SB Nation St. Louis - Blues At Devils: St. Louis' Domination Of Eastern Conference Continues With 4-3 SO Win Over New Jerseyhttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/49009/stl-fave.png2012-02-09T21:02:31-06:00http://stlouis.sbnation.com/rss/stream/25513342012-02-09T21:02:31-06:002012-02-09T21:02:31-06:00Blues At Devils Final Score: Blues Keep Up Domination Of The East, Win 3-2 In SO
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<p>You can’t ever accuse the Blues of not trying. Down 3-2 heading into the third period, it appeared the odds were against them. Jaroslav Halak had been pulled, and some of their best players — like Alex Pietrangelo and Kevin Shattenkirk — didn’t seem to be 100% on their game. No worries, though, to a team who is a powerful force in the third period. The Blues answered back 14:10 into the last period with a Patrik Berglund tip-in that had to be reviewed to make sure that it wasn’t off of a high stick. Thankfully the tall Berglund was innocent, giving him his 13th goal of the season.</p>
<p>That more than made up for the five minute powerplay that the Blues managed just three shots on. Curtis Foster hit Chris Porter awkwardly into the boards, hurting the Blues’ forward around the eye area, and was given a boarding major and a game misconduct:</p>
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<p>The Blues made it through the rest of a hectic third period and overtime to the shootout. Johan Hedberg has always been solid in these, and the Devils lead the league with 12 overtime/shootout wins, but tonight wouldn’t be their evening. T.J. Oshie scored past Hedberg on the Blues’ first try, and Elliott stopped attempts by Ilya Kovalchuk (technically a miss — terrible attempt by Kovy) and Patrik Elias.</p>
<p>The Blues are back in town both Saturday and Sunday, with back-to-back games against the Colorado Avalanche and the San Jose Sharks. Tonight’s win and Nashville’s loss helped give the Blues a bit of a comfort zone in tonight’s standings… at least for now.</p>
https://stlouis.sbnation.com/st-louis-blues/2012/2/9/2788500/blues-at-devils-final-score-blues-keep-up-domination-of-the-east-winLaura Astorian2012-02-09T19:42:46-06:002012-02-09T19:42:46-06:00Blues At Devils Second Period Score: Jaroslav Halak Pulled In Two Goal Second
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<p>The second period began with such promise. A quick, up-tempo first period led into another up-tempo one, with neither team showing a glimmer of the trap-style hockey that they both are accused of playing.</p>
<p>David Perron continues his hot streak with his third goal in two games. After some complicated dangling by David Backes, Perron got the puck far out and shot it past Johan Hedberg’s blocker to put the Blues up 2-1:</p>
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<p>If that was a goal that Moose should have had, the next one 45 seconds later was one that Halak should have had — it was basically the same kind of shot that squeaked past Hedberg:</p>
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<p>Rookie of the year candidate Adam Henrique blasted a shot past Halak that he had a perfect view of. The next goal wasn’t one that Halak could have stopped, but Ken Hitchcock pulled him anyway to shake up — and hopefully wake up — his team. You absolutely cannot leave Ilya Kovalchuk alone, and you have to remember that he’s as prone to make a perfect pass as he is to blast a shot past your goalie. The Blues got a reminder of this the hard way with this beautiful Patrik Elias goal:</p>
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<p>Hopefully that goal woke the team up, and the Blues come out roaring in the third period. Lapses like the kind that they had in the second are the kind that can cost the team two valuable points.</p>
https://stlouis.sbnation.com/st-louis-blues/2012/2/9/2788334/blues-at-devils-second-period-score-jaroslav-halak-pulled-in-two-goalLaura Astorian2012-02-09T18:53:19-06:002012-02-09T18:53:19-06:00Blues At Devils First Period Score: Zach Parise And Chris Stewart Have Game Tied 1-1
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<p>A “fast first period” wasn’t exactly what a person would expect from the St. Louis Blues and New Jersey Devils, but that’s exactly what we got tonight. The only penalty taken was a delay of game one by Barret Jackman. Unfortunately, that was all it took for Zach Parise to score on a wonky, flukey shot to put the Devils up 1-0. The shot, assisted by Ilya Kovalchuk, hit Jaroslav Halak’s glove and bounced in behind the goaltender:</p>
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<p>Luckily for the Blues, it took Chris Stewart all of two minutes to score his eleventh goal of the season, poking the puck through Johan Hedberg’s legs:</p>
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<p>So far so good, and so far so evenly matched. Not only do both teams have a goal, they also have seven shots on goal.</p>
https://stlouis.sbnation.com/st-louis-blues/2012/2/9/2788242/blues-at-devils-first-period-score-zach-parise-and-chris-stewart-haveLaura Astorian2012-02-09T12:05:34-06:002012-02-09T12:05:34-06:00Blues At Devils: St. Louis' Domination Of The Eastern Conferece Set To Continue
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<p>Martin Brodeur is suffering from a sprained ankle, Matt D'Agostini is being tested for concussions, and Evgeny Grachev returns from Peoria tonight in a game that could promise to be one of the lower scoring affairs of the night.</p> <p>After a pretty solid 3-1 win over the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.silversevensens.com/">Ottawa Senators</a> Tuesday night, the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.stlouisgametime.com/">Blues</a> get to spend some more time away from home in a vacation destination that is at the top of everyone's list: Newark. With the minimum of play between these two teams, the Blues haven't visited New Jersey since March 2010, when they beat the Devils 1-0. Last season's match-up was in St. Louis, and the Blues took that one as well by the score of 3-2. The reason the score was so "high" in that game is that St. Louis native <span>Mike McKenna</span> was in net for the Devils and not their traditional acrobatic and aging netminder, future hall of famer <span>Martin Brodeur</span>.</p>
<p>The Blues won't face Brodeur tonight, either. He injured his ankle in the Devils' last game against the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.blueshirtbanter.com/">New York Rangers</a>, and was key in their 1-0 shutout of the top team in the East. With Brodeur down for now, <span>Johan Hedberg</span> should be getting the start. Moose is a more than capable back-up goaltender sporting pretty solid stats (13-7-1, .909 SV%, 2.52 GAA) for a team that had to rely on him immensely at the start of the season. You can't automatically count New Jersey out when you see their back-up goaltender in net, nor should you. Of course, chances are good that he'll be squaring off at the opposite end of the rink from <span>Jaroslav Halak</span>. Halak is 4th in the league in save percentage (1.97; <span>Brian Elliott</span> leads the league at 1.66) and is 13th in the league with a .922 SV%. You probably won't see too many pucks go past him.</p>
<p>Tonight is <span>Jamie Langenbrunner's</span> first game back at The Rock since he was traded to the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.defendingbigd.com/">Dallas Stars</a> last season. Langenbrunner captained the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/">New Jersey Devils</a> from 2007 through his trade in January of last year. Former Devils stalwart <span>Jason Arnott</span> is still out tonight and will miss the game with a bruised shoulder, so he won't get this chance to play against his former team. Former Blue <span>Cam Janssen</span> is looking forward to his chance to see his old teammates, though. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nj.com/devils/index.ssf/2012/02/devils_cam_janssen_wants_to_be.html">According to NJ.com</a>, he's also looking forward to beating them as well as scrapping with former roommate <span>B.J. Crombeen</span>:</p>
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<p>"I actually like it even more," he said. "People ask me that all the time: 'How do you fight somebody you know and are friends with?' I get more pumped up when I fight somebody I'm close to. It's competitiveness, that's what it is.</p>
<p>"It's not like I hate the guy or want to hurt him. 'I want to beat you up because we're competitive and I want my team to get more charged up. I want to win this fight because it's part of the game and I want to be better than you.' That's why I work so hard. This is what we do."</p>
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<p>Hopefully for Janssen's sake he'll be facing off against Crombeen and not <span>Ryan Reaves</span>.</p>
<p>Matt D'Agostini's being held out of tonight's match as a precautionary measure thanks to a hit from Ottawa's <span>Jared Cowen</span> Tuesday night that sent him to the locker room and ended his evening. <a target="_blank" href="http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2012/02/08/blues-recall-grachev-after-dagostini-injury/">The Blues have recalled forward Evgeny Grachev from the Peoria Rivermen to take D'Agostini's place until he recovers</a>. D'Agostini is the fourth (in theory) top nine forward that the Blues are without; <span>Alexander Steen</span> and <span>Andy McDonald</span> are also missing time with concussions and Arnott, as mentioned, will also be out.</p>
<p>Puck drop tonight is, of course, and early one at 6:00. What better excuse to scoot out of work early to miss rush hour than a hockey game?</p>
https://stlouis.sbnation.com/2012/2/9/2787216/blues-at-devils-st-louis-domination-of-the-eastern-conferece-set-toLaura Astorian