Blues finally find offense, tie conference final with Game 4 win
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Maybe the St. Louis Blues needed a change in goal in order to ignite their slumping offense.
One day after coach Ken Hitchcock was asked how switching from Brian Elliott to Jake Allen could help the team score more goals, they played a more complete game in front of Allen in a 6-3 win over the San Jose Sharks in Game 4 of the Western Conference Final.
This knotted the series at 2-2, with Game 5 at St. Louis on Monday.
Allen made 31 saves in the win and, as promised, played a more aggressive style. But it was the St. Louis offense that carried the team, as the Blues got scoring up and down their lineup.
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With 9:49 left in the second period, Blues forward Kyle Brodziak fired a blast past Sharks goaltender Martin Jones to put the game at 4-0. It was the second of two goals for Brodziak, who had no points in the postseason until Game 4.
After the goal Sharks coach Peter DeBoer pulled goaltender Martin Jones for the first time this playoff.
St. Louis poured on their offensive barrage in the second period, taking it to San Jose with the Sharks’ powerful power play unit on the ice. Brodziak blasted a shot high past Jones to put the game at 3-0.
Blues forward Jori Lehtera put St. Louis up 2-0 with 9:49 left in the first period after Jones made a sterling save on Robby Fabbri on the initial opportunity.
A goal by Troy Brouwer that ended the Sharks’ shutout streak of the Blues was challenged in the first period of Game 4 as offside.
The challenge by San Jose coach Peter DeBoer took several minutes before the on-ice official determined it was a goal.
According to the replay, it seemed the Blues could have been offside as they entered the Sharks’ zone on the power play, but overall it didn’t look conclusive on the replay and the goal stood. The NHL said St. Louis entered the zone legally.
Before the goal, Jones held a shutout streak of 156:59 over the Blues. It was St. Louis first goal since Lehtera’s at the 9:15 mark of the second period in Game 1.
This put the game at 1-0 in favor of St. Louis.
Brouwer scored his seventh goal of the playoffs on the power play in the third period.
The six goals by the Blues was the most the Sharks had allowed these playoffs in a single game.
San Jose got goals from Joe Pavelski, Chris Tierney and Melker Karlsson in the third period.
Allen had played in two games this postseason – both in relief of Elliott. He started for the Blues in the playoffs last year and had a 2.20 goal-against average and .904 save percentage in a six-game loss to the Minnesota Wild.
Allen played in 47 games this past season and posted a 2.35 goal-against average and .920 save percentage. Elliott played in 42 games and had a 2.07 goal-against average and .930 save percentage.
The day before Game 4, Hitchcock was asked how changing a goaltender could help his team offensively. Overall he said it could add more focus.
“It just brings alertness. I think everybody is fixated on goals. This is a series – how is the best way to describe it? This is a territorial series played by two teams who are firmly entrenched in checking,” Hitchcock said. “And if you don’t have positional patience in your transition, and if you don’t have structure on an ongoing basis in your transition, you get no zone time, and you get no scoring chances.”
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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper
