Stanley Cup Playoffs: We’re all the way down to a best-of-three within the Western Convention
Greg WyshynskiESPN
Hey, excellent news: We will discuss extra in regards to the gamers than the referees on this version, which is admittedly all we will ask for on this postseason. It was a 2-1 win for the St. Louis Blues over the San Jose Sharks, with none main controversy!
Here is what occurred within the NHL final evening (take a look at replays of each playoff recreation on ESPN+) and what to look at for Sunday evening, in right this moment’s version of ESPN Stanley Cup Playoffs Each day:
Soar forward: Final evening’s recreation | Three stars
Play of the evening | Subsequent recreation | Social publish of the day
About final evening …
Recreation four: St. Louis Blues 2, San Jose Sharks 1 (sequence tied 2-2)
2 Associated
The Blues had two choices after that crushing Recreation three additional time loss. They may have allowed the blown name on Timo Meier’s hand move that arrange Erik Karlsson’s recreation winner to fester. Or, they may put it apart and deal with the true lesson of that loss, which is to not enable a game-tying aim late within the recreation.
They went for the second route in Recreation four, closing out the 2-1 win due to a robust efficiency from Jordan Binnington (transferring to 11-2 after losses) and a protection that bent (permitting 73 shot makes an attempt in all conditions) however didn’t break. (Here is a quirk: For the fourth time on this sequence, the staff with probably the most shot makes an attempt was the staff that misplaced the sport.) Ivan Barbashev and Tyler Bozak had the Blues’ objectives, and Tomas Hertl scored for the Sharks.
Three stars
1. Jordan Binnington, G, St. Louis Blues. The Blues rookie set a franchise file together with his 10th playoff win, and have become simply the 10th rookie goalie in NHL historical past to hit double-digits in wins throughout a single postseason. He made 29 stops for St. Louis.
2. Martin Jones, G, San Jose Sharks. Jones made solely 20 saves within the recreation and finally took the loss, however he was spectacular for the Sharks early within the recreation earlier than they began controlling play from the second interval on. “We had been type of fortunate it was simply 2-Zero after first. Jonesy made a pair big saves,” Tomas Hertl mentioned.
three. Ivan Barbashev, LW, St. Louis Blues. The Blues’ fourth line had one other sturdy recreation, and Barbashev adopted up his help on Alexander Steen’s Recreation three aim with a aim of his personal simply 35 seconds into Recreation four, setting the tempo.
Play of the evening
.@StLouisBlues>#StanleyCup>pic.twitter.com/WaXKmh1N9n – NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) Might 18, 2019
Observe the bouncing puck. Tyler Bozak was credited with the aim, because it hit a couple of skates and located its well beyond Jones.
Dud of the evening
We have to speak about Erik Karlsson.
The Sharks defenseman performed simply 6:20 within the third interval, his lowest ice time for any interval of this sequence. His 25:09 in whole ice time, whereas second solely to Brent Burns (26:46) on the Sharks, was additionally his lowest of the sequence. He was lacking from the ice for nearly eight minutes of the third interval, earlier than he took the ice with 1:55 left and the Sharks having pulled Jones. Karlsson’s skating was labored. He did not rush the puck a lot in any respect. Burns handed on a query about Karlsson’s well being, and coach Peter DeBoer mentioned he had “nothing” so as to add to the hypothesis in regards to the defenseman’s well being. It is one thing to watch earlier than Recreation 5.
On the schedule
St. Louis Blues at San Jose Sharks, Recreation 5, three p.m. ET Sunday (sequence tied 2-2)
The midday native begin time is an attention-grabbing wrinkle for Recreation 5. The Sharks will search to increase some of the cemented traits of the postseason, which is their file in odd and even video games. They’re now 1-7 in even-numbered video games with a minus-10 aim differential, and 9-1 in odd-numbered video games with a plus-15. It also needs to be attention-grabbing to see if DeBoer does some line scrambling, as he had Joe Pavelski skating with Joe Thornton, and Joonas Donskoi with Hertl’s line for a bit in Recreation four.
Social publish of the day
Hypnotizing. #StanleyCup>pic.twitter.com/0GiuHFNRwM – NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) Might 17, 2019
Truthfully, who wants teammates when you’ve got a hallway for enjoyable?
Quotable
“It was precisely the other of what we wished. … The primary was actually ugly.” — Tomas Hertl on the Sharks’ begin