Wanna blog? Start your own hockey blog with My HockeyBuzz. Register for free today!
 

Blues vs. Stars Game 3 Recap

May 4, 2016, 3:54 PM ET [74 Comments]
Jason Millen
St Louis Blues Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT


The Blues enjoyed the friendly confines of Scottrade last night, dominating the Stars en route to a 6-1 victory and a two to one lead in the series. A video recap of the game can be seen here.

The Stars opened the scoring about five minutes into the first period when Patrick Berglund and David Backes were unable to clear the zone on a strong play by Johnny Oduya. Jason Spezza then moved the puck over to Colton Sceviour between the circles creating a two on one with Radek Faksa against Joel Edmundson. Edumundson blocked Sceviour’s original shot but it dribbled to the right side of the net where Sceviour gathered in the rebound and put it past a prone Brian Elliott who was scrambling after being crossed up by the blocked shot.

Less than a minute later, the Blues evened the score. In what would become the theme for the night, the strong forecheck of Alexander Steen and Troy Brouwer turned into a turnover that led to a goal by Steen from the right circle with Niemi down and lunging forward on the shot (not a good combination for a goalie). With less than four minutes left in the first period, the Blues got their first power play goal of the game on David Backes deflection of Kevin Shattenkirk’s shot from the right point. The Stars almost tied it up when Jason Demers put his rebound off the cross bar with just over a minute left in the period. Lost in the goal/no goal review was the outstanding first save Elliott made on Demers initial shot.

Less than three minutes into the second period, Brouwer took an outlet pass at the defensive blueline in what looked to be a harmless two on two breakout. At the offensive blueline, Brouwer blew past Kris Russell with a rather ordinary move, creating a partial breakaway. Niemi played the partial breakaway poorly, pushing himself too far to the left when trying to square up with Brouwer who beat him back over the blocker as a result. With the goal, Lindy Ruff sent Kari Lehtonen in to replace Niemi.

Vladimir Tarasenko scored on only the second shot Lehtonen faced, banking a pass off Alex Goligoski’s skate and into the net. Tarasenko was the benefactor of a beautiful play by Robby Fabbri at the blueline on a great forecheck and strong pass to Berglund who feathered it over to Tarasenko.

Just like the first period, the Blues ended the period with a late power play goal from Steen on a stoppable shot from the top of the right circle. David Backes added a late third period goal to finish off the touchdown, no extra point and the 6-1 victory.

In my opinion, the Blues forecheck in this game frustrated and dominated the Stars defensive corps, helping the Blues outshoot the stars 3 - 2, out hit them 34 - 27 and to draw more power plays 7 - 4.

Let’s look at how the Blues performed relative to Jammer’s Blues Keys.

Timely goaltending
I’d say a 96% save percentage checks this box.

Contain the Stars Big 4
Sharp, Spezza and Benn only had 1 assist and 7 shots with Benn taking 4 pims. Mission accomplished.

Special Teams
The Blues had a decided advantage on special teams scoring two power play goals for the second game in a row, this time on seven chances. They also again killed all four of the Stars power play chances.

Rookies
Once again, the Blues rookies played a strong game. Colton Parayko logged over 21 minutes of ice time and Robby Fabbri added an assist in just under 14 minutes of play.

It’s not surprising the Blues won handily given that they achieved four of the keys, some handily.

Stats of the game
- See the dangerous Stephen Johns hit and ensuing Reaves fight and kiss here
- Jamie Benn delivered yet another cheap crosscheck to Pietrangelo.
- Blues had four players with multiple points
- Blues had two players with two goals each.
- Kevin Shattenkirk and Joel Edmundson were the only minus Blues players.
- Shattenkirk had 6:41 more PP ice time but only 1:46 more total time than Carl Gunnarsson.
- Tarasenko was 4th among Blues forwards in total ice time.
- Cody Eakin led all forwards in ice time.
- Alex Pietrangelo again led all defensemen in ice time.

Playoff notes
- Backes leads the NHL with 3 GWG
- The Stars have 2 of the top 7 in points (next is tied for 25th).
- The Blues have 4 tied for the top 13 or better in points.
- The Blues have 2 tied for the top 4 or better in points for defensemen.
- The Stars have 1 of the top 14 defensemen in points.
- Blues save % is up 0.6% while the Stars is down 1.5%.
- Blues GAA is up 0.20 but the Stars is up 0.33.
- Blues scoring is up 0.33 goals per game to 3 per game.

NHL Champions for Charity
In what I hope becomes a hockeybuzz tradition, Bill Meltzer and I placed a wager on the series. If the Blues win, Bill has agreed to make a donation to Safe Connections (@SafeConnections on twitter) whose mission is to reduce the impact and incident of relationship violence and sexual assault through education, crisis intervention, and counseling services. If the Stars win, I will donate to Snider Hockey ( @SniderHockey on twitter) whose mission is to build lives and unite communities, helping educate young people to succeed in the game of life.

I'm going to work on starting NHL Champion for Charity which I hope will get players and fans to pledge donations for each win their team makes in the NHL playoffs. For the players, it would be great if they would agree to donate a small percentage of their playoff bonuses to charity while fans could donate an amount per win, perhaps both upping it if their team won the Stanley Cup. As a simple example, a player could pledge 0.25% per win with a bonus 1% if they win the Cup, bringing their total to 5%. I likely won't get any traction on this until next year if ever but at least wanted to put the idea out there now.

It’s a great day for hockey.
Join the Discussion: » 74 Comments » Post New Comment
More from Jason Millen
» There is no quit in these Blues
» Helter Skelter Game 3
» Blues play a stronger game two and keys to game three
» Blues play weak in Game One
» Often less is more at the trade deadline