Los Angeles Kings looking to put St. Louis Blues on verge of elimination in Game 3 -NHL Preview
If Jonathan Quick can continue his amazing goaltending along with players like Mike Richards and Anze Kopitar continuing to play the aggressive offence, Los Angeles Kings could be putting St. Louis Blues on the verge of elimination come Game 3 of the 2012
National Hockey League (NHL) Stanley Cup Western Conference Playoff Semi-Finals.
But if St. Louis’ Brian Elliott can show the performance that got him in his first ever All-Star Game and fixated him as the league’s top goalie at the end of the regular season, than Blues might just be ready to bounce back and make this series even more
intense.
St. Louis is one of those few teams that actually plays well on the road and sometimes, perform even better under the pressure of the foreign crowd. Hoping to continue with their unique ways, Blues are focused on the goal at hand and for now, that is to
avoid being put on the edge of being ousted.
"It's good to get away from home and all the people that told us how good we were all year," Blues’ David Backes said. "We've had a little trouble dealing with success, with all the talk about Presidents' trophies and Jennings trophies ... and now we're
stumbling on our toes."
A great season, ending atop their own division and now in the semi-finals, St. Louis Blues are definitely not planning on going down so easy.
"We've had times in the season where we've all bought in, and we've had times when we're half in, half out," said Backes. "That's where we are right now. ... Enough is enough, and we've got to determine as a group if we're going to attack this thing, or
if we're going to tuck tail and run."
Whatever the situation might be, Kings also have some positive aspects backing them for the next contest. For starters, Los Angeles has won all games on the road so far in the postseason with three wins in Vancouver’s Rogers Arena and now two straight at
the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.
Both teams have exceptional strategies of bouncing back and either one could take the win.
Game 3 is scheduled to start on Thursday, May 3, 2012, at the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles at 7:00 PM ET.
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