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Game 1 Recap
In a way, all you really need to know about Game 1 is that the Blues dominated 5 on 5, they were undisciplined giving up 2 power play goals, the referees decided that for the most part only stick fouls were penalties (none of the Predators plethora of holding, interference or the mauling of Jori Lehtera by PK Subban without the puck were worthy of a call – see I can do it too, lol), the Blues struggled again in the 2nd period, this Blues team doesn’t go away and knows how to put itself in a position to have a chance to win, and Jake Allen made a big gaffe lunging for a puck, giving the Predators the game winning goal with about five minutes left.
Don’t believe me?
- The Predators were 2/3 on the power play but were outshot by 50% at even strength.
- Look at the Blues penalties that led to power plays - David Perron colliding skates with Pekka Rinne at the edge of the crease; Colton Parayko trips Filip Forsberg by chopping his legs and Kyle Brodziak slashes and breaks Subban’s stick.
- Of course, if the referees would have called the Austin Watson elbow shortly before Parayko’s penalty or the moving pick (even with contact) that Subban set on Parayko just before his penalty, there never would have been the Parayko penalty.
- Because of the two power plays, the Blues were outshot 15-8 in the second period though they did outshoot the Predators in the period at even strength 8-6.
- The Blues battled back from 2-0 and 3-1 and had the game tied with just over 5 minutes left until Allen made a poor choice and was indecisive before lunging for a puck that he couldn’t reach. Watch it
here.
Let’s review the goals for a moment. Collin Wilson opened the scoring with a power play deflection midway through the first period as he redirected a Subban shot from the left point. Allen had little chance on the play.
A little after Kevin Fiala was stretchered off, more on that later, Subban extended the lead to 2-0 with a blast from right point. The play was created when Alex Pietrangelo fell along the side wall. He seemed to simply lose an edge. Unfortunately, Jay Bouwmeester compounded the problems by cutting in front of Allen, screening him as the shot was coming through. If Bouwmeester picks a side of the shooting lane, Allen has no trouble making the save but the screen creates the goal.
Less than six minutes later, Colton Parayko is extremely patient and moves laterally, waiting for Rinne to open his legs, which he is prone to do, and slides the puck through the five hole for the goal. Great patience and read from a very young defenseman. Watch it
here.
Within four minutes, the Predators pushed it to 3-1 when the rebound of a Subban left point shot bounced off Forsberg and in.
One third of the way into the 3rd period, Jaden Schwartz pulled the Blues to within one goal. This time Paul Stastny threaded a beautiful pass to Schwartz at the right post, he moved left opening up Rinne’s gaping five home and sliding it through for the goal. Rinne played the situation poorly and Schwartz made him pay.
Just under halfway through the third period, Vladimir Sobotka tied the game. In what seemed like a fairly harmless play, Sobotka entered the zone along the right wall. The Predators gave him too much space allowing him to end up shooting from the faceoff circle where he ripped a shot off the post and in.
Of course, the comeback didn’t become complete due to Vernon Fiddler’s goal with around five minutes left.
The Blues showed their resolve and showed they know how to hang around and put themselves in a situation to win. They did this regardless of the officiating which is a sign of a good team. I have said for years now that a team needs to win regardless, if not in spite of, officiating.
Kevin Fiala injury
First let me say that I am glad that Fiala’s surgery went well. None of us want to see a player get hurt and the ovations that he received in St. Louis hopefully show that our fan base feels that way.
Many have implied that the hit by Robert Bortuzzo was dirty. If you look at the video
here, stop the video at 34 seconds in. Bortuzzo starts delivering the hit while the puck is still on Fiala’s stick. At that point he is committed to and is in the process of making the hit. Fiala is trying to make a play and gets extremely on angle. Think about it like this. Standing straight on skates, you are at a 90 degree angle to the ice. Right at the time Bortuzzo is applying the check, Fiala is more than 135 degrees which gives him no real traction so his legs slide out from underneath him and into the wall. Worse yet, it seemed like his right leg didn’t have as extreme of an angle so it kept grip longer after the left leg slid out. The bigger angle that he created trying to make a play and his relative spacing to the boards while he was being checked all created the unfortunate result. It’s a bad result due to a confluence of circumstances but I can’t see how that hit can be considered dirty when he checked him legally while Fiala still had the puck.
Game 2 Recap
The quick game summary for Game 2 was that the only Predators’ goals were off terrible Blues defensive zone turnovers, Tarasenko scored two goals, the Blues again rallied in the game, tying the game twice, this time when the Blues tied the game in the third period, they kept going and won the game.
The Predators opened the scoring when Alex Pietrangelo made a terrible decision with the puck, turning it over to Ryan Ellis at the right point. His shot went off James Neal and into the net. How in the world is still giving an assist to Colton Sisson is beyond me as possession clearly changed after the goal with Pietrangelo playing the puck.
It was the second game in a row that the Blues entirely carried play through at least the first third of the first period but yielded the first goal anyway.
With just under two minutes left in the period, Vernon Fiddler kneed Colton Parayko behind the Blues net, earning a five minute major and a game misconduct. A lot of Nashville fans and coach Peter Laviolette were very upset with the call. When the officials chose to stop play while Vladimir Sobotka had at least a partial if not full breakaway, you knew the call was going to be a major. Frankly, I was surprised they stopped the play before he was able to attempt the scoring chance and frankly blowing the whistle there was the wrong call. How much more would the game have changed if Sobotka scores there and the Blues still get the five minute power play?
I know that Parayko said he didn’t think there was intent and while I agree to a degree, Fiddler makes a very dangerous play by extending his leg forward into the hit which is the primary cause for the dangerous knee contact. The angle that illustrates this can be found
here around the 47 second mark.
Around a minute into the power play, Vladimir Tarasenko evens the score with a laser from the left faceoff dot as Calle Jarnkrok gets lost and stays in the middle of the ice, giving Tarasenko a ton of time and room.
Early in the third period, Sobotka makes a terrible giveaway to Ryan Ellis at the center-right point, and Ellis blasts the puck by Allen.
Less than five minutes later, Lehtera evens the score on a scrum in front of the net. Parayko again creates the play by moving in to change the angle of his shot to the net.
The Blues then complete the comeback with just under 4 minutes left as Jaden Schwartz brings the puck in along the left wall and all four Predators make a terrible defensive play with all of them continuing to back in deep into their zone, all ending up below the lowest hash mark. Both Joel Edmundson and Tarasenko read this and stay out in the high slot. Schwartz fees the puck to the middle and it either deflects off Edmundson or he purposefully kicks it to Tarasenko who one-times it past Rinne for the game winning goal.
Series so far
In Game 1, the Blues held almost a 2/3 to 1/3 corsi edge 5 v 5 but just 56/44 in all situations. In Game 2, the Predators had a 61/42 advantage 5 v 5 and a 58/42 overall. In both games, the better “statistics” team lost, a trend that I have noticed is continuing from last year. Of course, the statistics in Game 2 are very distorted because the Blues went into a shell after taking the lead, being outshot 8 to 1 in the last two minutes of the game. Without the prevent defense stretch, the Blues were outshooting the Predators by more than 20%.
The Blues have given up one more high danger shot against but ten more mid danger shots while generating five more low danger shots. When you look only at 5 v 5 chances, The high danger shots are even and the Predators only have one more mid danger shot while the Blues have generated 50% more low danger shots.
The series is what I expected, a very close, hard fought series so far. I still think it goes six or seven games.
It’s a great day for hockey.
Fellow Hockeybuzz blogger
Minnesota Wild's Dan Wallace agreed to a 1st round, friendly charity wager. Since the Blues won, Dan will be making a donation to Dream Factory St. Louis (http://dreamfactoryincstl.org/). Dream Factory grants dreams to critically and chronically ill children from the ages of three to eighteen. They have one of the highest program expenditure ratios I have ever seen, an amazing 97% is used for actual program services. Usually, more than 3% is used for administrative and fundraising efforts but not at Dream Factory.
Fellow Hockeybuzz blogger
Nashville Predator's Paul McCann has agreed to continue to pay it forward with me with a bet on this series with the Predators. Paul has chosen Best Buddies of Tennessee (https://bestbuddies.org/find-programs/tennessee/) as his charity. Best Buddies works to establish a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and development capabilities.
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