Follow me on twitter Follow @stlgoalie I’m guessing that nobody though much of it at the time but Dmitrij Jaskin got the first shot of Game 5 in St. Louis, giving us perhaps a hint of things to come from him. Jaskin’s first shot may not have been the only first period event that foreshadowed the rest of the game. The first period was low scoring (no goals scored) and ended with an ineffective Blues power play, generating only one perimeter shot on a 5 on 3 power play. The only quality chances the Blues had were two shot attempts by Vladimir Tarasenko that were blocked by Mike Fisher. Jaskin finished the period with 3 shots on goal, the most of any player.
As a 1st period side note, It still amazes me that Mattias Ekholm continued to argue his double minor penalty for high sticking. The Predators may want to make sure he understands that taking a baseball swing at a puck in mid-air, even if you barely tip the puck, isn’t a follow through on a shot or a pass and doesn’t give you free reign to have no control of your stick and hit another player in the face.
The 2nd period opened up with Jaskin getting a holding penalty. The Blues successfully killed the penalty. A few minutes later, Patrik Berglund wins an offensive zone faceoff and the puck makes it way back to Alex Pietrangelo who lets a quick blast go. Jaskin has gotten behind the Predators’ defensemen of the faceoff to the net. He stretches as far as he can to corral the rebound and slide it inside the post just away from Pekka Rinne’s sliding right leg for the first goal of the game. The goal fulfills Alexander Steen’s pregame prediction of Jaskin scoring. Steen spoke with Jaskin after being told he was going to play for Steen and shared the prediction. A wise, confidence building move by Steen before the game. This goal illustrates one of the two effective ways to score on Rinne. The best way is to get him moving laterally as he opens up more holes than most goalies when moving laterally. The second is to shoot low and put traffic in front of the net which was accomplished on this play.
The Blues fail miserably on a power play midway through the 2nd period, looking completely lost without Steen on the ice. It may have been the most futile power play attempt I have ever seen with the team almost struggling to gain center ice much less the offensive blue line. They may have had as many backwards passes as they completed forward passes. Of course, at the end of that power play, they give up an add man short handed chance that results in Pietrangelo and Patrik Berglund both getting penalties. At the time, I assumed only Berglund was going off as the play Pietrangelo made of going down to block a shot doesn’t seem to be called a penalty even half of the time much less when there is already going to be another penalty and it’s a playoff game but more on penalties in this series later. As I always say, good teams wins regardless of officiating (good, bad, incompetent or indifferent though the NHL is pushing the possibility of this with goalie interference calls). Of course, the Predators’ James Neal scores on the 5 on 3 as a result of very strong puck movement, tying the game. Maybe I have it wrong and the most terrible power play was at the end of the 2nd period, it’s hard to remember when both 2nd period power plays were so poor.
As bad as the earlier power plays had been in this game for the Blues, the continued power play helps lead to the game winning goal, early in the 2nd period. With the Predators just back at full strength 15 seconds earlier, Nashville has three defensemen on the ice which may account for not having a winger along the wall. When Roman Josi rims the puck around the wall from behind his net, it goes straight to Colton Parayko who puts a low shot toward the net that is deflected by Jaden Schwartz. The rebound bounces off Rinne’s pads and right the Jaden Schwartz who buries the rebound. Again, a low shot with traffic in front of the net and with a Blues player behind the Predators’ defense results on a goal against Rinne. This goal looked like a number of goals the Predators have scored in this series. The defending player makes a bad giveaway to the point and it ends up in his own net.
In what seemed like a terrible flashback as a fan, Joel Edmundson whiffs on a puck in his own end with a little over 6 minutes left in the game, making a terrible giveaway. This time it isn’t behind the net and doesn’t create over a minute of offensive zone time that leads to a goal but rather springs Filip Forsberg for a partial breakaway and Jake Allen makes a good save. This will be the last shot of the game for the Predators.
With just under five minutes left, Ryan Reaves lets a one-timer go from a Scottie Upshall pass and Rinne makes a spectacular save to keep the Predators in the game. The collective groan from the crowd on the failure of the 5-3 gives way to cheers as the line changes. They executed well but Rinne executed better on the play.
In what is a better recipe for success, the Blues controlled 3rd period of the game rather than the first half of the first period. It’s a lot easier to lose a game in the last period than win a game in the first period, just ask the Rangers and the Oilers.
Game 5 Stats of note: - Blues outshoot the Predators 32-22; and 13-8 in the 3rd. - Jaskin led all players with 8 shots; 2x the next highest. - Speaking of Jaskin, he had 15:46 of ice time. - Speaking of ice time, Carl Gunnarrson only played 9:38. - Even worse yet, Ryan Reaves only played 8:44. - Yet worse still, Zolniercyzk played 8:15, Salomaki 5:16 and McLeod 4:25. - That ice time tells me that Laviolette really didn’t want to come back to Nashville for game 6.
Playoff notes: - The home teams started Round 2 4-7 but are 8-1 in their last nine and haven’t lost in the last 3 days. - The team giving up the most high danger shots against in Round 2 is leading each series. - The team with the goalie with the highest high danger save percentage in Round 2 is leading each series. - In the Blues/Preds series, the team who gets the most power plays in a game has won each time. - Until Game 5, the team with the PP advantage was a multiple of the other (at least 2x as many). - The Blues are 6-2 in one goal games (ENG adjusted) and 0-2 in two goal games. - If the Blues are going to move on, Allen has to be better against high danger shots. He has the worst high danger save percentage this round and it isn’t even close (74% vs next lowest of over 78%). Steen made the trip with the Blues to Nashville. Coach Mike Yeo will have some tough lineup decisions to make for today’s game. Also, a reminder that the game is a 2pm CST start.
In other Hockey news - France beat Finland (similar to Germany beating the US) at home in the World Championships. See the great event after the game here
Great moment as Pierre-à‰douard Bellemare rejects the player of game award and gives it to goalie Florian Hardy (41 saves). #IIHFWorlds pic.twitter.com/ZgTnilY1Yl
— Alex Nunn (@aj_ranger) May 7, 2017
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.