X75 Productions

Tag: Vladimir Tarasenko

  • Wednesday Night Hockey: The Last Two Champs Face-off For the First Time.

    Wednesday Night Hockey: The Last Two Champs Face-off For the First Time.

    Washington Capitals (0-0-0) v. St Louis Blues (0-0-0)

     

      Pre-Season Record Predicted Goaltender Stanley Cup Champions
    Washington Capitals 5-1-0 Braden Holtby 2017-18
    St. Louis Blues 4-3-0 Jordan Binnington 2018-19

    It has been a long off-season for Caps’ fans, but we’re finally here. Does anyone else find it slightly more than coincidental that the two previous Stanley Cup Champions are facing off on the first day of the 2019-20 season? I know, I know, the schedule was made before the Blues won the cup, but raise your hand if you think that had something to do with the end result. The Capitals and Blues played each other twice during the preseason, splitting the games with one win a piece. Both teams won by just a single goal in each victory.

    On Sunday, the Washington Capitals rounded out their six-game preseason schedule with a tight 4-3 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes. While many fans are hesitant about making associations between preseason performances the regular season, there are a couple of things we know for certain. Tom Wilson is about to have a heck of a year. In just 3 preseason matches, Wilson tallied two goals and an assist, including one short-handed goal against the Chicago Blackhawks. While Top Line Tom led the team in short-handed goals last season (2G), it is vital to remember he only played 63 games during the 2019-19 season. Setting a career-high of 22 goals last year, we anticipate he should set another personal record with at least 25 goals this coming season (TheScore, Wilson). Caps’ captain Alex Ovechkin is prepared to win himself another Rocket Richard Trophy this year, and has expressed his desire, and ability to have another 50+ goal season (Gulitti). By a margin of 236 goals, Ovechkin only needs 5 more seasons of 50 goals, or 6 seasons of 40 goals to bypass the all-time goals leader of the Great Wayne Gretzky (894G). With the final year of his contract looming in not-so-distant future, the Capitals front office have already begun playing out some possible scenarios that will need to be played out in order to keep the Great 8 a Capital until retirement. But perhaps the biggest what-if many Caps’ fans are trying to answer involves defenseman Michal Kempny, whom had his season cut short last year due to a hamstring injury he suffered in a March 20th match against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Many, including head coach Todd Reirden, hoped Kempny would be ready in time to make the Opening Night roster for the Capitals, but that is still to be determined, as the blue-liner was still practicing in a non-contact jersey as of September 28th (Khurshudyan). In 71 games played with the Washington Capitals during the 2018-19 season,, Michal Kempny led the team with a +/- rating of 24, tallied 6 goals of his own, and racked up 19 assists, as a defenseman (TheScore, Kempny). However, a number of mid- and off-season acquisitions by the Capitals including Nick Jensen (DET) and Radko Gudas (PHI) and will bolster the Caps’ roster and hopefully this season will play out as well in reality, as it should on paper.

                   The St. Louis Blues did not play their final scheduled preseason game due to a plane malfunction, but did beat the Caps’ on September 27 by a score of 4-3. For those not in the know, the St. Louis Blues won their first Stanley Cup Championship in team history this past June, similarly to the feat the Capitals accomplished in 2018. In true underdog fashion, the Blues went from worst, to first, in a matter of months. Was it the change in bench bosses? The puppy? The mid-practice brawls? Will the Blues fall victim to the infamous Stanley Cup Hangover? St. Louis elected to play eight preseason games (only played seven, see above), and managed to win 4 of 7, including one overtime win versus the Winnipeg Jets. Those 3 losses came resulted from a 2-3 loss to the Capitals, a 1-2 loss to the Dallas Stars, and an especially-embarrassing 4-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings. Fellow Russian Vladimir Tarasenko (a.k.a. Vladdy) is expected to have a bounce-back season after a seemingly lack-luster 2018-19 season, where he managed to score 33 goals in 76 regular season games (NHL.com). While Tarasenko led the Blues in goals, and points, he has seen a downward trend in goal-scoring since the 2015-16 season, where he scored a career-high 40 goals, and tallied 34 assists. During the 2018-19 playoffs, he scored 11 goals of the teams’ 75 total goals, good enough for second most on the team, but accounted for just 14.6% of total goals scored (NHL.com).

    While the St. Louis Blues and their fans are, of course, hoping to repeat their recent success, the Washington Capitals are out for blood (redemption) after a disappointing first round exit. It seems as though Caps’ PR is keeping on with the #ALLCAPS catch-phrase for this upcoming season, but #2Cups3Years sounds pretty good too.

    Coverage of the game begins at 6:00pm with Caps Faceoff Live, followed by Caps Pregame Live at 6:30pm, all on NBCSN/NBCSWA, with puck drop following the Blues’ Stanley Cup Banner Raising at Enterprise Arena in St. Louis, MO.

     

    Sponsored by:

    DerpyCon_General Ad.png

     

    Gulitti, T. (2019). Ovechkin talks 50-goal record, catching Gretzky, future with Capitals. https://www.nhl.com/news/alex-ovechkin-chases-wayne-gretzky-hopes-to-score-50-goals/c-308941324.

    Khurshudyan, I. (2019). Michal Kempny doubtful for Capitals’ season opener at Blues because of hamstring injury. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/09/28/michal-kempny-doubtful-capitals-season-opener-blues-because-hamstring-injury/.

    NHL.com. (2019). Vladimir Tarasenko. Retrieved from https://www.nhl.com/player/vladimir-tarasenko-8475765.

    TheScore. (2019). Michal Kempny. Retrieved from https://www.thescore.com/nhl/players/5579.

    TheScore. (2019). Tom Wilson. Retrieved from https://www.thescore.com/nhl/players/2592.

     

  • Stanley Cup Final Game 7 – St. Louis Blues v. Boston Bruins

    Stanley Cup Final Game 7 – St. Louis Blues v. Boston Bruins

    St. Louis Blues v. Boston Bruins

    Game 7 – Series Tied 3-3

     

    Game Recap:

    Going into Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, the Boston Bruins will look to win their first ever Final Game 7 at home while the St. Louis Blues will look to win their first ever Stanley Cup in their 52 year history. To start the game both teams would play with a very high tempo, but it would be the Blues getting the early jump, but the Bruins would generate some of the better scoring opportunities. Throughout the majority of the first period it would be the Bruins dominating on the shot counter, but late in the period it would be the Blues getting a strong shift from Ryan O’Reilly and Sammy Blais as they would force the play in the Bruins zone that would allow Jay Bouwmeester to get off the point shot that O’Reilly would deflect and go right through Tuukka Rask for the first goal of the game. Then with 7.9 seconds off of a bad line change by Brad Marchand, Alex Pietrangelo would go into the Bruins zone unattended and would receive a beautiful pass from Jaden Schwartz as he would drive the net and backhand it past Rask to give the Blues a 2-0 lead going into the first intermission.

     

    Going into the second period the Blues looked to maintain their two goal lead over the Bruins, and they would play with a layered defense to clog up the neutral zone against the Bruins which would work for the most part as Jordan Binnington was able to see all shots that came his way when the Bruins would get into the Blues zone. The Blues would keep the Bruins off the board in the second period, and will need to continue their tough play and keep the play out of their zone for the final 20 minutes of this game.

     

    In the third period it would be very much the same as the second period as the Blues would continue playing their game against the Bruins, and while the Bruins would generate some solid chances, Binnington would stand tall and shut door on them. Then a little past the 11 minute mark Vladimir Tarasenko would work hard to get to the puck deep in the Bruins zone and would take a quick look before getting the puck and would feed Brayden Schenn in the slot who would one time it to make it a commanding 3-0 lead for the Blues. Then with less than five minutes left in the game David Perron would feed Zach Sanford in front of the net to seal the deal for the Blues and give them the 4-0 lead. However, with a little over two minutes left the Bruins would pull Tuukka Rask and Matt Grzelcyk would score to cut the Blues lead to three, but it would be too little too late as the Blues hold on for the 4-1 win to become the 2019 Stanley Cup Champions.

     

    Lineups:

    St. Louis Blues:

    Jaden Schwartz — Brayden Schenn — Vladimir Tarasenko

    Zach Sanford — Ryan O’Reilly — David Perron

    Sammy Blais — Tyler Bozak — Pat Maroon

    Ivan Barbashev — Oskar Sundqvist — Alexander Steen

    Carl Gunnarsson — Alex Pietrangelo

    Jay Bouwmeester — Colton Parayko

    Vince Dunn — Joel Edmundson

    Jordan Binnington

    Jake Allen

    Scratched: Robert Thomas, Robert Bortuzzo, Robby Fabbri, Michael Del Zotto, Mackenzie MacEachern, Chris Thorburn, Ville Husso, Jordan Nolan

     

    Boston Bruins:

    Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — David Pastrnak

    Jake DeBrusk — David Krejci — Karson Kuhlman

    Marcus Johansson — Charlie Coyle — Danton Heinen

    Joakim Nordstrom — Sean Kuraly — Noel Acciari

    Zdeno Chara — Charlie McAvoy

    Torey Krug — Brandon Carlo

    Matt Grzelcyk — John Moore

    Tuukka Rask

    Jaroslav Halak

    Scratched: Steven Kampfer, David Backes, Connor Clifton

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

     

    First Period:

    Blues Penalty – 7:57 – Colton Parayko 2 minutes for Delay of Game

    Blues Goal – 16:47 – Ryan O’Reilly (8) from Jay Bouwmeester (7) and Alex Pietrangelo (16)

    Blues Goal – 19:52 – Alex Pietrangelo (3) from Jaden Schwartz (7)

     

    End of 1st – STL – 2       BOS – 0

    Shots              04                12

    Faceoffs         07                11

    Hits               14                  11

    PP                 0/0                 0/1

     

    Second Period:

    N/A

     

    End of 2nd – STL – 2        BOS – 0

    Shots               10                 23

    Faceoffs          17                 18

    Hits                 27                  21

    PP                   0/0                  0/1

     

    Third Period:

    Blues Goal – 11:25 – Brayden Schenn (5) from Vladimir Tarasenko (6) and Jaden Schwartz (8)

    Blues Goal – 15:22 – Zach Sanford (1) from David Perron (9) and Ryan O’Reilly (15)

    Bruins Goal – 17:50 – Matt Grzelcyk (4) from David Krejci (12)

     

    End of 3rd – STL – 4         BOS – 1

    Shots              20                   33

    Faceoffs        25                    26

    Hits               36                     27

    PP                 0/0                    0/1

     

    Congratulations to the St. Louis Blues for becoming the 2019 Stanley Cup Champions!

     

     

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

     

    TXHT’s Stanley Cup Finals coverage sponsored by:

    4380127

  • Stanley Cup Final Game 4 – Boston Bruins v. St. Louis Blues

    Stanley Cup Final Game 4 – Boston Bruins v. St. Louis Blues

    Boston Bruins v. St. Louis Blues

    Game 4 – BOS Leads 2-1

     

    Game Recap:

    Coming into Game 4 the St. Louis Blues are looking to erase the bad taste in their mouth from Game 3 when the Boston Bruins came into their home and dismantled them 7-2 to take the 2-1 series lead, and the Blues would deliver early when Ryan O’Reilly would pick up the rebound and wrap it around the net and past Tuukka Rask 43 seconds into the game for the quick 1-0 lead. Then later in the period the Bruins would respond as Charlie Coyle would pick up a Zdeno Chara rebound in front of the net and get it past Jordan Binnington to tie the game at one a piece. However, the game would not remain tied for long as the Blues would continue pushing and it would be Vladimir Tarasenko picking up an Alex Pietrangelo rebound in the slot and wristing it past Rask to reclaim the lead 2-1.

     

    In the second period we would have a slew of penalties with the first two creating a lot of momentum for the Blues, but no powerplay goals would be scored. However, while the Blues were on their second powerplay opportunity the Bruins would create an offensive opportunity that would see Brandon Carlo score his first of the playoffs when he would one time the rebound past Binnington who had no chance on the play. Going into the second period it would be tied 2-2.

     

    In the third period we would see both teams trade powerplay opportunities that would once again see no one take advantage of them, but it would be the Blues half way through the period as Ryan O’Reilly would score his second of the game to break to 2-2 tie and give the Blues the lead back. then with the goalie pulled Brayden Schenn would strip the puck off of the Bruins defender and send the puck into the empty net to ice the game at 4-2, and tie the series at two a piece.

     

    Lineups:

    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

    John Moore — Connor Clifton

    Tuukka Rask

    Jaroslav Halak

    Scratched: Steven Kampfer, Karson Kuhlman

    Injured: Matt Grzelcyk (upper body) Chris Wagner (concussion protocol), Kevan Miller (lower body)

     

    St. Louis Blues:

    Jaden Schwartz — Brayden Schenn — Vladimir Tarasenko

    Zach Sanford — Ryan O’Reilly — David Perron

    Pat Maroon — Tyler Bozak — Sammy Blais

    Ivan Barbashev — Oskar Sundqvist — Alexander Steen

    Joel Edmundson — Alex Pietrangelo

    Jay Bouwmeester — Colton Parayko

    Vince Dunn — Carl Gunnarsson

    Jordan Binnington

    Jake Allen

    Scratched: Robert Bortuzzo, Robby Fabbri, Michael Del Zotto, Mackenzie MacEachern, Chris Thorburn, Ville Husso

    Injured: Robert Thomas (undisclosed)

     

    First Period:

    Blues Goal – :43 – Ryan O’Reilly (4) from Zach Sanford (2) and Vince Dunn (6)

    Bruins Goal – 13:14 – Charlie Coyle (9) from Zdeno Chara (4)

    Blues Goal – 15:30 – Vladimir Tarasenko (11) from Alex Pietrangelo (12) and Brayden Schenn (7)

     

    End of 1st – BOS – 1       STL – 2

    Shots              09                13

    Faceoffs         15                13

    Hits               16                  24

    PP                 0/0                 0/0

     

    Second Period:

    Bruins Penalty – 5:47 – Charlie Coyle 2 minutes for High Sticking

    Blues Penalty – 8:31 – Colton Parayko 2 minutes for Delay of Game

    Bruins Penalty – 13:53 – Connor Clifton 2 minutes for Illegal Check to the Head

    Bruins SHG – 14:19 – Brandon Carlo (1) from Patrice Bergeron (8) and Brad Marchand (13)

     

    End of 2nd – BOS – 2        STL – 2

    Shots               18                 25

    Faceoffs          24                 25

    Hits                 29                  32

    PP                   0/1                  0/2

     

    Third Period:

    Bruins Penalty – 2:08 – Danton Heinen 2 minutes from Tripping

    Blues Penalty – 6:42 – Jay Bouwmeester 2 minutes for High Sticking

    Blues Goal – 10:38 – Ryan O’Reilly (5) from Alex Pietrangelo (13) and Carl Gunnarsson (2)

    Blues ENG – 18:31 – Brayden Schenn (4) from unassisted

    Blues Penalty – 19:34 – Jay Bouwmeester 2 minutes for Elbowing

    Bruuins Penalty – 13:34 – Torey Krug 2 minutes for Slashing

     

    End of 3rd – BOS – 2         STL – 4

    Shots              23                   38

    Faceoffs        31                    34

    Hits               41                     44

    PP                 0/2                    0/3

     

    Next Up:

    Game 5 – Series Tied 2-2

     

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

     

    TXHT’s Stanley Cup Finals coverage sponsored by:

    4380127

  • Stanley Cup Final Game 2 – St. Louis Blues v. Boston Bruins

    Stanley Cup Final Game 2 – St. Louis Blues v. Boston Bruins

    St. Louis Blues v. Boston Bruins

    Game 2 – BOS Leads 1-0

     

    Game Recap:

    Going into Game 2 the St. Louis Blues are looking to take away the home ice advantage from the Boston Bruins and they came out hot until Sammy Blais would be called for goalie interference, and the Bruins would take advantage as Charlie Coyle would score on their first shot of the game to take the 1-0 lead. Then the Blues would respond as Robert Bortuzzo with an off angle shot that would beat Tuukka Rask to tie the game at one, but 40 seconds later Joakim Nordstrom would get the puck past Jordan Bnnington on a hard push to take back the lead. However, the Blues would not stay down as Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko would get a 2 on 1 break after Brad Marchand mad a bad play to cause the odd man rush, and on the broken play in front of the net Tarasenko would bat the puck past Rask to tie the game again as we enter the first intermission tied at two.

     

    In the second period we had ourselves a penalty palooza as both teams would make multiple trips to the box, but neither team would be able to capitalize on them. The Blues would out shoot the Bruins 14-6, but the score would remain 2-2.

     

    In third period it felt like both teams were playing it safe as they passed away opportunities. Also the ice was getting chippy as the puck was bouncing quite a bit, but there were still atleast two, maybe three, good scoring chances in the period.

     

    Going into overtime, it would be the Blues who would swarm the Bruins early, and with Torey Krug and Brandon Carlo tired, it would be Carlo taking a penalty, but while the penalty was delayed, the Blues would take advantage with the extra taker with the goalie pulled as Carl Gunnarsson would bomb it from the point for his first career playoff goal as the Blues even the series at one with a 3-2 win.

     

    Lineups:

    St. Louis Blues:

    Jaden Schwartz — Brayden Schenn — Vladimir Tarasenko

    Sammy Blais — Ryan O’Reilly — David Perron

    Patrick Maroon — Tyler Bozak — Robby Fabbri

    Ivan Barbashev — Oskar Sundqvist — Alexander Steen

    Joel Edmundson — Alex Pietrangelo

    Jay Bouwmeester — Colton Parayko

    Carl Gunnarsson — Robert Bortuzzo

    Jordan Binnington

    Jake Allen

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

    Injured: Vince Dunn (upper body), Robert Thomas (undisclosed)

     

    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)

     

    First Period:

    Blues Penalty – 3:55 – Sammy Blais 2 minutes for Goalie Interference

    Bruins PPG – 4:44 – Charlie Coyle (7) from Jake DeBrusk (5) and David Pastrnak (9)

    Blues Goal – 9:37 – Robert Bortuzzo (2) from Tyler Bozak (6) and Carl Gunnarsson (1)

    Bruins Goal – 10:17 – Joakim Nordstrom (3) from Sean Kuraly (5)

    Blues Goal – 14:55 – Vladimir Tarasenko (10) from Jaden Schwartz (6)

    Blues Penalty – 17:57 – Oskar Sundqvist 2 minutes for Boarding

     

    End of 1st – STL – 2       BOS – 2

    Shots              10                08

    Faceoffs         10                07

    Hits               18                  09

    PP                 0/0                 1/2

     

    Second Period:

    Bruins Penalty – 3:34 – Connor Clifton 2 minutes for Interference

    Blues Penalty – 12:19 – Joel Edmundson 2 minutes for Tripping

    Bruins Penalty – 15:39 – Connor Clifton double minor for High Sticking

    Blues Penalty – 17:56 – Jaden Schwartz 2 minutes for Goalie Interference

     

    End of 2nd – STL – 2        BOS – 2

    Shots               24                 14

    Faceoffs          22                 17

    Hits                 33                  19

    PP                   0/2                  1/4

     

    Third Period:

    Blues Penalty – 13:22 – Brayden Schenn 2 minutes for Slashing

     

    End of 3rd – STL – 2         BOS – 2

    Shots              33                   23

    Faceoffs        28                    27

    Hits               45                     31

    PP                 0/2                    1/5

     

    OT:

    Blues Goal – 3:51 – Carl Gunnarsson (1) from Ryan O’Reilly (12) and Oskar Sundqvist (5)

     

    End of OT – STL – 3         BOS – 2

    Shots              37                   23

    Faceoffs        28                    28

    Hits               49                     31

    PP                 0/2                    1/5

     

    Next Up:

    Game 3 – Series Tied 1-1

     

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

     

    TXHT’s Stanley Cup Finals coverage sponsored by:

    4380127

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

    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.

     

    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.

     

    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.

     

    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.

     

    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)

     

    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)

     

    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)

    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)

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

    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

     

    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)

    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:

    4380127

  • WCF Game 6 Recap – San Jose Sharks v. St. Louis Blues

    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.

  • WCF Game 5 Recap – St. Louis Blues v. San Jose Sharks

    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.

     

    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.

     

    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.

     

    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)

     

    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

     

    First Period:

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

    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

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

    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)

    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)

    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.

  • WCF Game 3 Recap – San Jose Sharks v. St. Louis Blues

    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.

  • Western Conference Finals Preview – St. Louis Blues v. San Jose Sharks

    Western Conference Finals Preview – St. Louis Blues v. San Jose Sharks

    After a wild seven game series with the Dallas Stars, the Blues emerged victorious. Saturday, they continue their inexorable march to the Cup against the San Jose Sharks. Before breaking down the series, I’ll have to admit (though often considered a sacrilegious act to hockey fans), that I am a baseball fan and ardent supporter of the St. Louis Cardinals. As such, I noticed a quite interesting parallel between the World Series of 2011 against a Dallas-based team and the second round series with the Stars. Each series had game winners in this order: STL, DAL, STL, DAL, DAL, STL, STL.

    So, instead of recalling the vituperative memories of the last time the Blues and Sharks played in the playoffs, let’s focus on the last time the STL and SF baseball teams played for a premonition:

    Oh. Right.

    Anyway, back to the better sport – the Blues and Sharks finished the regular season with similar point totals, though the Sharks finished two points ahead with 101 and will start the series at home.

    The two teams met three times during the season, with the Blues going 1-1-1, including a 4-0 win and 4-0 loss in November (which, as we’ve seen before, does not really matter because that was before the team learned how to play hockey), as well as a 3-2 overtime loss, in a game without Vladimir Tarasenko.

    Like with any series, there are a number of factors that could be ‘keys to the series’, but quite honestly, there really is only one important one – Martin Jones. Jones is about as bad as Ben Bishop is good, so if the Blues cannot win this series, and score a fair amount of goals, it is completely on them. Though San Jose sports Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson on defense, neither is particularly adept at defense these days. Since Burns, Karlsson, Joe Pavelski, Tomas Hertl, and Logan Couture are quite skillful offensively, the Blues simply need to play as strong of a game defensively as they did in game 7 against Dallas, and bide their time until they get their offensive chances.

    To put how mediocre Jones is in perspective, let’s compare him to the much maligned Jake Allen, who absolutely was not good for the Blues during the season and a major reason for their stodgy start to the here. According to NaturalStatTrick, Martin Jones has a save percentage of .896, while Allen’s is .905. Allen has a GSAA of -5.91, while Jones has an astounding -22.87. GSAA is a metric that basically measures goals saved above average. While -5.91 isn’t great, it’s much better than -22. The only part where Jones beats Allen is in High Danger Save Percentage, with a paltry .806 to .796 edge.

    Of course more goes into an evaluation of a goalie than simply his raw stats, most notably team defense, but at minimum we can conclude that San Jose is not good at keeping the puck out of their own net, and Jones himself is not good when facing high danger shots. If the Blues do not score against Jones, the last thing anyone should be doing is valorizing him, because in all likelihood it will be the shooters that are taking bad shots, as opposed to Jones making great and timely saves.

    That’s basically it. Score goals. Just score goals. Play solid defense. And, above all else, don’t throw the puck in your own net:

    Blues in 6.

  • Round 2 Game 4 Recap – St. Louis Blues v. Dallas Stars

    Round 2 Game 4 Recap – St. Louis Blues v. Dallas Stars

    St. Louis Blues v. Dallas Stars

    STL Leads 2-1

     

    Game Recap:

    The St. Louis Blues come into Game 4 looking to take home ice away from the Dallas Stars again, and extend their series lead. However, it would be the Stars who would start the game aggressively and get the first five shots on goal, but it would be a Jason Dickinson high sticking penalty that would give the Blues the powerplay and 18 seconds into the powerplay Vladimir Tarasenko would score his fifth of the playoffs to give the Blues an early 1-0 lead. Dickinson would make it up to his team though as he would get the puck past Jordan Binnington to tie the game at one a piece. Then in the final 3 minutes of the first period, Tyler Bozak would take an ill advised offensive zone penalty which would lead to Jason Spezza blasting a slapshot past a screened Binnington to give the Stars a 2-1 lead going into the first intermission.

     

    In the second period the Stars would continue their dominate play from the first period as John Klingberg would score to make it 3-1 for Dallas off of a very beautiful wrister that would get past Binnington who has looked spectacular while under seige during this game so far. Then later in the period the Stars would continue their dominating play as Roope Hintz would score his fifth of the playoffs as the Stars head into the second intermission leading 4-1.

     

    Going into the third period the St. Louis Blues played with a lot more urgency and would outshoot the Dallas Stars 12-5 in the period, but Ben Bishop would stand tall stopping all but one shot to guide the Stars to a 4-2 victory and even the series at two a piece.

     

    Lineups:

    St. Louis Blues:

    Jaden Schwartz — Ryan O’Reilly — Vladimir Tarasenko

    Brayden Schenn — Oskar Sundqvist — David Perron

    Pat Maroon — Tyler Bozak — Robert Thomas

    Robby Fabbri — Ivan Barbashev — Alexander Steen

    Carl Gunnarsson — Alex Pietrangelo

    Jay Bouwmeester — Colton Parayko

    Vince Dunn — Robert Bortuzzo

    Jordan Binnington

    Jake Allen

    Scratched: Joel Edmundson, Michael Del Zotto, Sammy Blais, Zach Sanford, Mackenzie MacEachern, Chris Thorburn, Jared Coreau

     

    Dallas Stars:

    Jason Dickinson — Tyler Seguin — Mats Zuccarello

    Jamie Benn — Roope Hintz — Alexander Radulov

    Andrew Cogliano — Radek Faksa — Blake Comeau

    Mattias Janmark — Justin Dowling — Jason Spezza

    Esa Lindell — John Klingberg

    Miro Heiskanen — Roman Polak

    Joel Hanley — Ben Lovejoy

    Ben Bishop

    Anton Khudobin

    Scratched: Tyler Pitlick, Valeri Nichushkin, Brett Ritchie, Taylor Fedun, Gavin Bayreuther, Landon Bow

    Injured: Stephen Johns (upper body), Marc Methot (lower body), Martin Hanzal (back), Jamie Oleksiak (lower body)

     

    First Period:

    Stars Penalty – 4:44 – Jason Dickinson 2 minutes for High Sticking

    Blues PPG – 5:02 – Vladimir Tarasenko (5) from Vince Dunn (4) and Ryan O’Reilly (5)

    Stars Goal – 11:23 – Jason Dickinson (3) from Tyler Seguin (5) and Mats Zuccarello (5)

    Blues Penalty – 17:15 – Tyler Bozak 2 minutes for Interference

    Stars PPG – 19:08 – Jason Spezza (2) from Alexander Radulov (3) and Esa Lindell (3)

     

    End of 1st – STL – 1       DAL – 2

    Shots              08                12

    Faceoffs         09                13

    Hits               10                  11

    PP                 1/1                 1/1

     

    Second Period:

    Stars Goal – 9:26 – John Klingberg (2) from Tyler Seguin (6) and Mats Zuccarello (6)

    Stars Penalty – 10:33 – Radek Faksa 2 minutes for Holding

    Stars Goal – 17:28 – Roope Hintz (5) from Jamie Benn (7) and Alexander Radulov (4)

    Blues Penalty – 20:00 – Jordan Binnington (Jay Bouwmeester) 2 minutes for Roughing

    Blues Penalty – 20:00 – Jordan Binnington (Tyler Bozak) 2 minutes for Slashing

    Stars Penalty – 20:00 – Jamie Benn 2 minutes for Unsportsmanlike Conduct

     

    End of 2nd – STL – 1        DAL – 4

    Shots               17                 26

    Faceoffs          17                 26

    Hits                 22                  24

    PP                   1/2                 1/1

     

    Third Period:

    Stars Penalty – 2:47 – Tyler Pitlick 2 minutes for High Sticking

    Blues Goal – 13:44 – Robert Thomas (1) from Alex Pietrangelo (8) and Ryan O’Reilly (6)

     

    End of 3rd – STL – 2         DAL – 4

    Shots              29                   31

    Faceoffs        24                    35

    Hits               28                     30

    PP                 1/3                    1/2

     

    Next Up:

    Game 5 – Series Tied 2-2

     

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