ST. LOUIS – Several moments during a long night Thursday at Scottrade Center altered the outcome.
In Game 1 of the St. Louis Blues’ Western Conference quarterfinal playoff series against the San Jose Sharks, the teams traded defining moments.
But as often is the case in playoff hockey, particularly when it reaches sudden-death overtime, the only moment remembered is the one that turns out the lights in the building.
So despite some promising signs by the Blues in Game 1 of their best-of-seven slugfest with San Jose, including two goals by Patrik Berglund that nearly made him an early hero in the series, the club left the ice lamenting a list of miscues on the final play of the game that led to Martin Havlat’s goal for San Jose’s 3-2 victory in double overtime.
“There was a lot of errors on that goal. It’s unfortunate,” Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. “It was one play in the game, but you know …”
On the final play, Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk attempted to clear the puck but the Sharks kept it inside their offensive zone, with Logan Couture and Ryane Clowe working the puck along the boards.
They had a bit of help when Couture picked Vladimir Sobotka, allowing Clowe to skate away with the puck.
But the Blues applied no pressure and Clowe was able to feed Havlat a centering pass just a few feet from Blues forward Chris Stewart and Havlat scored his second goal of the game, beating goaltender Jaroslav Halak and turning out the lights.
“I was just trying to get it on net, get the shot through, and it went in,” Havlat said, “The puck was rolling a little bit and I saw it went in. It was a great feeling. My first thought was that it was time to get some rest.”
The Blues would have preferred to stay on the ice longer, after absorbing the franchise’s seventh straight playoff loss on a night in which they outshot San Jose 42-34, outhit the Sharks 31-26 and had the lead with under 5 minutes left in regulation.
“There’s not much to say,” Blues forward Alex Steen said. “It is what it is right now. Game 1. It’s a long series.”
Game 2 is Saturday night at Scottrade Center.
“We knew coming in that it was going to be a long series,” Steen said. “It’s two tough teams, intense teams, fun buildings, so it’s going to be a fun series.”
Berglund was set up to be the hero for the Blues, scoring the first two goals of his playoff career – both in the third period – the second giving the club a 2-1 lead with 12:32 left in regulation. It came on the power play after Havlat was whistled for tripping Halak behind the net.
After trailing 1-0 entering the third period, on Havlat’s first goal of the game, the Blues were in control as they searched for their first playoff victory in exactly eight years – since April 12, 2004.
But with 5:16 left to play San Jose’s fourth line tied the score, with Andrew Desjardins beating Halak to make it 2-2. That came after teammate Tommy Wingles slipped past Blues defenseman Roman Polak and put a centering feed in front.
“We were really playing well, weren’t giving up anything,” Hitchcock said. “The second goal was the one that really hurt us because it gave them a chance. We were in good control of the hockey game.”
The game went to overtime and the Blues were hopeful to go on the power play early in the first OT when San Jose defenseman Brent Burns lifted the puck into the stands for a potential delay-of-game penalty. But officials ruled that the Blues’ T.J. Oshie tipped the puck before it left the ice.
“I haven’t seen it, so I don’t want to comment on it until I see it,” Hitchcock said of the video.
The Blues felt the first overtime was their “best period,” as they outshot San Jose 14-8. Sharks goalie Antti Niemi was sensational in the frame, en route to 40 saves for the night. He kept his team in the game long enough to tire the Blues, who had a slow start to the second OT.
That was no more evident than on the final play.
“I just took an angle to skate with it,” Shattenkirk said. “I just tried to chip it by him. It’s just got to be a harder play.”
Hitchcock attempted to take Shattenkirk off the hook.
“I don’t think it’s so much ‘Shatty,’ ” he said. “I think we could have really frozen it. We could have cleared it twice. We could have won the race to the half-wall with (Chris) Stewart on the right. It was a lot of things.
“It’s hard to complain about the effort (in the game), but disappointed by the effort on the overtime goal.”
