|
|
Simple mistakes cost Sharks
Game 1
Blues take tightly contested 2-1
game
The Western Conference Finals kicked off in St
Louis on Sunday night, but an absence of the fire that carried them to a Game 7
win in the Conference Semi-Finals doomed the Sharks to a 2-1 loss at the hands
of the host Blues. San Jose showed some signs of life after falling behind to
the Blues, but in the playoffs, you need to seize control of the game. They
didn't do that, and find themselves in 1-0 series hole.
What the game
revealed is that this series is going to be a tight series, and the team that
makes the fewest mistakes will likely move on. Seizing the lead is also
something the Sharks will need to figure out in a hurry. They played from
behind all night, never holding a lead, and had to take chances they likely
wouldn't in a tie game or with the lead.
Once the Blues grabbed the
2-1 lead, they went into typical Ken Hitchcock defensive mode that leaves
little opportunities for scoring chance. The Sharks didn't have many the rest
of the evening.
The game also came down to mistakes who made the
fewest. That wasn't San Jose. Their game came down to a pair of gaffs that
would eventually cost them the game.
The Sharks dodged a bullet 11:35
into the game when Patrik Berglund appeared to have scored a goal from the
Sharks crease, but an official review ruled that Berglung backed into Sharks
goaltender Martin Jones, denying him of the right to play the puck. Replays
showed that Sharks defenseman actually tipped the puck into his own zone as he
tried to fish it out from between Berglund's skates.
The Blues would
make one count less than 4 minutes later when David Backes deflected a Kevin
Shattenkirk shot from the high slot, after Logan Couture was sent off for
tripping. Backes parked himself at the top of the crease, much like Berglund
did on the overturned goal. Shattenkirk sent a shot that was crest high on the
left half of the net that Backes clipped with the shaft of his stick.
San Jose answered 34 seconds later when Joe Pavelski did his best Backes
imitation by deflecting a Brent Burns blast past former college teammate Brian
Elliott. Burns ripped his blast form the right point as Pavelski positioned
himself on the right side of the slot.
The ice started to tilt toward
Elliott in the 2nd period, but the Sharks made that one mistake that ended up
costing them. Brent Burns was backing into his own zone with the puck when he
tried to float it up ice to a Sharks forward. Unfortunately for Burns, Jori
Lehtera was clearly in between Burns and his target, so the Blues forward
easily intercepted the pass before entering the Sharks zone. Burns then failed
to take away a shooting lane, allowing Lehtera to tee up a shot from the left
dot that Martin Jones failed to glove.
Jones inability to control what amounted to a very
stoppable shot, netted a period of domination that netted the Sharks a deficit.
Those outcomes end up costing you in the playoffs.
It cost the Sharks
Game 1.
Referee Eric Furlatt struck again late in the 2nd period when
he blew a play dead with a live puck sitting next to Elliott in the crease. The
Blues goaltender never controlled the puck, but Furlatt made the assumption
that he had as Pavelski swooped in to tap the loose puck across the goal line.
It was Furlatt who erroneously blew the overtime goal call that cost Sharks
Game 4 in the Western Conference Quarter Finals against the Nashville
Predators.
A Paul Stastny hooking penalty in the 3rd period setup the
Sharks 3rd power play of the night. The special teams turned out to be an
over-hyped aspect of the Sharks game that netted them nothing. The Blues had
more scoring chances on the Stastny penalty kill than the Sharks did.
Elliott got some help from the hockey gods with just under 3 minutes to play
when a Vlasic shot hit the left post, then came back and hit him in the back
before deflecting to the right side of the crease. Patrick Marleau was checked
off the puck, denying a chance for a follow up shot.
A wild flurry by
the Sharks over the last 3 minutes made for some exciting hockey, but no
scoring, which wasn't what San Jose needed. They controlled the puck for
lengthy spans of time in the St Louis zone, but they couldn't crack Elliott.
Too much reliance on point shots just didn't pay any dividends. It's a
desperate strategy that shows no creativity from an offensive standpoint. On a
night when the breaks weren't coming, they needed a little more creativity.
Taking 80-foot shots with the hope you're going to deflect the puck
past a hot goaltender isn't much of a strategy. San Jose finds themselves in a
1-0 hole as a result.
Game Notes:
* Joe Pavelski led
all skaters with 7 shots on goal.
* Big money players like Patrick
Marleau generated 1 shot on goal for the Sharks. Marleau was a non-factor all
night.
* In a big shift from the first two series, the Sharks won the
faceoff battle, taking 40 of 70 draws (57%).
 |
|
| What did you think of
this article? Post your comments on the Feeder Forums |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
What did you
think of this story? Post your comments on the
Feeder Forums |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| STL |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
|
|
| 1st period - 1, STL,
Backes 7 (Shattenkirk, Schwartz), 15:04, (pp). 2, SJ, Hertl 3 (Pavelski,
Burns), 15:38. |
|
|
| 2nd period - 3, STL,
Lehtera 2 (unassisted), 9:15. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1st period - Lehtera,
STL (interference), 3:56; Couture, SJ (tripping), 13:56; Ott, STL (slashing),
17:18. |
|
|
|
|
|
| 3rd period - Stastny,
STL (hooking), 8:44; Hertl, SJ (tripping), 11:06. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Jones |
23 |
21 |
| STL - Elliott |
33 |
32 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
8 |
16 |
9 |
33 |
| STL |
11 |
5 |
7 |
23 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Referees: Furlatt,
Sutherland. Linesmen: Amell, Racicot. |
|
|
|
|
|
