2020 Playoffs...Canucks Vs. Blues Game One Recap

If the Blues were going to have any success in this series (or probably any series at this point) they needed to stay out of the box. Tonight was a perfect example of that. Bo Horvat scored his first goal of the night while on the power play. Quinn Hughes finds Horvat with a centering pass. Horvat one timed the puck beating Jordan Binnington. 1-0 bad guys.

The Canucks weren’t the only team to score on the power play in the first period. The Blues tied the game at one thanks to a power play goal of their own. David Perron fired yet another one timer chance on net and it went in. The goal looked similar to the one that the Canucks scored at the other end of the ice. Brayden Schenn found Perron in the slot. Perron with the quick release beat Canucks starter Jacob Markstrom. That tied the game at one.

The Blues found themselves on the penalty kill again. The puck found itself in the back of the net...again. This time it was Elias Pettersson’s turn to score. The Canucks got the puck to the front of the net. The puck bounced around in front of the net. The Blue failed to clear it out. Pettersson wound up and fired the puck back on net. Binnington couldn’t stop it. Canucks go back on top 2-1.

Later in the period Jaden Schwartz made an excellent effort to tie the game back up at two. Despite losing the faceoff, Schwartz hustled to get the loose puck. He was then off to the races and found himself all alone against Markstrom. Schwartz puts the puck between Markstrom’s legs and gave the Blues some life heading into the third period.

Edmonton has not been kind for the Blues in the third period. Tonight wasn’t any different. Five and a half minutes into the third, the Canucks would go up for good. The Blues failed to clear their defensive zone. Next thing you know, Troy Stecher was putting the puck into the back of the net. In all honesty I’m sure it was a goal that Binnington wanted back. 9/10 times he’d stop this one.

Vince Dunn did not have himself a great game tonight. In the first period his turnover led to Justin Faulk getting called for a penalty on the Canucks breakaway. That of course led to their first goal of the night. Horvat scored his second of the night after making Dunn look like a traffic cone...

The guy that was healthy scratched, but then magically wasn’t J.T. Miller put the Blues out of their misery for good. With less than a minute to go Miller scored the Canucks third power play goal of the night.

Canucks down the Blues 5-2. The Blues looked better than they did in the round robin, but clearly still have things to work on. Jordan Binnington was good, but not great. Look for him to bounce back in game two. Vladimir Tarasenko is clearly not quite there yet, but looked better. It’s only one game, but the Blues are running out of time to get their shit together. Next game is Friday at 5:30.

Final shots on goal - 31-22 Blues.

Clever name for collection of Tweets from the game tonight here.

Blais and Steen were both out tonight. Not sure when Barbashev makes it to Edmonton, but I’d be shocked to see tonight’s lineup in game two. Also known as Kyrou should be in.

Chief’s post game comments. Clearly the casual look wasn’t the problem.

I’m gonna call this segment early tonight because I have to get up in like 5 hours but...