Barret Jackman picked the perfect time for his first career playoff goal, as the Blues take Game 2
When Barret Jackman is sniping game winners past last year’s Conn Smythe Trophy winning goaltender, you know things are trending in your direction.
The St. Louis Blues were expecting a more spirited effort from the defending Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings, and they definitely got it in Game 2. The Kings dominated the play for two periods, but much like the Blues in Game 1 were only able to manage a 1-0 advantage thanks to some spectacular goaltending from Brian Elliott. The Kings were helped by some whistle happy officials in the first period, as Dustin Brown tipped in a shot on a 5 on 3 at 9:55 of the first to put the Kings on the board first. Both penalties, the Blues third and fourth of the period, were certainly questionable. The whistles seemed to put the Blues on their heels however, and the Kings would outshoot the Blues 12-7 in the first period.
In the second period the game would remain 1-0 throughout, and again the Blues couldn’t muster much offense against the Kings aggressive forecheck being outshot 11-8. The Blues had a few good opportunities, but nothing substantial, and Jonathan Quick was up to the task keeping the Blues off the board. As the Blues head to the locker room it was gut check time. The team would need to come out and respond, and show that they refused to let the Kings dictate the play. Winning once over this team could be construed as an accident. Twice is a trend. Letting the Kings get the split heading back to Staples Center would certainly not be ideal.
In years past, the Blues might have folded up shop and been content heading to LA with a 1-1 split. Not this year. Not these Blues. It took only 3:44 into the third period for the Blues to get the equalizer. Alex Pietrangelo jumped in on the play, and threw the puck into the blue paint, where it deflected off Patrik Berglund and past Quick to knot the game at 1, and wake up the 18,681 fans at Scottrade Center sending them into a frenzy.
The Blues would suffer a scare midway through the third, as Elliott went down when Dustin Brown went crashing into him. He laid on the ice for quite awhile, but got up and seemed to skate it off before staying in the game. Which is a good thing, because for whatever reason Jaroslav Halak looked like he wanted no part of taking the ballcap off and heading into the game. Elliott would stay in, and looked fine making key saves down the stretch, but he didn’t come out for the three stars and wasn’t available to the media so that’s something to keep an eye on.
So with time ticking down, again under a minute, this one looked like we were heading for another overtime period. Not so fast my friends. The Blues would complete the comeback, from an unlikely source.
The Blues came in on the rush led by Chris Stewart who left the puck for the trailing defenseman Barret Jackman who picked the best possible time to pick up his first career Stanley Cup Playoff goal as he ripped a wrister past Quick at 19:09 to give the Blues a 2-1 lead, and blow the roof off Scottrade Center. The Kings would pull Quick for the extra attacker, but there was no late magic from them this time as the Blues would hold on for the victory, and take a huge 2-0 series lead as we shift back to Los Angeles for Game 3.
As I said, once is an accident, twice is a trend. Winning Tuesday night was huge because it showed the Blues that the Kings are beatable. Winning tonight might have been even bigger because it validates the first win. The Kings no longer own the Blues, and are certainly no longer in their heads. If anything, it’s the Blues who are in the Kings heads now. The two game winning goals have to have a team that saw everything break their way last Spring thinking this might not be their year. The series will now shift to Staples Center for Game 3 on Saturday Night, and it’s the Kings who have their backs against the wall. We don’t know how they’ll respond because we never saw it last year. The Blues need to keep the foot on the gas and step on the throat. You can feel the Blues confidence growing with each victory, and they are learning how to win games. If Hitch can keep them grounded and not get drunk off their success, then this could be a very fun couple months for the Blue Note.
