Game Three is often a pivotal moment in a best-of-seven series. Of course, in the case of the St. Louis Blues, it's more about keeping hope alive at this point.
Yes, teams have come back after losing the first three games of a series. However, there's a reason why it hasn't happened in the NHL in over 30 years. Betting on it as the likely outcome of your team's series is just not a smart way to go about things. The Blues and their fans are about to find out why.
Exactly 1,230 regular season games have been played. We're down to the best eight teams in each conference. The Stanley Cup Playoffs begin Wednesday night with four series lid-lifters.
The Western Conference is home to the league's best team (San Jose), the defending champion (Detroit), and the two most intriguing Cinderella stories in the league (St. Louis and Columbus). Can Cinderella put off the stroke of midnight, or will an established power advance their way to the Finals?
The Stanley Cup won't be handed out until June, but this is the time when we see teams making runs at the playoffs. And you can't win the Cup if you don't make the playoffs. Race for the Cup is your daily check of where your favorite team stands as the season dwindles.
It was a crazy Thursday in the NHL. David Backes'big night propelled St. Louis back into playoff position, while the Carolina Hurricanes moved into fourth place in the East with a win over the Rangers. New York now looks to be in a potentially perilous position, with just a two-point lead over ninth-place Florida. Meanwhile, the Calgary Flames won and the Vancouver Canucks grabbed a shootout point, and both have clinched playoff spots.
Newsmakers in the NHL is a weekday morning attempt to clear yesterday's rebounds and look to the day ahead. Hurricanes 4, Rangers 2: Carolina continued its winning ways with a 4-2 win over the Rangers on Thursday night, extending its current winning streak to seven games. Chad LaRose scored a pair of goals in the win, while Cam Ward stopped 36 shots, including 29 through the first two periods.
The St. Louis Blues are in the middle of a series of must-win games in their quest for the Stanley Cup playoffs. The run continued Thursday in Detroit, where St. Louis tried to rebound from a rather listless effort Wednesday night in Chicago. They got plenty of help from one of their young guns. David Backes is in his second full season with the Blues and was on the cusp of a 30-goal season heading into Thursday's game. He's not "on the cusp" anymore.
Entering the 2008-09 season, not much was expected from the St. Louis Blues. Most people recognized their talented young core, but few, if any, were predicting a trip to the playoffs. With just 13 games remaining on their schedule, the Blues enter Tuesday's game in Edmonton just two points out of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, and have an opportunity to move into a tie for the No. 8 spot with a win (and a Dallas loss). So, how did they get here?
Avalanche 4, Flames 3: Colorado ended a four-game losing streak with its win over Calgary on Monday night, thanks in large part to a three-point effort from Marek Svatos. Svatos chipped in two goals (including the eventual game-winner late in the second period) and added an assist, while Ryan Smyth registered a pair of helpers in the win.
Peter Budaj was strong in net for the Avalanche, turning aside 36 of 39 shots to pick up his 14th win over the season.
The Blues led 2-1 going into the third, but the teams would combine to score five third-period goals -- all in the final five minutes. The Bruins led 4-3 in the final seconds, but after St. Louis' Barret Jackman laid down in his own crease to block a shot, the Blues rushed back the other way and David Backes scored the tying goal with 0.2 seconds left on the clock. Officials would review the goal for a possible high stick, but it would stand. The Blues went on to pull off the upset in the shootout.
During Saturday's game in St. Louis, with the score tied 2-2 late in the first period, Backes delivered a crushing cross-check to the head of Huselius.
Backes received a game-misconduct for the hit, his third of the season, which will result in a mandatory one-game suspension to be served during the Blues game in Vancouver on Friday. Is that enough? Huselius suffered a concussion on the hit, and the NHL is, apparently, trying to cut down on hits to the head. Seems like a mandatory one-game suspension is getting off kind of easy, assuming that's all he receives. Earlier this season, in a game in Washington, Backes give this healthy shot to the back of Capitals forward Alexander Semin. Though, I suspect if Backes knew what type of fighter Semin is he probably would have thought better of it. Sorry. Couldn't resist.
Columbus goalie Steve Mason entered Friday's game in Colorado having registered three consecutive shutouts. He managed to keep the Avalanche off the board for 17 minutes, until Darcy Tucker snapped Mason's streak with his fifth goal of the season at the 17:20 mark of the opening frame. The 20-year old rookie posted 199 consecutive minutes of shutout hockey for Columbus, and Tucker's tally in the first period was the only goal he surrendered on the night, as he turned aside 23-of-24 shots in a 6-1 Blue Jackets win.
Mason has been a great story for the Blue Jackets, as he's pretty much carried them this season when you consider they've scored only nine goals in the eight games he's lost, including being shutout three times. He's allowed more than three goals only two times this season, and has yet to surrender more than four in a single game. Should be interesting to see how long he can continue to ride this hot streak.
As for the rest of the Blue Jackets, following Tucker's goal they pretty much took this game over and erupted for six goals over the final two periods. Rick Nash finished with a four-point night (penalty shot goal, three assists) while Kristian Huselius (two goals), Mike Commodore, Jakub Voracek and R.J. Umberger also scored for Columbus.
The win actually puts Columbus one-point ahead of Colorado for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, while the Blue Jackets are 3-0 to open their current six-game road trip, extending their winning streak to four games overall.
Game Three is often a pivotal moment in a best-of-seven series. Of course, in the case of the St. Louis Blues, it's more about keeping hope alive at this point.
The Stanley Cup won't be handed out until June, but this is the time when we see teams making runs at the playoffs. And you can't win the Cup if you don't make the playoffs. Race for the Cup is your daily check of where your favorite team stands as the season dwindles.
The St. Louis Blues are in the middle of a series of must-win games in their quest for the Stanley Cup playoffs. The run continued Thursday in Detroit, where St. Louis tried to rebound from a rather listless effort Wednesday night in Chicago. They got plenty of help from one of their young guns. David Backes is in his second full season with the Blues and was on the cusp of a 30-goal season heading into Thursday's game. He's not "on the cusp" anymore.
Avalanche 4, Flames 3: Colorado ended a four-game losing streak with its win over Calgary on Monday night, thanks in large part to a three-point effort from Marek Svatos. Svatos chipped in two goals (including the eventual game-winner late in the second period) and added an assist, while Ryan Smyth registered a pair of helpers in the win. 
Columbus goalie Steve Mason entered Friday's game in Colorado having registered three consecutive shutouts. He managed to keep the Avalanche off the board for 17 minutes, until Darcy Tucker snapped Mason's streak with his fifth goal of the season at the 17:20 mark of the opening frame. The 20-year old rookie posted 199 consecutive minutes of shutout hockey for Columbus, and Tucker's tally in the first period was the only goal he surrendered on the night, as he turned aside 23-of-24 shots in a 6-1 Blue Jackets win. 
