-3 again. Allowing the game to go to overtime after a hard and exhausting 60 minutes of game time.
Overtime/Shootout
Overtime was a typical quick 5 minute round of 4 on 4 hockey eventually leading to a shootout. In the end TJ Oshie and Vladi with a T would be the Blues' saviors as they each scored to the preds only goal coming from Ryan Ellis.
Blues Win! Game ends with the first ever TV Vladimir Tarasenko/Bernie Federko interview. All is well with the world!
Games Three Stars
Third:
Derek Roy
Second:
Jaden Schwartz
First:
Vladimir Tarasenko
Bluenotes from Twitter
With @DP_57 chirping Andy Strickland, I think we should all have to finish our drinks lol #BluesDrinkingGame
— Eddie W (@niublues) February 2, 2014
That was a fantastic high stick by Derek Roy - if it weren't illegal, it'd have been a highlight on http://t.co/CP8sBouyFx.
— Jason McAdams (@JMill1120) February 2, 2014
Tarasenko. Just..... yeah.
— TruBlueGirls (@TruBlueGirls) February 2, 2014
This kid is something else pic.twitter.com/OZ2u80V7dM
— Eddie W (@niublues) February 2, 2014
@tara9191 Player of the Game Hands Down. #LGB #TeamRussia
— Sydney White (@BluesHockey1023) February 2, 2014
Oh Russian baby lemme pinch your face!
— Kati (@KatiMey34) February 2, 2014
Well this should be good... Bernie talks to Vladi Tarasenko.
— TruBlueGirls (@TruBlueGirls) February 2, 2014
It's okay, love. We don't know what the fuck he's saying either.
— TruBlueGirls (@TruBlueGirls) February 2, 2014
So, essentially, the star of tonight's game was the Blues' second line (Schwartz-Roy-Tarasenko). #StlBlues
— Andrew Allsman (@allsmandrew) February 2, 2014
#ConferenceIII BELT RETAINED!
— Jason McAdams (@JMill1120) February 2, 2014
Tweet of the Game
"Fuck it. I will do it myself."-Vlad Tarasenko
— St Bluenatic Chris (@Bluenatics) February 2, 2014