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Stanley Cup Final Game 1 – St. Louis Blues v. Boston Bruins

St. Louis Blues v. Boston Bruins

Game 1

Game Recap:

The time has finally come for the Stanley Cup Final to begin and with both the Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues getting some time to lick their wounds from the past three rounds, are ready to play for the holy grail itself. To start the game both teams would get physical right out of the gate that would also feature two really good scoring opportunities for the Bruins. However, it would be the Blues after a failed powerplay that would score the first goal of the Final as Brayden Schenn would take advantage of the Blues aggressive play and wrist the puck past Tuukka Rask to make it 1-0 for the Blues. The Blues would give the Bruins two powerplay opportunities which saw Marcus Johansson come close to tying the game, only to hit the post instead. The Blues are doing a good job of breaking out of their zone and entering into the Bruins zone, while on the other side of the coin, the Bruins have been doing a good job of creating odd man rushes and creating scoring chances off of them.

So far, so good. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/iR4SHX1fP0

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 28, 2019

Heading into the second Schenn would strike again this time intercepting a poorly made pass by Charlie McAvoy, and then passing it to Vladimir Tarasenko in the slot to score his 9th of the playoffs and a 2-0 lead exactly one minute into the period. However, the Bruins would respond as Sean Kuraly would throw the puck to the net and Connor Clifton would deflect the puck into the open net to cut the deficit to one. Later in the period the Blues would shoot themselves in the foot as they gave the Bruins two more powerplay opportunities, and the second one was really dumb penalty that Oskar Sundqvist took that leads to McAvoy taking the puck in from the neutral zone and wristing it past Jordan Binnington to tie the game at two. The Blues looked sloppy and undisciplined, while the Bruins looked like they were a well oiled machine outshooting the Blues 18-3.

All tied up after 2. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/BKyX396Lfc

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 28, 2019

In the third period the Bruins would continue with their dominating play, and a little over five minutes into the period it would be Sean Kuraly tucking the puck past Binnington to give the Bruins their first lead of the game at 3-2. Then with the goalie pulled late in the third, Brad Marchand would get the empty net goal to seal the deal and give the Bruins the 4-2 victory over the Blues to take the 1-0 series lead.

#NHLBRUINS WIN GAME 1!!! 🙌

4-2 over St. Louis. @kurals9 with the winner early in the third! pic.twitter.com/bRJNvXXegv

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) May 28, 2019

The Blues became very undisciplined after the first period and really got away from their game after Tarasenko scored to make it 2-0. The Bruins were able to take over the game after that point and really control the tempo and score four unanswered goals to take Game 1.

Bruins take Game 1. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/aBs2AzlCmn

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 28, 2019

Lineups:

St. Louis Blues:

Jaden Schwartz — Brayden Schenn — Vladimir Tarasenko

Sammy Blais — Ryan O’Reilly — David Perron

Pat Maroon — Tyler Bozak — Robert Thomas

Ivan Barbashev — Oskar Sundqvist — Alexander Steen

Joel Edmundson — Alex Pietrangelo

Jay Bouwmeester — Colton Parayko

Carl Gunnarsson — Robert Bortuzzo

Jordan Binnington

Jake Allen

Scratched: Robby Fabbri, Michael Del Zotto, Zach Sanford, Mackenzie MacEachern, Chris Thorburn, Ville Husso

Injured: Vince Dunn (upper body)

#StanleyCup Final. Game 1. Starters.#stlblues | @maryvilleu pic.twitter.com/yWE247Lmqd

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 28, 2019

Boston Bruins:

Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — David Pastrnak

Jake DeBrusk — David Krejci — David Backes

Marcus Johansson — Charlie Coyle — Danton Heinen

Joakim Nordstrom — Sean Kuraly — Noel Acciari

Zdeno Chara — Charlie McAvoy

Torey Krug — Brandon Carlo

Matt Grzelcyk — Connor Clifton

Tuukka Rask

Jaroslav Halak

Scratched: John Moore, Steven Kampfer, Karson Kuhlman

Injured: Chris Wagner (upper body), Kevan Miller (lower body)

Starting off the #StanleyCup Final like this.#NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/w6UdSVtyvP

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) May 28, 2019

First Period:

Bruins Penalty – 3:37 – Sean Kuraly 2 minutes for Tripping

Blues Goal – 7:23 – Brayden Schenn (3) from Jaden Schwartz (5) and Jay Boumeester (6)

And the first goal of the #StanleyCup Final goes to No. 10. #stlblues #WeAllBleedBlue pic.twitter.com/6D5K6DolQ8

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 28, 2019

Blues Penalty – 13:15 – David Perron 2 minutes for Tripping

Blues Penalty – 17:45 – Robert Thomas 2 minutes for Hooking

End of 1st – STL – 1 BOS – 0

Shots 08 08

Faceoffs 08 06

Hits 12 11

PP 0/1 0/2

Second Period:

Blues Goal – 1:00 – Vladimir Tarasenko (9) from Brayden Schenn (6)

Turnover. GOAL!!!! #stlblues #WeAllBleedBlue pic.twitter.com/8T8RzUCg4u

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 28, 2019

Bruins Goal – 2:16 – Connor Clifton (2) from Sean Kuraly (4) and Joakim Nordstrom (3)

Cliffy Hockey.@connorcliff28 | #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/nGBidLTgYM

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) May 28, 2019

Blues Penalty – 5:25 – Joel Edmundson 2 minutes for High Sticking

Blues Penalty – 11:04 – Oskar Sundqvist 2 minutes for Cross Checking

Bruins PPG – 12:41 – Charlie McAvoy (2) from unassisted

.@CMcAvoy44 evens it up.#NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/T5TG9nb9Qn

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) May 28, 2019

End of 2nd – STL – 2 BOS – 2

Shots 11 26

Faceoffs 19 17

Hits 21 21

PP 0/1 1/4

Third Period:

Bruins Goal – 5:21 – Sean Kuraly (3) from Noel Acciari (2) and Zdeno Chara (3)

.@kurals9 loves himself a big game.#NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/NDS2lbK9AZ

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) May 28, 2019

Bruins Penalty – 6:55 – David Krejci 2 minutes for Illegal Check to the Head

Blues Penalty – 13:28 – Sammy Blais 2 minutes for Interference

Bruins ENG – 18:11 – Brad Marchand (8) from unassisted

End of 3rd – STL – 2 BOS – 4

Shots 19 38

Faceoffs 26 31

Hits 33 32

PP 0/2 1/5

Next Up:

Game 2 – BOS Leads 1-0

Thank you for following TXHT’s extensive Playoffs coverage on our 2019 NHL Playoffs page.

TXHT’s Stanley Cup Finals coverage sponsored by:

May 27, 2019
TXHT Stanley Cup Finals Previews

#TXHT‘s coverage of the #StanleyCup Finals begins tonight, but first here are some previews to read before the start of Game 1.

#NHLBruins Preview by @TheLindenbaum75 https://txhthockey.com/2019/05/27/stanley-cup-finals-preview-the-boston-bruins/ …

#STLBlues Preview by @aweisen123 https://txhthockey.com/2019/05/27/stanley-cup-finals-preview-the-st-louis-blues/ …

May 27, 2019
Stanley Cup Finals Preview – The St. Louis Blues

Well, I never thought I would be saying this, but tonight begins the first Stanley Cup Finals game in 49 years for the St. Louis Blues. In fact, I’d argue that this is the first meaningful Stanley Cup finals game in team history – though the Blues did make it to the finals each of their first three years, those don’t really count because they grouped all of the original six teams (i.e. the good teams) in one conference, so there was no chance the Blues would beat any team that made the finals.

This time, it should at least be more even. The Blues made it to the final round by dispatching of Winnipeg in 6, and Dallas in 7, while coming back from a 2-1 deficit with inexorable effort against San Jose to take that series in 6 as well.

The Blues are led offensively by Jaden Schwartz who, somewhat inexplicably, has 12 goals in 19 games after scoring only 11 during the regular season. Ryan O’Reilly is next with 14 points, followed by Vladimir Tarasenko, David Perron, and Alex Pietrangelo with 13 points. Though others are not quite putting up the points that those guys have been, the Blues have been receiving meaningful, timely, contributions by the likes of Pat Maroon, Robert Thomas, and Tyler Bozak. The team, as a whole, is scoring a rather respectable 3 goals per game (though I’d definitely like to see more).

Defensively, the Blues have allowed an average of 2.52 goals per game (including a couple of empty netters). This is pretty fantastic, and quite honestly happening during a time when Pietrangelo has not really been at his defensive best. The key for the Blues this postseason defensively has been Colton Parayko – who was integral in tempering the production of Logan Couture (which says a lot about just how good Couture is that scoring ‘only’ 5 goals last series was shutting him down).

As far as goaltending, Jordan Binnington has given the Blues what they have not had for years (…forever?) – consistency. Binnington has a .914 save percentage, allowing 2.36 goals per game, but with a quality start percentage of less than 70% and a Goals Saved Above Average of -1.36 (thank you hockey-reference.com). These are generally pretty good, but nothing mind-blowing, and overall a bit worse than what Brian Elliot gave us a few years back, but the evenness of his play – the knowledge that he is not going to go through a multi-game stretch of just being outright awful, is something all Cup contending teams need. It doesn’t matter much if a goalie shuts out a team all four games one round, and can’t stop a beach ball the next.

All this is nice, and it all also probably means nothing because you just can’t apply large-sample statistics to a small-sample series. So my final thoughts are best served not by proffering some hackneyed predictions, but a plea to the Blues: Just win. Please win. Do it for Doug Wickenheiser, who got us all too close. Do it for Brett Hull and Bernie Federko and Al MacInnis and Chris Pronger who spent careers here trying to win one for this city, and came back for a second career when their playing days were done. Do it for Scott Stevens who was unjustly taken away and so badly wanted to come back. Do it for Martin Brodeur and Wayne Gretzky who played a couple games here and decided to make St. Louis their home.

And most importantly – and I can’t stress this enough – unquestionably, undeniably most importantly, do it for me.

Blues in 6.

Thank you for following TXHT’s extensive Playoffs coverage on our 2019 NHL Playoffs page.

TXHT’s Stanley Cup Finals coverage sponsored by:

May 27, 2019
Stanley Cup Finals Preview – The Boston Bruins

It has finally come, the rematch of 49 years ago has arrived. the 1970 Stanley Cup Finals is etched in history of Bobby Orr flying through the sky after scoring the game winning goal for the Boston Bruins over the St. Louis Blues. Now it is time for these two to face eachother again.

For the Boston Bruins this will be their third appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals this decade as they won the Stanley Cup in 2011 over the Vancouver Canucks, and then lost to the Chicago Blackhawks in 2013. The Bruins will look to close the decade with their second Stanley Cup victory over the Blues.

How Did They Get Here?

The Bruins in the first round went to a full seven game series with their long time rivals the Toronto Maple Leafs. Then in the second round the Bruins were able to best the Columbus Blue Jackets in six games, and in the Conference Finals they would sweep the Carolina Hurricanes in four games.

Offense:

In the regular season the Bruins averaged 3.134 Goals Forward, while in the playoffs they have been lead by their top offensive players with Brad Marchand has been leading the way with 7 goals, 11 assists for 18 points. Plus the Bruins have been getting contributions from David Pastrnak (7g, 8a, 15p), David Krejci (4g, 10a, 14p), Patrice Bergeron (8g, 5a, 13p), and trade deadline pickup Charlie Coyle (6g, 6a, 12p). The Bruins top guys have been shut down in the first two rounds of the playoffs, but once they got heated up or found a way to break through the system the other teams utilized, there was nothing that could stop them.

Defense:

On defense the Bruins allowed 2.585 Goals Against per game, and are lead by their captain Zdeno Chara (1g, 2a, 3p) with a +11. Also the Bruins defense has been contributing offensively this postseason led by Torey Krug with 1 goal, and 11 assists for 12 points. Plus the Bruins have been getting contributions from their young defenders in Charlie McAvoy (1g, 6a, 7p +9), and Matt Grzelcyk (3g, 4a, 7p -2), and from their top forwards as well as both Bergeron and Coyle are +8 and +9 respectively.

Goaltending:

For the Bruins they have been getting solid goaltending from Tuukka Rask in all 17 games that they have played this postseason. Rask is 12-5 with a 1.84 GAA and a .942 Save Percentage. Rask has also recorded two shutouts this postseason.

Special Teams:

Powerplay – 50.7% (10th in Regular Season)

Penalty Kill – 79.9% (16th in Regular Season)

The Bruins are atop the league this postseason scoring on 34% of their powerplay opportunities. Also the Bruins are third during the postseason with a 86.3% on the penalty kill.

Final Thoughts:

It’s going to be interesting to see how the Bruins come out of the gate in Game 1 as they will have been off for 11 days at that point. While they have been doing scrimmages to stay fresh, it’s not the same as the real deal. Also there is the storyline now of the sweeps. Starting with the New York Islanders sweeping the Pittsburgh Penguins, then getting swept by the Hurricanes, and then the Bruins sweeping Carolina. Does that mean St. Louis is going to sweep the Bruins? Probably not, but there’s still a chance for it to happen.

Prediction: Blues in 6

Thank you for following TXHT’s extensive Playoffs coverage on our 2019 NHL Playoffs page.

TXHT’s Stanley Cup Finals coverage sponsored by:

May 27, 2019
WCF Game 6 Recap – San Jose Sharks v. St. Louis Blues

The St. Louis Blues enter game 6 with a chance to earn a birth in the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since 1970 (and really, the first meaningful one, and not a diluted conference title).

The first period started out with a bang with David Perron redirecting a Sammy Blais shot to give the Blues a quick 1-0 lead. After some staggeringly good play and control, San Jose took a penalty that let the Blues’ special teams go to work. This led to an almost immediate Vladimir Tarasenko goal (dare I say, snipe), to put the Blues up 2-0. They took this lead into the second period.

With the storm clouds over the city of St. Louis hopefully not acting as a portend, the Blues came out strong in the second, but it was San Jose’s Dylan Gambrell that added to the offense, scoring his first NHL goal, and cutting the Blues’ lead in half. This was short-lived as Brayden Schenn (finally finally) scored to bring the lead back to 2.

The third period began with San Jose getting a power play off of a Patrick Maroon trip. The Blues were able to kill it off, though San Jose kept pressuring. The Blues seemed to be playing this period not so much to win, rather not to lose, putting up zero shots as the period approached its halfway mark. After enduring this attack, the Blues capitalized again with Tyler Bozak scoring to make it 4-1. Barbashev would add an empty netter to make it 5-1.

The Blues will play the Boston Bruins for the Stanley Cup.

Thank you for following TXHT’s extensive Playoffs coverage on our 2019 NHL Playoffs page.

May 21, 2019
WCF Game 5 Recap – St. Louis Blues v. San Jose Sharks

St. Louis Blues v. San Jose Sharks

Game 5 – Series Tied 2-2

Game Recap:

Heading into Game 5 both the San Jose Sharks and St. Louis Blues would look to win the first game of a now best of three series, and to start off both teams would trade a total of 5 odd man chances only to attribute to two hit posts and no goals scored. However, after the five minute mark Erik Karlsson would try to clear the puck up the boards and out of the zone, but it would take a weird bounce and stqy in the zone and go right to Oskar Lundqvist who would bomb it past Martin Jones to make it 1-0 for the visiting Blues.

Petition to rename Sunday to Sunnyday ☀️ #stlblues pic.twitter.com/dwg2W3SQwh

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 19, 2019

Going into the second period the Blues would put on a forechecking clinic on the Sharks and it would lead to two goals. First goal had Vladimir Tarasenko getting a shot on goal only for Martin Jones to play the rebound right to Jaden Schwartz who would shoot it right into the open net. Then Tarasenko would be at it again as he would get fouled by Brent Burns while on a breakaway to receive a penalty shot, which Tarasenko would score on to make it a commanding 3-0 lead.

LET'S 👏 GO 👏 BLUES 👏 #WeAllBleedBlue #stlblues pic.twitter.com/xLcweSKaze

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 19, 2019

In the third period the Sharks would not do themselves any favors as they would take two penalties on the same play which would lead to Jaden Schwartz scoring his second of the game when he would chip the puck over Martin Jones to make it 4-0. Then much later in the period the Blues would continue their attack on a injury depleted Sharks team as Vladimir Tarasenko and Schwartz would tag team in the Sharks zone as Schwartz would score his third of the game, and second hat trick of the playoffs, to make it a 5-0 victory and give the Blues the 3-2 series lead heading into Game 6 Tuesday night in St. Louis.

WE'RE COMING HOME WITH THE SERIES LEAD!! #WeAllBleedBlue #stlblues pic.twitter.com/nSQkrHwjhY

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 19, 2019

Lineups:

St. Louis Blues:

Jaden Schwartz — Brayden Schenn — Vladimir Tarasenko

Sammy Blais — Ryan O’Reilly — David Perron

Pat Maroon — Tyler Bozak — Robert Thomas

Ivan Barbashev — Oskar Sundqvist — Alexander Steen

Joel Edmundson — Alex Pietrangelo

Jay Bouwmeester — Colton Parayko

Carl Gunnarsson — Robert Bortuzzo

Jordan Binnington

Jake Allen

Scratched: Robby Fabbri, Michael Del Zotto, Zach Sanford, Mackenzie MacEachern, Chris Thorburn, Ville Husso

Injured: Vince Dunn (upper body)

Your Game 5 starters. #WeAllBleedBlue #stlblues | @maryvilleu pic.twitter.com/2Pb0CHRJPw

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 19, 2019

San Jose Sharks:

Timo Meier — Logan Couture — Gustav Nyquist

Evander Kane — Tomas Hertl — Joe Pavelski

Melker Karlsson — Joe Thornton — Kevin Labanc

Joonas Donskoi — Barclay Goodrow — Micheal Haley

Marc-Edouard Vlasic — Brent Burns

Brenden Dillon — Erik Karlsson

Joakim Ryan — Justin Braun

Martin Jones

Aaron Dell

Scratched: Dylan Gambrell, Tim Heed, Lukas Radil, Radim Simek, Antti Suomela, Marcus Sorensen

A few game-time decisions today so here's what we're projecting.

🗒: https://t.co/AmytYJO9oA pic.twitter.com/j3UEoWmhOV

— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) May 19, 2019

Matinee showing of #GameOfJones coming up!

🗒: https://t.co/AmytYJO9oA pic.twitter.com/VGonxJ4cly

— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) May 19, 2019

First Period:

Blues Goal – 5:50 – Oskar Sundqvist (4) from unassisted

The fourth line comes up big again!!!! #stlblues #WeAllBleedBlue pic.twitter.com/gWtEAJq1TB

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 19, 2019

Blues Penalty – 15:18 – Jay Bouwmeester 2 minutes for Delay of Game

End of 1st – STL – 1 SJ – 0

Shots 04 11

Faceoffs 10 08

Hits 18 13

PP 0/0 0/1

Second Period:

Blues Goal – 3:05 – Jaden Schwartz (10) from unassisted

That's TEN playoff goals now for Jaden Schwartz. #stlblues #WeAllBleedBlue pic.twitter.com/R5RxfaHVQx

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 19, 2019

Blues Penalty Shot – 6:53 – Vladimir Tarasenko – Goal (7)

OH BABY!!!!! #stlblues #WeAllBleedBlue pic.twitter.com/DQJPMzDFKS

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 19, 2019

Sharks Penalty – 10:43 – Joonas Donskoi double minor for High Sticking

Blues Penalty – 11:23 – Tyler Bozak 2 minutes for Hooking

End of 2nd – STL – 3 SJ – 0

Shots 24 16

Faceoffs 23 18

Hits 28 35

PP 0/2 0/1

Third Period:

Sharks Penalty – 1:55 – Barclay Goodrow 2 minutes for Roughing

Sharks Penalty – 1:55 – Micheal Haley 2 minutes for Interference

Blues PPG – 2:19 – Jaden Schwartz (11) from David Perron (6) and Vladimir Tarasenko (4)

Schwartz x2 #stlblues #WeAllBleedBlue pic.twitter.com/saqhDfsbRy

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 19, 2019

Sharks Penalty – 7:13 – Micheal Haley 2 minutes for Unsportsmanlike Conduct

Sharks Penalty – 7:13 – Micheal Haley 10 minute Misconduct

Sharks Penalty – 8:35 – Timo Meier 2 minutes for Tripping

Blues Penalty – 13:12 – Joel Edmundson 2 minutes for Slashing

Blues Goal – 16:02 – Jaden Schwartz (12) from Vladimir Tarasenko (5)

Jaden Schwartz is the first player to have multiple hat tricks in a single postseason since Detroit’s Johan Franzen in 2008. pic.twitter.com/6Y9eK5I8J7

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 19, 2019

Sharks Penalty – 17:13 – Evander Kane 2 minutes for Goalie Interference

Sharks Penalty – 17:13 – Evander Kane 2 minutes for Slashing

Sharks Penalty – 17:13 – Evander Kane 10 minute Misconduct

End of 3rd – STL – 5 SJ – 0

Shots 40 21

Faceoffs 36 27

Hits 34 52

PP 1/8 0/2

Next Up:

Game 6 – STL/SJ Leads Series 3-2

Thank you for following TXHT’s extensive Playoffs coverage on our 2019 NHL Playoffs page.

May 19, 2019
WCF Game 4 Recap – San Jose Sharks v. St. Louis Blues

San Jose Sharks v. St. Louis Blues

Game 4 – SJ Leads 2-1

Game Recap:

Going into Game 4 the St. Louis Blues come into their home barn with a chip on their shoulder after how Game 3 ended in overtime in the San Jose Sharks favor, and it wouldn’t take long either for the Blues as Ivan Barbashev would get the puck on net and past Martin Jones to make it 1-0 35 seconds into the game. Then later in the period on their second powerplay opportunity the Blues would strike again as Justin Braun would inadvertently kick the puck between Jones’ legs to give the Blues a 2-0 lead going into the first intermission.

The boys are FIRED UP. #WeAllBleedBlue #stlblues pic.twitter.com/6pigxORUMH

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 18, 2019

Not an ideal start, but there's still plenty of time left. #PlayoffMode pic.twitter.com/H4yLARJbhP

— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) May 18, 2019

Going into the second period both teams would share opportunities, and also featuring a Sharks powerplay that they could not do anything with. Both teams would get some godd chances at both ends, but the game would remain 2-0 going into the second intermission.

Got pucks on net. Now we just need pucks in net. #PlayoffMode pic.twitter.com/EI6tK731CW

— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) May 18, 2019

In the third period it would be special teams striking again, but this time for the Sharks as Brent Burns would bomb a shot through Jordan Binnington and Tomas Hertl would tap the puck in to make it 2-1 on the powerplay. Then in the final two minutes of the game the Sharks would pull Jones for the extra attacker and they would force great pressure in the Blues zone, but the Blues would withstand the surge and take Game 4 2-1 to tie the series at two games a piece.

THIS SERIES IS TIED!!!!!!! #WeAllBleedBlue #stlblues pic.twitter.com/ew4PMp38EY

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 18, 2019

Lineups:

San Jose Sharks:

Timo Meier — Logan Couture – Gustav Nyquist

Evander Kane — Tomas Hertl — Joe Pavelski

Melker Karlsson — Joe Thornton — Kevin Labanc

Marcus Sorensen — Barclay Goodrow — Joonas Donskoi

Marc-Edouard Vlasic — Brent Burns

Brenden Dillon — Erik Karlsson

Joakim Ryan — Justin Braun

Martin Jones

Aaron Dell

Scratched: Micheal Haley, Dylan Gambrell, Tim Heed, Lukas Radil, Radim Simek, Antti Suomela

How the #SJSharks are starting things off tonight. #PlayoffMode pic.twitter.com/vkpskcd6ua

— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) May 18, 2019

Martin Jones between the pipes 🥅

🗒: https://t.co/WvJ5qmnymw pic.twitter.com/nLuSN3CjEQ

— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) May 17, 2019

St. Louis Blues:

Jaden Schwartz — Brayden Schenn — Vladimir Tarasenko

Sammy Blais — Ryan O’Reilly — David Perron

Pat Maroon — Tyler Bozak — Robert Thomas

Ivan Barbashev — Oskar Sundqvist — Alexander Steen

Joel Edmundson — Alex Pietrangelo

Jay Bouwmeester — Colton Parayko

Carl Gunnarsson — Robert Bortuzzo

Jordan Binnington

Jake Allen

Scratched: Robby Fabbri, Michael Del Zotto, Zach Sanford, Mackenzie MacEachern, Chris Thorburn, Chris Butler, Ville Husso

Injured: Vince Dunn (upper body)

Tonight's starters. #WeAllBleedBlue #stlblues | @maryvilleu pic.twitter.com/hO4z0UkiCB

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 18, 2019

First Period:

Blues Goal – :35 – Ivan Barbashev (1) from unassisted

35 SECONDS IN BARBASHEV MAKES IT 1-0!!!!! #stlblues #WeAllBleedBlue pic.twitter.com/dr5shWmxbk

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 18, 2019

Sharks Penalty- 5:09 – Brenden Dillon 2 minutes for Holding

Sharks Penalty – 17:44 – Timo Meier 2 minutes for Hooking

Blues PPG – 17:53 – Tyler Bozak (4) from Pat Maroon (4) and Vladimir Tarasenko (3)

With Timo Meier in the penalty box for a stick infraction, Tyler Bozak scored on the power play. #stlblues #WeAllBleedBlue pic.twitter.com/bCmqg4kSmv

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 18, 2019

End of 1st – SJ – 0 STL – 2

Shots 09 10

Faceoffs 11 09

Hits 11 15

PP 0/0 1/2

Second Period:

Blues Penalty – 5:41 – Sammy Blais 2 minutes for Hooking

Blues Penalty – 8:24 – Brayden Schenn 2 minutes for Roughing

Sharks Penalty – 8:24 – Marc-Edouard Vlasic 2 minutes for Slashing

End of 2nd – SJ – 0 STL – 2

Shots 20 18

Faceoffs 18 18

Hits 14 24

PP 0/1 1/2

Third Period:

Sharks Penalty – 4:35 – Brenden Dillon 2 minutes for High Sticking

Blues Penalty – 6:01 – Alex Pietrangelo 2 minutes for Interference

Sharks PPG – Tomas Hertl (10) from Brent Burns (11) and Erik Karlsson (14)

Just needed a liiiiittle bit of help to go in the net. #PlayoffMode pic.twitter.com/sMDwfjbKiV

— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) May 18, 2019

Blues Penalty – 9:52 – Ivan Barbashev 2 minutes for Tripping

Sharks Penalty – 12:33 – Bench (Kevin Labanc) 2 minutes for Too Many Men

End of 3rd – SJ – 1 STL – 2

Shots 30 22

Faceoffs 27 32

Hits 15 29

PP 1/3 1/4

Next Up:

Game 5 – Series Tied 2-2

Make sure to follow TXHT’s extensive Playoffs coverage on our 2019 NHL Playoffs page.

May 18, 2019
WCF Game 3 Recap – San Jose Sharks v. St. Louis Blues

The St. Louis Blues and San Jose Sharks started out about the same way all the games these playoffs have for the Blues – without them. The Blues mustered only four shots the entire period en route to a 2-0 deficit. Erik Karlsson scored the first goal (unassisted), followed by Joe Thornton’s first of the game.

The second period was entirely different. Alex Steen opened the scoring to cut the lead to 2-1. Thornton netted his second of the game to increase San Jose’s lead back to 2, but the much maligned (unfairly, to this writer), Vladimir Tarasenko brought the Blues back to 3-2. Now, the game got really fun. David Perron committed what should have been a delay of game penalty for shooting the puck over the glass, but it was missed by the referees (of note, it is very fun to see Peter DeBoer’s incredulous face). He then proceeded to score the next two goals to give the Blues a 4-3 lead entering the third.

The Blues generally outplayed the Sharks in the third, with no team scoring until about 1 minute left, where Couture tied the game at 4, after a series of laughable, contemptuous icings by Alex Pietrangelo, then a poor defense play by him. I generally think Petro is a wonderful player, but he has been simply bad this series.

Hey everyone! Michael here. Aryan asked me to take over and cover the overtime period(s) of this tightly contested Game 3 between the San Jose Sharks and St. Louis Blues.

In overtime both teams would trade chances in the first five minutes of the extra period, but then on a controversial play that saw Timo Meier bat the puck with his hand in front of the Blues net to Gustav Nyquist who would then pass it to Erik Karlsson who would shoot the puck past Jordan Binnington to win the game 5-4 in overtime and take the 2-1 series lead.

Clearly a hand pass by Meier, but unfortunately this is not a reviewable play and the fact that all four officials missed this call the goal cannot be reversed. St. Louis got the short end on this one and will be motivation going into Game 4.

Make sure to follow TXHT’s extensive Playoffs coverage on our 2019 NHL Playoffs page.

May 16, 2019
St. Louis Blues vs San Jose Sharks – Round 3 – Game 2 Recap

Game Recap:

The Blues came out from the gate determined to not hang their goalie Jordan Binnington out to dry like they did some many times in game one and it worked. The Blues came out and pressured in the first part of the period and scored the only goalie thanks to Blues potential Conn Smythe Candidate Jaden Schwartz. But the Blues couldn’t keep the Sharks at bay and they stormed back in the second half of the period with some pressure but couldn’t solve Binnington who I am sure was determined not to have another game like game 1.

The 2nd period would be the Logan Couture show as the penalties would begin to ramp up against San Jose, St.Louis would score once via Vince Dunn but Couture would score a goal Short-Handed to get the Sharks on the board and then would score less than 2 minutes later to tie the game at two apiece in the second period. But the Blues wouldn’t just lay down and die with less than 4 minutes left in the second tough guy defencemen Robert Bortuzzo would score to reinstate the St. Louis Blues lead heading into the 3rd period.

The 3rd period would be a swapping of penalties for both teams as they would both end up with no powerplay goals on the night. But with the Sharks pressing for the tying goal late the Blues Oskar Sundqvist would give the Blues some insurance with just over 3 minutes remaining and eventually seal the series tie at one apiece.

Lineups:

St. Louis

Jaden Schwartz – Brayden Schenn – Vladimir Tarasenko

Sammy Blais – Ryan O’Reilly – David Perron

Pat Maroon – Tyler Bozak – Christian Thomas

Ivan Barbashev – Oskar Sundqvist – Alex Steen

Joel Edmundson – Alex Pietrangelo

Jay Bouwmeester – Colton Parayko

Vince Dunn – Robert Bortuzzo

Jordan Binnington

Jake Allen

Scratched: None

Injuries: Carl Gunnarsson (Upper Body)

San Jose

The #SJSharks who will be starting things off tonight. #PlayoffMode pic.twitter.com/MbwU8Ihod5

— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) May 14, 2019

Scratched: None

Injuries: Radek Simek

GameDay:

Lead the way, @binnnasty. #stlblues #WeAllBleedBlue pic.twitter.com/cclScc6xNc

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 14, 2019

First Period:

St.Louis Goal – 2:34 – Jaden Schwartz (10) assisted by Vladimir Tarasenko (2) and Joel Edmundson (4)

San Jose Penalty – 4:04 – Tomas Hertl, 2 minutes for Tripping

St. Louis Penalty – 6:34 – Jay Bouwmeester, 2 minutes for Tripping

San Jose Penalty – 15:46 – Evander Kane, 2 minutes for Tripping

End of 1st – STL – 1 SJS – 0

Shots 6 9

Faceoffs 6/17 11/17

Hits 12 9

PP 0/2 0/1

Off to a good start, boys. Let's keep it going! #stlblues pic.twitter.com/flFC7JQ071

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 14, 2019

Second Period:

St. Louis Goal – 4:16 – Vince Dunn (2) assisted by Ryan O’Reilly (8) and David Perron (5)

San Jose Penalty – 4:42 – Marcus Sorenson, 2 minutes for Interference

San Jose SH Goal – 4:55 – Logan Couture (12) unassisted

San Jose Goal – 6:54 – Logan Couture (13) assisted by Timo Meier (8)

St. Louis Goal – 16:34 – Robert Bortuzzo (1) assisted by Joel Edmundson (5) and Tyler Bozak (5)

San Jose Penalty – 19:31- Brendan Dillion, 2 minutes for Delay of Game

End of 2nd – STL – 3 SJS – 2

Shots 15 15

Faceoffs 15/36 21/36

Hits 24 18

PP 0/4 0/1

BIG third period coming up!!!! #stlblues pic.twitter.com/SRZ7KTHpZ9

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 14, 2019

Third Period:

St. Louis Penalty – 10:37 – Robert Thomas, 2 minutes for Hooking

San Jose Penalty – 12:42 – Joe Thornton, 2 minutes for Tripping

St. Louis Goal – 16:52 – Oskar Sundqvist (3) assisted by Alex Steen (2) and Alex Pietrangelo (10)

End of 3rd – STL – 4 SJS- 2

Shots 25 26

Faceoffs 23/54 31/54

Hits 35 28

PP 0/5 0/2

THIS SERIES IS TIED!!!!!!! #WeAllBleedBlue #stlblues pic.twitter.com/bYBCKVvdga

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 14, 2019

Make sure to follow TXHT’s extensive Playoffs coverage on our 2019 NHL Playoffs page.

May 14, 2019
St. Louis Blues vs San Jose Sharks – Round 3 – Game 1 Recap

Game Recap:

The Sharks opened the game with putting it all on the table as Logan Couture put the Sharks on board early. Schwartz would reply later on in the 3rd tying the game at one. But the Sharks would reply again on the powerplay thanks to the Captain Joe Pavelski. Making the score 2-1 Sharks after one.

The 2nd period would be another bad one for the St. Louis Blues. The Sharks would score 3 more goals to the Blues 1 and then the Blues would take a few more penalties. The same seemed so much out of reach.

The 3rd period would be a swapping of goals between the Blues and Sharks. A brawl would ensue at the end of the game and a lot of penalties. Expect the Blue to come out with a big game 2.

Lineups:

St. Louis

Jaden Schwartz – Brayden Schenn – Vladimir Tarasenko

Sammy Blais – Ryan O’Reilly – David Perron

Pat Maroon – Tyler Bozak – Christian Thomas

Ivan Barbashev – Oskar Sundqvist – Alex Steen

Joel Edmundson – Alex Pietrangelo

Jay Bouwmeester – Colton Parayko

Vince Dunn – Robert Bortuzzo

Jordan Binnington

Jake Allen

Scratched: None

Injuries: Carl Gunnarsson (Upper Body)

San Jose

The #SJSharks who will be starting things off tonight. pic.twitter.com/vpWVnL0ykU

— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) May 12, 2019

Scratched: None

Injuries: Radek Simek

GameDay:

Welcome to Game 1. #stlblues #WeAllBleedBlue pic.twitter.com/hwyJazFiid

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 12, 2019

First Period:

San Jose Goal – 3:31 – Logan Couture (10) assisted by Gustav Nyquist (8) and Timo Meier (8)

St.Louis Goal – 9:13 – Jaden Schwartz (9) assisted by Vladimir Tarasenko (1) and Brayden Schenn (4)

St. Louis Penalty – 9:36 – Jay Bouwmeester, 2 minutes for Interference

San Jose PP Goal – 11:24 – Joe Pavelski (4) assisted by Brent Burns (10) and Erik Karlsson (13)

St. Louis Penalty – 10:33 – Colton Paryako, 2 minutes for Slashing

End of 1st – STL – 1 SJS – 2

Shots 10 9

Faceoffs 11/27 16/27

Hits 22 13

PP 0/1 1/2

San Jose holds the one-goal lead, but there's plenty of time left in this one. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/AF1Z4HQCqP

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 12, 2019

Second Period:

St. Louis Penalty – 2:57 – Tyler Bozak, 2 minutes for Hooking

San Jose Goal – 7:41 – Kevin Labanc (4) assisted by Joe Thornton (5)

St. Louis Goal – 8:58 – Ryan O’Reilly (3) assisted by Logan Couture (6)

San Jose Goal – 10:24 – Timo Meier (4) assisted by Joe Thornton (5)

San Jose Penalty – 13:23 – Melker Karlsson, 2 minutes for Delay of Game

San Jose Goal – 17:34 – Timo Meier (5) assisted by Marc-Edouard Vlasic (4) and Gustav Nyquist

End of 2nd – STL – 2 SJS – 5

Shots 19 20

Faceoffs 21/51 30/51

Hits 35 25

PP 0/1 1/3

😠 pic.twitter.com/TRYQh9qwBd

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 12, 2019

Third Period:

St. Louis Goal – 13:01 – Tyler Bozak (3) assisted by Pat Maroon (2) and Vince Dunn (5)

San Jose Goal – 17:39 – Logan Couture (11) assisted by Joe Pavelski (4) and Evander Kane (6)

St. Louis Penalty – 17:55 – Robert Bortuzzo, 5 minutes for Fighting

San Jose Penalty – 17:55 – Barclay Goodrow, 5 minutes for Fighting

St. Louis Penalty – 17:55 – Robert Bertuzzo, 2 minutes for Roughing

San Jose Penalty – 17:55 – Brandon Dillion, 2 minutes for Roughing

St. Louis Penalty – 17:55 – Robert Bortuzzo, Game Misconduct

San Jose Penalty – 17:55 – Barclay Goodrow, Game Misconduct

End of 3rd – STL – 3 SJS- 6

Shots 31 25

Faceoffs 31/73 42/73

Hits 41 35

PP 0/1 1/4

Not our night. Regroup and get ready for Game 2 on Monday. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/6jhGfghHCi

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 12, 2019

Make sure to follow TXHT’s extensive Playoffs coverage on our 2019 NHL Playoffs page.

May 12, 2019