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The Blues will be hosting the Minnesota Wild for game 3 of their first round series at 2pm, looking to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the series. Whether you’re a Wild fan who feels the Blues got very lucky in game 1 or a Blues fan who feels the Blues won in spite of the officiating in game 2, really nothing matters other than the fact that the Blues are up 2-0. Blues fans also likely remember that going up 2-0 doesn’t ensure a series win. See 2012-13 and 2013-14 though both of those series started with two home wins.
The Blues received another goal from Joel Edmundson in game 2, blasting a shot home from the point. Going into the Flames/Ducks game last night, Edmundson was tied for the NHL lead in playoff goals. Not quite 15 minutes after Edmundson put the Blues up 1-0, Parise scored on a 5-3 power play to tie the game. Let’s not get into a debate on the calls that provided the 5-3. As I said that night, you sometimes have to win in spite of officiating if not at least regardless of officiating. Good teams find ways to win games. The Blues did just that with Jaden Schwartz scoring the game winning goal with around two and a half minutes left in the third period.
Schwartz receives the puck from Alex Pietrangelo just outside the Wild’s blue line on the left wing. David Perron drives down the middle of the ice to the net, drawing Jonas Brodin and Ryan Suter to him in the middle. This gives Schwartz more time and provides more traffic that Devan Dubnyk has to fight through to see the shot. With the traffic, Schwartz is able to wrist the shot past Dubnyk for the game winning goal.
The Blues have done well to be up 2-0 when you consider the following:
- They are being outshot by 14 shots a game on average.
- They aren’t even winning 40% of the face-offs.
- They have yet to score a power play goal.
- They are tied for 10th in penalty killing out of 16.
- Only one of their top 16 regular season goal scorers has scored in the two games.
It will be interesting to see if having last change will free up Vladimir Tarasenko and others to a lesser extent to get back on their regular season goal scoring pace. If it does, the Wild will be in big trouble of letting this series get away from them quickly.
It sounds like Sanford will likely remain in the lineup barring Stastny somehow being able to play. I expect the Blues to use the same lineup which should look like this:
Schwartz – Barbashev – Tarasenko
Paajarvi – Berglund - Perron
Sobotka – Steen - Sanford
Upshall – Brodziak – Reaves
Bouwmeester – Pietrangelo
Edmundson - Parayko
Gunnarsson - Bortuzzo
Allen
Overall NHL playoff news:
- Even with Jake Allen’s 50+ save game and 97.4% save percentage, he doesn’t lead goalies in either category. Henrik Lundqvist has made more saves and Pekka Rinne has a 100% save percentage.
- The road Central Division teams are 4-0.
- Pekka Rinne has more points (2 assists) than the entire Blackhawks roster combined.
- Not including the Flames/Ducks game 2, Corey Crawford is the only goalie under 90% in save percentage with 87.8%, well below the playoff average of 93.8%.
- Not including the Flames/Ducks game 2, the top 5 players in shots have zero goals.
- The average scoring per game has increased by a goal since day 1, to 4.2 not including the Flames/Ducks game 2.
- Roman Polak sustained a bad lower body injury and will miss the rest of the playoffs. I wonder how much of next season he will miss as well.
It’s a great day for hockey.
Fellow Hockeybuzz bloggers
Nashville Predator's Paul McCann,
Winnipeg Jet's Peter Tessier and
Minnesota Wild's Dan Wallace have generously agreed to a friendly charity wager. Since the Hawks won the division and JJ didn’t participate, Dan Wallace got to choose the charity. Dan graciously agreed to also donate since the Wild didn’t actually win the division. Dan picked United Heroes League (https://unitedheroesleague.org/) who helps keep military kids active and healthy while their parents serve their country, helping more than 40,000 military families keep or start their kids in sports through game tickets, sports equipment, camps and grants. Dan and I have made a charity on this series as well.
St Louis Blues Blogger • 
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