ST. LOUIS (AP) St. Louis goaltender Brian Elliott put in a telling performance as the Blues beat San Jose 2-1 on Sunday in the opening game of their NHL Western Conference finals series.
”When your goalie is your best player, it gives you a great chance of winning, and that was the case,” captain David Backes said.
”It was that way for the first two rounds and nothing’s changed in Game 1 of the third round.”
Backes opened the scoring and Jori Lehtera had the go-ahead goal in the second period on a spinning shot that Martin Jones could not handle.
”I just got the puck and closed my eyes and shot it, that’s about it,” Lehtera said. ”Just keep it simple.”
Said Jones: ”Not much to it, just found a hole. I’ll make that save next time.”
Tomas Hertl scored on a first-period deflection for the Sharks, who outshot St. Louis 32-23 but were continually thwarted by Elliott.
Among those he frustrated was San Jose captain Joe Pavelski, who had seven shots and had perhaps the best chance in the third period on a one-timer near the midway mark.
”I’m going to blame that one on the stick,” Pavelski said. ”No, I have to find a way to put that in regardless of what goes on. I thought it was going in.”
Blues coach Ken Hitchcock thought his team was fortunate to survive the last 2:29 after the Sharks pulled their goalie.
”We did a great job. We kept it in the zone,” Hitchcock said sarcastically. ”Are you kidding me? We couldn’t get it out.”
The Sharks were the best road team in the NHL in the regular season at 28-10-3, but have dropped four in a row on the road in these playoffs, including all three in the second round against Nashville.
Backes opened the scoring with a deflection and is tied with sharpshooter Vladimir Tarasenko for the team lead with seven goals in the playoffs. He had 21 goals in the regular season.
Defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk started the play from the point and thought this goal was particularly impressive because it had been deflected before it got to Backes.
”One thing I never have to worry about is him being in front of the net when I shoot it,” Shattenkirk said. ”There’s where he’s so valuable.”
Lehtera’s second goal of the playoffs came off an errant clearing attempt by Brent Burns for a 2-1 lead. He powered through on his shot after Chris Tierney got a piece of the stick.
Just 34 seconds elapsed between the opening goal by Backes and Hertl’s answering goal redirected a shot by Pavelski with the puck bouncing past Elliott.
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