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Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Blues Defensive Duo Has Played Spotless Against Jets
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- Defending in the Stanley Cup playoffs in this Western Conference First Round series for St. Louis Blues defensemen Justin Faulk and Philip Broberg has become an art.
Winnipeg Free Press
25-04-2025
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
Road to cup rarely straightforward
There has never been a perfect Stanley Cup champion. Don't believe us? Look through the NHL's record books and you'll find blemishes on the last team standing every spring. Some left quite a mark. For example, the Florida Panthers lost eight combined games over their four rounds last year — including doozies by scores of 6-3 in the first round (against Tampa Bay), 5-1 in the second round (against Boston) and 8-1 in the Final (against Edmonton). Nobody remembers those now, of course, because their 16 combined wins ultimately rendered them moot. SCOTT KANE / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS St. Louis Blues' Justin Faulk and Winnipeg Jets' Adam Lowry vie for control of the puck during the first period in St. Louis Thursday. The 2023 champion Vegas Golden Knights dropped six in total, including ones by scores of 4-1, 5-1 and 5-1. The 2022 Colorado Avalanche only fell four times that year, but two were by scores of 4-1 and 6-2. Fact is, since the NHL moved to four best-of-seven rounds back in 1987, not a single squad has ever gone 16-0. Bottom line: Teams are going to get knocked down when playing emotional, high-stakes hockey. Games sometimes get out of hand and momentum shifts can be extreme this time of year. Even the greatest clubs are going to lose. Likely several times. Maybe even in ugly, lopsided ways. Which brings us to the Winnipeg Jets. It's far too early to say if this group will be sipping out of Lord Stanley's mug in about seven weeks from now, although hopes were certainly raised when they quickly jumped out to a 2-0 series lead over the St. Louis Blues with a pair of hard-fought home ice victories (5-3, 2-1). However, any thoughts of a perfectly paved road to the promised land were tossed out the window Thursday night in the form of a 7-2 beatdown at the hands of the St. Louis Blues. Anything that could go wrong seemingly did go wrong. From a 'You've got to be kidding me?' goal by Pavel Buchnevich just 48 seconds into the contest to a controversial Cole Perfetti no-goal that sure looked like a goal to a Connor Hellebuyck puckhandling blunder that ended up in the back of his net, this was a disaster on multiple levels. The Jets didn't just lose the game, but their cool, too. They tried to take their pound of flesh in the third period but ended up filling up the penalty box, which allowed the home team to keep piling on much to the delight of their fans. As far as we know, Winnipeg hospitals didn't experience an overnight surge thanks to scores of Jets fans limping in with ankle and foot injuries. But it sure felt like plenty of folks were jumping off the crowded bandwagon fast and furious over one lousy, out-of-character performance. Cause for some concern? OK, we'll give you that. A reason for full-blown panic? Hardly. 'It's one game. We lost one game. Whether it's 7-2 or 1-0, we lost one game in this series,' Jets coach Scott Arniel told reporters in St. Louis. This wasn't a case of the bench boss simply trying to put on a brave face. Arniel is speaking the truth. SCOTT KANE / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington is unable to prevent a power-play goal during the third period. While it may not feel this way to some, the Jets are still in a solid position by holding a 2-1 advantage in the series with Game 4 set for Sunday at noon. There's no cumulative score here. It's the first team to four wins that moves on. That perspective is important. As is some additional hockey history. We bring you back to 2018, which remains the benchmark for playoff hockey in Winnipeg. The Jets won their first postseason game in franchise history in the form of a 3-2 squeaker over the Minnesota Wild, then followed that up with a 4-1 victory in Game 2. That was the only other time, until this week, the Jets were off to a 2-0 series start off a pair of home wins. How did Game 3 go on the road that year? A 6-2 loss, which sure looked a lot like what went down in Missouri on Thursday. Winnipeg couldn't match the desperation of Minnesota that year, which was basically in a 'must-win' situation. Same goes for St. Louis. Let the record show the Jets quickly picked themselves up off the mat and responded with a rock-solid 2-0 road triumph in Game 4, then a 5-0 victory in Game 5 back at Canada Life Centre to quell any hopes of a Wild comeback, ultimately making it to the Western Conference Final. We have no idea if a similar script might be followed this time around, but it should at least demonstrate that one ugly loss does not automatically spell doom. Not for Winnipeg. Not for any playoff team. Just ask the Lightning, Bruins and Oilers from last year, who weren't able to turn dominating wins over the Panthers into sustained success and a series victory. It's why you won't see or hear the Blues taking any victory laps over one impressive, 60-minute effort. 'I think every game has its own momentum and its own feel to it. All it is is Game 3 in our mind,' said veteran St. Louis defenceman Cam Fowler, who led the way with a goal and four assists. 'We came out, had a great first period. That helped us get back in the series and helped us win the hockey game, but when that puck drops on Sunday, none of that matters. It's about the preparation between now and then and getting ready for a huge game on Sunday.' The Jets didn't have many stinkers like this during the regular season, which explains why this finished on top of the standings with a 56-22-4 record. Maybe the closest reasonable facsimile happened in Salt Lake City back on Jan. 20, when the 5-2 deficit against Utah likely flattered the visitors and had Arniel publicly calling out himself and his team. SCOTT KANE / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS St. Louis Blues' Pavel Buchnevich controls the puck as Winnipeg Jets' Dylan Samberg defends during the second period. It was a rare show of anger from Arniel, and it sent the intended message. Winnipeg responded with an impressive 3-2 victory two nights later in Colorado, the first of what would become an 11-game winning streak. During Elections Get campaign news, insight, analysis and commentary delivered to your inbox during Canada's 2025 election. They'll need more of that kind of internal drive and resolve to get back on track this time. But that's where losing 7-2 instead of 1-0 might be an even bigger motivator. This is a proud group that just got embarrassed and humbled, which might help bring out their best. There was no moral victory, no 'we should have won this' mentality. Following the rout, players like Josh Morrissey and Cole Perfetti repeatedly mentioned 'turning the page,' and that's something these Jets have been very good at all season long. No doubt getting defenceman Dylan DeMelo (illness) and perhaps forward Gabe Vilardi (upper-body injury) back into the lineup would help the cause. This year's playoff story was never going to be simple and straightforward. No team's ever is. There's always a few plot twists along the way. But whether this one for Winnipeg ends up being a mere footnote or something more substantial has yet to be written. X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg Mike McIntyreReporter Mike McIntyre is a sports reporter whose primary role is covering the Winnipeg Jets. After graduating from the Creative Communications program at Red River College in 1995, he spent two years gaining experience at the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 1997, where he served on the crime and justice beat until 2016. Read more about Mike. Every piece of reporting Mike produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Three Takeaways From Blues' 3-1 Win Against Avalanche
ST. LOUIS – Justin Faulk said it best on Sunday after the St. Louis Blues put in a masterclass performance in a 3-1 win against the Colorado Avalanche at Enterprise Center. 'I thought we played pretty well last night, but didn't get the result,' the defenseman said. 'Tonight to come in, you can kind of go the other way and feel sorry, but tonight to come in, especially that second period and take over the game and get the win is really big for the group.' Faulk and Jordan Kyrou each had two assists, and Brayden Schenn, Colton Parayko and Dylan Holloway scored three second-period goals to fuel the Blues (26-26-6) to a come-from-behind win, and Jordan Binnington, fresh from his bout with Team Canada in winning the championship of the 4 Nations Face-Off, put in another robust performance with 28 saves. The Blues were less than half a minute from taking four of four points on the weekend after falling to the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday, 4-3 in a shootout. But taking three of four points is not a bad way to kick off the final stretch. 'I definitely like how our group responded today though,' Faulk said. 'It was a tough one last night to get that late loss.' Let's look at Sunday's Three Takeaways: * Checking – How often does a winning coach talk about checking aspects of a game after a win? Quite often. And Blues coach Jim Montgomery all but gushed over his team's ability to check in all three zones, whether it be by taking the body, doing it with their sticks or disrupting the flow of the Avalanche attack, which revolves around a lot of speed. 'We were relentless, I thought, in our checking,' Montgomery said. '… I thought our sticks were really good defensively, I thought we were physical. We separated people from the puck and I thought our second man beat their second man to the puck, which allowed us to advance lines and gain zones.' Since the Blues returned to the ice from the 4 Nations Face-Off, their play had been so inconsistent that they made tweaks. 'Just our checking,' Blues forward Jake Neighbours said. 'Obviously we made a little tweak with our forecheck about being more aggressive and honestly just the work ethic. It's been impressive. We're battling for each other out there. There's a lot of compete. You could tell in the room after the game guys are juiced, and that's what it takes. Come back from break, you play Winnipeg-Colorado back-to-back, that's a tough way to come back to it, and getting three out of four points is positive for this group.' * Defensemen pinching, having good gaps – The Blues coaching staff welcomes the D-men to pinch however and whenever. It can be risky when the wrong read is made, but it makes things go so much smoother when it's done right. Each of the Blues' goals were a result of the D-men making the right reads, aggressively pushing the puck forward into the offensive zone and being rewarded for the right play. The Blues break out the puck, and Parayko sees that Neighbours is making the first pass outlet in stride so he takes off and doesn't stop, middle drive straight to the net. When Robert Thomas, who extended his point streak to six games (three goals, six assists), lays a puck off for Pavel Buchnevich, who has five points (one goal, four assists) in a three-game point streak, funnels a puck off the right wall to the net, Parayko beats Cale Makar there, out-battles goalie Mackenzie Blackwood for the loose change and pops upstairs the goal to make it 2-1 at 13:13 of the second period St. Louis goal!Scored by Colton Parayko with 05:47 remaining in the 2nd by Pavel Buchnevich and Robert Louis: 2Colorado: 1#COLvsSTL #stlblues #GoAvsGo — NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) February 24, 2025 'The D-men I thought in all three zones, they were tight,' Montgomery said. 'Our gaps were really good. We made it hard on them to have any time and space. In the D-zone, they closed plays out. And then the offensive zone, it didn't matter who. The whole D-core, they did a great job of just holding the offensive zone and then I thought our forwards in the second and third period, it's the best we've played as hard of offensive hockey in a while.' Justin Faulk led the charge from the D-group with arguably his best game of the season. The veteran finished with a plus-2 in 21:14 and also fueled a lot of the drive into the offensive zone with a great second effort on Holloway's goal winning a race with Devon Toews with 10 seconds left in the second that ultimately was the back-breaker by sliding the puck to a driving Holloway going to the net: St. Louis goal!Scored by Dylan Holloway with 00:10 remaining in the 2nd by Justin Faulk and Jordan Louis: 3Colorado: 1#COLvsSTL #stlblues #GoAvsGo — NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) February 24, 2025 'Just playing the way we want to as a group and I've got to be a part of that,' Faulk said. 'I've got to move my feet, play aggressive, move pucks fast and definitely be aggressive in the O-zone with keeping pucks alive and sit in your gaps, just being as connected as we can. It's been trending in the right direction hopefully. 'In general, we were playing well. We thought we had a really good period. Obviously that helps any time you get a late goal, there's come momentum carryover. To be honest, it doesn't usually last too long. Maybe a shift or two so you have to keep rolling it over and moving that way. But we were committed to it tonight. We kept it going in the third and didn't give them much room. 'I knew he would go back to the net. I couldn't really keep my eyes on him the whole time because I got in a little of a battle there with Toews so I just had to hope at the end that he was still going. He did a good job. That's where you want to go in that situation. That's what we talk about, drive the back post and make it uncomfortable on their defensemen. He did exactly that.' Montgomery said, 'I've liked Justin Faulk both games since we've been back. I thought he was really good yesterday and I thought he was even better tonight. What I'm liking about him is you're seeing him win 50-50 battles. He's going through arms. It doesn't matter if it's at our goal line, if it's in the offensive zone, holding pucks. He's a really strong man and he just wins a lot of pucks, and that's what we're seeing in these last two games. 'A lot of it in the offensive zone does, and then with his ability to skate when he wins battles in the D-zone, he moves it up and he jumps. He beats back-checkers up ice that allows us to get 4-on-3s and you saw him on a couple plays. I remember the one in the third where 'Tommer' sauced it over to him and he gets that puck and he gets it and he hammers it and we have a screen at the net. 'Jakey' was there, I think.' * Playing hard on pucks in the O-zine, a net front presence – It took a bit, but as all the components of their game came together, the Blues were really hard to play against in the offensive zone managing pucks well, retrieving loose pucks and just being dogged and determined. They didn't allow many, if any, easy turns and outlets out of the zone and were able to apply good, sustained pressure, just like Schenn's opener at 10:45 of the second period that tied the game 1-1: St. Louis goal!Scored by Brayden Schenn with 09:15 remaining in the 2nd by Jordan Kyrou and Justin Louis: 1Colorado: 1#COLvsSTL #stlblues #GoAvsGo — NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) February 24, 2025 'Offensively after the first period, I thought we were really hard offensively,' Montgomery said. 'Not passing up shots, having people at the net front, driving the net. We tried a lot of low slot line plays, East-West plays and I thought our D-men were really good. '… I think we're playing the right way and we can see it building. After the first period, we didn't love part of our offensive hockey, but we thought it was coming, just like it was last night.' And when they needed a backbone, Jordan Binnington delivered a solid performance with 28 saves, including 13 in the third period. "I'm American so I can only cheer for certain players, not results for them in a sense, but I appreciate that they played well because you know that it's going to bleed into their game here, come back with a lot of confidence," Faulk joked. "Same with Parayko. They're both doing their thing and playing great, but to come back after that, you know that they're going to feel good about their game. Hopefully we can take advantage of it as a group and follow along."
