(Sports Network) - The St. Louis Blues will try to rebound from a tough
double-overtime loss in their playoff opener, as they host the seventh-seeded
San Jose Sharks tonight in Game 2 of the Western Conference quarterfinals at
Scottrade Center.
Martin Havlat scored 3:34 into the second overtime to give the Sharks a 3-2
win over the second-seeded Blues in Game 1 on Thursday. St. Louis certainly
needs a bounce-back performance tonight or it could be down 2-0 when the
series shifts to San Jose for Games 3 and 4. The Blues were 30-6-5 as the home
team during the regular season and 19-16-6 as the guest.
The Blues, who are in the playoffs for just the second time in the post-
lockout era, enter this postseason coming off their first Central Division
title since 2000. St. Louis is hoping to avoid its fate from 12 years ago,
when it won the division and claimed the top seed in the West only to get
bounced out in the first round by San Jose.
In the second extra session, Sharks forward Ryane Clowe chipped a backhand
pass from the near the left boards to the inside left circle where Havlat one-
timed it home to give the Sharks the series lead.
Havlat had two goals while Andrew Desjardins scored the other for the Sharks,
who have made it to the conference finals in each of the past two seasons, but
failed to reach the Stanley Cup Finals both times. Antti Niemi made 40 stops
in Thursday's win.
Desjardins' goal tied the game with 5:16 left in the third period for San
Jose.
"A lot of us have been here before these past few years," said San Jose head
coach Todd McClellan. "We've played overtime hockey in the playoffs and we
kept calm. To me, that's a sign of veteran leadership."
Patrik Berglund scored both goals for the Blues, while Jaroslav Halak made 31
saves in the loss.
"We were the ones who made a number of big errors tonight and it cost us,"
said St. Louis head coach Ken Hitchcock. "We'll take it hard tonight and get
ready tomorrow and come back with a better effort on Saturday."
Hitchcock has opted to go with Halak at the start of this series and will
stick with the netminder tonight. The Blues had the NHL's best goaltending
tandem this season with both Halak and Brian Elliott generating buzz as
possible Vezina Trophy candidates.
"He was like our team," Hitchcock said of Halak. "He had some real good
moments and then some times, we'd like him better. He was just like our team."
The Sharks were just 17-17-7 as the visiting team during the regular season
and would like to take a 2-0 series lead with them back to Northern
California. San Jose, which will host Game 3 on Monday, had a strong 26-12-3
record at home in 2011-12.
The first time San Jose and the Blues met in the postseason was in 2000, when
the Sharks upset St. Louis in seven games. The teams have split two playoff
encounters since with San Jose also taking the most recent meeting during the
2004 conference quarterfinals.
The Sports Network