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Round 1: Blues (C1) vs. Wild (W1)

CarltonTheBear

CarltonTheBear

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G1 Thurs., April 16 Minnesota @ St. Louis, 9:30 p.m. ET SN 360
G2 Sat., April 18 Minnesota @ St. Louis, 3 p.m. ET Sportsnet
G3 Mon., April 20 St. Louis @ Minnesota, 8 p.m. ET SN ONE
G4 Wed., April 22 St. Louis @ Minnesota, 9:30 p.m. ET SN 360
G5* Fri., April 24 Minnesota @ St. Louis, TBD TBD
G6* Sun., April 26 St. Louis @ Minnesota, TBD TBD
G7* Wed., April 29 Minnesota @ St. Louis, TBD TBD
 
St. Louis' defence corp:

Gunnarsson-Pietrangelo
Bouwmeester-Michalek
Jackman-Shattenkirk

To be able to spread out those 3 big guys and play them with defencemen that don't suck is pretty crazy. I think this series could decide who goes all the way for the West.
 
Potvin29 said:
I find it so hard to bank on the Blues in the playoffs.
Click to expand...

Do it for Olli.  His 3 points in 8 games is encouraging that he might "have an impact" on a deep St. Louis run and give us a better draft pick.
 
Potvin29 said:
I find it so hard to bank on the Blues in the playoffs.
Click to expand...

I hear ya, this is the best roster that they've had though I think. Tarasenko has become the big offensive threat that they've needed for years. They've added Stastny and Lehtera down the middle which is huge. Goaltending's of course going to be a pretty big question mark though.
 
The Blues are another one of those teams that look good, but until they start winning in the playoffs, they are still going to have detractors. I am one of them. I will be cheering for them, but this could be the closest of the first round series.
 
I haven't seen enough of either team to be able to make any sort of case for either here.....Like the Blues better but that doesn't mean anything.
 
I don't know, Dubnyk vs Jake Allen? I can see Minnesota stealing this series, provided Dubnyk doesn't turn back into, well, Dubnyk.
 
St. Louis always ends up disappointing in the playoffs but I think this might just be their year.  I'm calling Tarasenko for the Conn Smythe.

In other words, I just guaranteed Minnesota a 4-game sweep.
 
The St.Louis Blues are another one of those NHL teams that have deep lines, plenty of depth, excellent defensive/offensive d-men, a balanced team in just about every facet.  Where else can a team like this go wrong?  The fact that the Blues haven't had much success in the past post-season since being one of the league's premier teams leads one to ask, how so?  Is there a kink in St.Louis' armour?  In a way, yes....

....namely in their goaltending, in Jake Allen & Brian Elliott.  While these guys have come up big for the Blues in the regular season, the playoffs have told a different story, particularly with Elliott, St.Louis' go-to-guy.  Inconsistency in the goaltending department is it, for want of a better description.

Minnesota has been just Wild about offence, what with a young corps led by the talented Zach Parise who is joined by a core group led by Jason Pominville, Thomas Vanek, Granlund, Koivu, & co., add to this mix a slew of grinders such as Nino Neidereitter and Chris Stewart, plus, a very good agile defence, led by Gary Suter, that plays the puck very well in front of their netminders.

Give the team's goaltenders a good dosage of credit for Minnesota's ascension this season, in part, Devan Dubnyk who has become such an integral part of the Wild's success.  A change in his previous style of netminding helped Dubnyk improve his game, hence, his status in becoming Minnesota's #1 in net.

This is going to be an interesting series between two fast-skating, defensively-minded, goalkeeping vs goalkeeping teams..  Let's watch!


(Reference) Source:  THN
 
St. Louis 4  Minnesota 1  Series tied at 1 game apiece.

Leave it to the Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko to come up with a few tricks of his own, as his hat-trick (3 goals) on the night helped St. Louis defeat the Wild.
St.Louis winger Alexander Steen chimed in with 2 assists, while Blues 'keeper Jake Allen earned his first-ever playoff victory.

As for the Wild, this wasn't their night.  Some poor decision-making on the part of Minnesota's goaltender Devan Dubnyk plus the fact that the Wild simply couldn't capitalize on most of the scoring chances they had.

Game 3 is Monday in Minnesota at 8PM ET.
 
Tarasenko can't drag the Blues to anything.  He has 6 goals in the series and they are still down 3-2 in the series.  Noone else is scoring.
 
Minnesota 4  St.Louis 1  Minnesota leads series 3 games to 2.

After the Tarasenko trick show the previous Game 4, the St.Louis Blues seemed to have had nothing left in their scoring tank.
Hence the Wild who came back to score four unanswered goals (after the Blues had taken a 1-0 lead in the first period).

Not just Minnesota's scoring which was the difference but on this night, one could say that the Wild's 'keeper Devan Dubnyk outshone the Blues' Jake Allen, in robbing St.Louis of key scoring chances.

The confident Wild will attempt to eliminate the Blues come Sunday for Game 6 in Minnesota.

More here:
http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/wild-score-four-unanswered-reclaim-series-lead/
 
Yet another playoff disappointment for St. Louis. Not too surprised, really. They seem to do this every year.
 
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