Kurtenbach: In a Game 1 battle of hockey vs. ‘other stuff’, the truth of the Sharks-Blues West Final comes out
SAN JOSE — There were no clever matchups or moments of tactical brilliance for the Sharks in their 6-3 win over the Blues in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final Saturday.
There was no secret to taking a 1-0 lead in the series — no code to break against St. Louis.
The Sharks just played hockey — focused, sound, assertive hockey that featured moments of impressive skill and the right blend of discipline and toughness. With that, they controlled the game for the vast majority of the evening. It was the kind of performance you’d expect from a team that’s had their eyes towards the Stanley Cup all year and now stand three wins away from a berth in the Final.
And the Blues? Well, it seemed their primary concern was tertiary notions like “setting a tone” and making the Sharks “feel them”. St. Louis spent more time trying to land the big hit than worrying about their to back and forecheck.
“We played hockey tonight and they were about a few other things,” Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson said. “And we won the game.”
It really was as simple as that.
“I just think we worked. When you’re working all over the ice, you’re going to create some opportunities out there and I think that’s what happened tonight,” Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said.
NBC is going to send a bill pic.twitter.com/bKeJ3HncSD
— Dieter Kurtenbach (@dkurtenbach) May 12, 2019
Hockey is a fickle game — trying to project forward one game, much less a series, is usually a fool’s errand, but given the Sharks’ all-around competence Saturday, it’s not too bold to say that the Blues will have to change up their game — and actually engage in a game of hockey — to even up the series at 1-1 Monday night.
At the same time, it’s fair to wonder if the Blues can, in fact, change up their game. Saturday’s game looked like a team admitting they had to win via alternative means.
That said, it wasn’t much of a surprise that the Blues came out wanting to knock the Sharks off their feet and, they hoped, off their game. After all, that’s the way the team was built to play, and when you’re going up against a team in the Sharks that is unquestionably more talented, you have to double-down on your strengths.
In St. Louis’ case that’s physicality and goaltending.
The box score says the Blues had 41 hits in the game — seven more than the Sharks — but given the home-team favoritism of keeping that stat, it was likely a larger number.
But it didn’t matter. It didn’t work.
— Dieter Kurtenbach (@dkurtenbach) May 12, 2019
The Sharks absorbed the early Blues push and started to take advantage of St. Louis’ overaggressiveness, putting Blues in the penalty box (the Blues had nine power-play chances to St. Louis’ three) and goalie Jordan Binnington in bad spots time and time again (he allowed five goals on 19 even-strength shots on goal).
Beyond that, the Blues had no answer for the 200-foot brilliance of Logan Couture, who scored his league-leading 10th and 11th goals of the postseason, and the power and skill of his right wing, Timo Meier, who in 23 shifts scored two goals — including a spectacular Forsberg drag to put the Sharks up 4-2 — set up another goal with a neutral zone takeaway, and landed five hits of his own.
“First 10 minutes, [the Blues] came out hard, but guys hung in there, made good plays and were able to break down that physicality from them,” Joe Pavelski said. “They’re a big strong team… but we played hard in between the whistles and we executed in some of those areas.”
“They came out hard and they’re heavy and we know it’s not the end,” Kevin Labanc, who scored a beauty of a goal himself Saturday said. “We just have to stay composed and not take stupid penalties after the whistle. It’s a good start to the new series for us.”
Couture into a wide open net on the 2-on-1. Meier set it up with his neutral zone hit on Pietrangelo. pic.twitter.com/Ij9bg2ixMB
— Bay Area Sports HQ (@BayAreaSportsHQ) May 12, 2019
Yes, the Sharks seemed occupied with the whistles after the game. It’s clear that they think will be a theme of this series and perhaps the separation point between the two teams — a formula for victory.
After Game 1, it’d be impossible to say it didn’t work.
“We’re going to play whistle to whistle the whole series, and if they want to play — take penalties like that — we’ll let the refs take care of that. They told us they will and we’re expecting they will,” DeBoer said.
The truth is that the Sharks are much better than the Blues — even with an ever-shaky Martin Jones in the San Jose net. When the teams are even-strength, they’re really not, but hockey has a funny way of rendering that point moot so often in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
All the Sharks can do is hold up their end. Play it smart. Don’t do anything stupid. Keep the pressure on the Blues and off of Jones.
Do it three more times and they’re playing for the Cup.
It might not always work out, but it did Saturday, with the Blues’ help.
The Sharks have their formula. The question now is if it can be repeated.