ST.
LOUIS – Honestly, this is so hard to decipher.
The
discrepancy between the St. Louis Blues and Winnipeg Jets in this
Western Conference First round series is quite home-dominated.
For
the sixth straight game in this series, the home team held serve and
there will be a Game 7 in this series after the Blues took control of
Game 6 on Friday in the second period when they scored four times in
a 5-2 win before another boisterous crowd at Enterprise Center.
Philip
Broberg and Alexey Toropchenko each had a goal and an assist, Brayden
Schenn, Cam Fowler and Nathan Walker each scored and Jordan
Binnington once again bested Connor Hellebuyck with 21 saves.
The
Blues have outscored the Jets 17-5 in the three games at home after a
7-2 win in Game 3 and 5-1 in Game 4.
The
likely Vezina Trophy winner was chased in each of the games in St.
Louis, and the Blues chased Hellebuyck again, this time after two
periods when he allowed five goals on 23 shots.
It
was second period blitzkrieg that saw the Blues seize control of the
game and force a Game 7 on Sunday at 6 p.m. in Winnipeg.
So
without further ado, let’s go straight to Friday’s Three
Takeaways:
*
Four goals in 5:23 was an onslaught – There were some nervy moments
there when the Jets tied the game early in the second period on a
Cole Perfetti power-play goal, but just like the two previous home
games, the Blues hit the Jets in the mouth.
One
goal, two goals, three goals, four goals.
Game
over.
Walker
at 11:34. Schenn at 12:27. Fowler at 13:40. Toropchenko at 16:57.
And
that was that.
It
happened fast, it happened furious, it happened with precision.
Hellebuyck
was staggered (again), and the crowd was electric, and as Schenn
said, “It
felt like when Fowler scored it almost popped the roof right off.
It’s an unreal place to play, I’ve always said that about St.
Louis. The fans are electric, full building every night, and they
come to cheer with their Blues jersey on and pretty special city. We
definitely embrace their energy.”
Walker
got the lead back when he was positioned at the top of the crease
when Broberg put on a skating clinic down the left hand side and
around the net, before slipping a little cheeky pass that Walker
tucked away for his third goal in two games.
“Whenever
you can contribute and get the win, that’s obviously better than
not,” Walker said. “’Broby’ made a great play there and I was
just in the right spot at the right time.”
Schenn’s
goal came off a breakout play when Ryan Suter hit Jake Neighbours,
whose precision little touch pass off the boards sprung Schenn in
stride, and like a crafty veteran, he used Jets defenseman Neal Pionk
as a screen to snap a shot by Hellebuyck on the glove side.
Fowler’s
goal was also a momentum play and he took advantage of the kind of
traffic that makes Hellebuyck uncomfortable, and it was Walker there
setting the screen that Hellebuyck never saw.
And
Toropchenko finished off the onslaught when Faksa hit him in stride
and he potted a shot from the slot, this time to the blocker side.
“We
utilized our speed and our physicality,” Blues
coach Jim Montgomery said.
“I thought we were able to be physical down low, we were able to
skate with some speed through the neutral zone and we were really
committed to getting to the net front again. Those
first couple of goals, they’re really good screen goals. That Faksa
line was dominant tonight.”
*
Faksa line sets tempo again, but is also now scoring – And that
leads into the Faksa line.
Montgomery
starts them seemingly every game, just like Craig Berube used to do
with the Ivan Barbashev-Oskar Sundqvist-Alexander Steen fourth line
of the Stanley Cup-winning team in 2019, and with good reason.
They
do all the little things that make a line go and sets the tone for
the rest of their linemates, but after collectively putting up four
points in Game 5, the line had two goals and three assists in Game 6
and have 11 points in the series.
Faksa
also had two assists to go with the contributions of Toropchenko and
Walker.
“In
a series, there’s the game within the game of a series,”
Montgomery
said.
“They’re a load to handle. it doesn’t matter. They’ve scored
goals against every D-pairing, so they’re hard to handle down low.
Over and over it gets hard and they’re creating that identity that
we look for that allows us to get to net fronts, to win races and get
screened goals.”
It’s
why teammates trust them in all situations.
“They’ve
been the most consistent line all year with the way they play, pretty
much right from Game 1,” Schenn
said.
“They don’t really get broken up that much and it’s almost like
they play robotic because they’re so on the same page, they play on
the goal line, they wear other teams down. They’re big, they can
skate and they hold on to pucks and get to the net. Obviously good
chemistry and guys that get along off the ice that’s translating on
to the ice.”
Broberg
added, "I think they've been great all year. They work so
hard and they play physical and they score goals, important goals,
for us. And all three guys are great guys as well off the ice so you
love to have them on your team, and they've been huge for us."
Oh, and hey Logan Stanley, 6-foot-7, 231-pound Logan Stanley ... 5-9, 187-pound Nathan Walker doesn't move that easily:
*
Broberg’s goal timely – As for Broberg, his goal was so crucial.
There
was a sense in the building that the Blues were somewhat tentative.
The
Jets came out with a purpose, and the first five minutes or so, even
though they didn’t get a high volume number of shots, they had an
advantage with territorial possession of the puck.
But
there was some footing with the Blues on that shift, and it was on a
puck that got played by Justin Faulk behind the net while being
challenged near the O-zone blue line, Jimmy Snuggerud found Robert
Thomas, who in turn found Broberg in the high slot. And Broberg’s
fluttering knuckle puck got through Hellebuyck as Pavel Buchnevich was
doing a fly-by at the top of the crease that saw defenseman Dylan
Samberg push Buchnevich into some contact.
“Yeah,
I think they came out hard, for sure, and I think we responded well,”
Broberg
said.
“After that, I think we played better and played to our strengths.”
It
seemed to give the Blues some life and slowly but surely turn the
tides in which they began to play more in the offensive zone and not
allow Winnipeg, which was playing without Mark Scheifele due to his
undisclosed injury in the first period of Game 5, to get to its
forecheck and disrupt the Blues from transitional play.
“It
was really important,” Montgomery said. “I thought it was a great
play by Faulk to drive wide and that’s that speed we’re
talking about and then we had people drive through and were able to
go low to high and pound that puck. It was really important because I
did not like the start of our first 8-10 minutes, then we started to
come after that goal.”
*
Bonus takeaway: Binnington made some precise saves – While a lot of
the focus has been on Hellebuyck, Binnington was once again, with
back against a wall, making timely saves.
It
started with pushing from right to left on Nikolaj Ehlers 1:14 into
the game. If the Jets score there, what kind of game are we talking
about?
And there was another unbelievable save on Kyle Connor off a
low-slot one-timer that he pushes left to right outstretched to keep
a puck out.
“He’s
the total package,” Fowler said. “He’s a huge reason why we are
where we are and we’ll continue to lean on him because he’s shown
everybody time and time again that he’s world class.”
