The St. Louis Blues continue to shut down opposing offenses. It happened throughout the regular season, and it happened again on Thursday night during a 2-1 win in San Jose as the Blues opened up a 3-1 lead in their opening round matchup with the Sharks.
The series shifts back to St. Louis for Game 5 on Saturday.
It still doesn't really matter which goalie the Blues put in net, as Brian Elliott picked up his second straight win after coming on in relief of the injured Jaroslav Halak in Game 2. How tough is the Blues defense to crack? Just consider that in the first four games of this series the Blues have allowed San Jose to generate just 91 shots during even strength play, which is an average of just 22 per game. That's actually better than what St. Louis limited its opponents to in the regular season when it allowed a league-low 26 even strength shots per game.
They don't score a ton, but with team defense and goaltending like that, they may not need to.
Elsewhere around the NHL on Thursday night...
Mike Smith, Phoenix Coyotes. By just about any objective measure the Chicago Blackhawks have been the better team in their Western Conference Quarterfinal series against the Phoenix Coyotes. More shots, more scoring chances, more sustained pressure in the offensive zone. They've carried the play for the most part.
The one area they haven't been better is the area we knew they wouldn't be better ... goalie. And right now, that's the difference in the series. Smith had yet another outstanding performance on Thursday night as he turned aside 30 of the 32 shots he faced, and that includes as many as 19 from the scoring chance areas.
For Phoenix to win this series it was going to need Smith to steal it, and he is.
Alexander Semin, Washington Capitals. The game-winning goal in Washington's 2-1 victory against Boston came on this ridiculous wrist shot from Alexander Semin. Tim Thomas never had a chance.
And finally, here is Alex Ovechkin taking a tumble as he attempts come off the ice for a line change.
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