Jaroslav Halak stops 29 as St. Louis Blues shutout Chicago Blackhawks 3-0 -NHL Match Update
St. Louis goalie, Jaroslav Halak, and Chicago goaltender, Corey Crawford, might have faced nearly the same amount of shots, but as the former fell short on three, Halak did not slip and blocked all 29 to shutout the Blackhawks and lead the Blues to victory
on Tuesday night, November 8, 2011, at the sold-out Scottrade Center in Saint Louis, Missouri, United States.
It was certainly a perfect way to debut as newly hired St. Louis head coach, Ken Hitchcock, coached his first game with the National Hockey League (NHL) franchise after being hired by the Blues general manager, Doug Armstrong, on Sunday.
"I think far and away the weakest player was me", the 59-year-old Hitchcock said. "I'm going to have to get a little bit further up to speed because it was a playoff atmosphere with a playoff-style game".
Vladimir Sobotka opened his scoring for his first of the season and the night against Chicago nearly midway through.
Chris Stewart took advantage of a power play awarded to the team 20 seconds into the second as Chicago’s, Daniel Carcillo, was penalised with a minor penalty for kneeing and potted his third of the season to extend their lead even further.
T.J. Oshie scored his fourth of the season 13:54 into the third and final period with less than seven minutes remaining to play in regulation, which was ultimately the insuring goal of the contest for the St. Louis Blues.
"When the coaching change happened, we just needed to look in the mirror and ask yourself if that was the best you had", said Halak, who improved to 2-6 on the season and lowered his GAA to 2.91 and his save percentage to .879. "If you look at the guys,
everybody did their best. Hopefully, we can start again where we left off".
Liking their simple style of play which helped them override the opposing team, St. Louis is hopeful of continuing the momentum as they play another game at home against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday, while the 2010 Stanley Cup champions, Chicago Blackhawks,
pay a visit to Columbus to face-off against the Blue Jackets the same day.
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