All of a sudden, this series has gotten chippy. So many scrums, so little time. First, this scrum that came from some net crashage between Kris Russell and Joe Pavelski, which Russell surprisingly came up on top.
Next stop, Vladimir Sobotka crashing the net. Literally.
So far, so physical, right? It took some shrugging off of the physical play to create the Blues second goal. You can try to restrain Oshie, but you can only hope to contain him. Getting through checks and plowing towards the net are Oshie’s specialties; creating plays and setting up goals are a few others.
There was no way that Backes misses that slap shot.
Shots on goal are in the Blues’ favor 27-20, and for tonight so far the effort is paying off. One more period and the Blues get their first playoff game victory since 2004.