When Kari Lehtonen is the strongest goaltender on a night of playoff hockey, you have to know something's up.
NHL playoff scores 2016: Off night of goaltending gives way to two Western Conference Game 7s
The netminders were the difference makers on Monday, but not in the good way.
Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
Three of the four starting netminders in Monday's slate of playoff games had nights ranging from head-scratching to bad. Not only that, it directly affected the outcomes of elimination games in favor of the teams with their backs against the wall.
Brian Elliott's night might be the most head-scratching, as the netminder gave up three goals on seven shots that gave the Stars enough cushion to force their Game 7. The usually solid goaltender -- who up until Monday had played all of the minutes in goal for the Blues -- just did not look comfortable in net for St. Louis. The Stars beat him up high three times before chasing him, and now head coach Ken Hitchcock is seemingly having a crisis of faith on whether or not Elliott should start Game 7 on Wednesday.
Hitch said he wants to sleep on goalie decision.
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) May 10, 2016
The Sharks and Predators both had their moments of bad goaltending as Nashville won a quick overtime to push the series to seven games. Pekka Rinne was out of position on two of the three Sharks goals, and this one was almost the series winner for San Jose.
Luckily for Rinne and the Predators, Martin Jones wasn't having himself a good night in net either. Though much of the blame for the loss could be put at the feet of the Sharks' horrid defending, Jones had trouble all evening keeping track of the puck behind his own net. Not only that, the game winner and series saver from Viktor Arvidsson should have been stopped by Jones, especially since he wasn't screened on the play.
Yet, out of all of this, we will get two Game 7s in the Western Conference. With a Washington win on Tuesday, we could be getting one more in the span of two days mid-week. The Hockey Gods are good, folks.
Scores
Stars 3, Blues 2
Predators 4, Sharks 3 (OT)
* * *
* * *
3 things we learned
1. Colin Wilson is on pace to best his regular season totals
That's Colin Wilson's fifth of the playoffs. He had six regular-season goals.
— Adam Vingan (@AdamVingan) May 10, 2016
The playoffs are a different animal, and Wilson has shown up big time for Nashville. His game tying goal gave him 13 points in 13 games so far in the postseason.
2. Monday had dangles for days
First, Jason Spezza got the party started with what ended up being the game winner for the Stars that made it 3-0 in the first period.
Then, Ryan Johansen got Nashville's equalizer by freezing both a San Jose defender and Martin Jones with this toe drag.
3. The Stars hardly possessed the puck at all and still won
Scottie Upshall had the lowest Corsi For % on the Blues at 62.5%. The highest Star? Patrick Eaves. At 40%.
— pat iversen (@Pat_Iversen) May 10, 2016
Analytics, who needs them right?
Impact Moment
Arvidsson’s first career playoff goal was the series-saver for Nashville. What a celebration too.
Tweets from Tony
Remember Tony, AKA @soloucity on Twitter, who fell in love with hockey during the Blues/Blackhawks Game 7? We're dedicating a section in our recaps to the gems of his Twitter account during the playoffs.
So who n the hell are we gonna start game 7?
— Tony X. (@soIoucity) May 10, 2016
Not you too, Tony!
Stat of the Night
Troy Brouwer will play in 8th consecutive #GAME7 #DALvsSTL
— Eric Hornick (@ehornick) May 10, 2016
That's a lot of Game 7s.
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