NHL Update – St. Louis Blues win 4-1 against the Chicago Blackhawks
The 74th game of the NHL preseason witnessed the St. Louis Blue host the Chicago Blackhawks. The game took place Thursday night at the Scottrade Centre. Around 12,000 fans were present and cheer their home team to victory.
First period
The early part of the first period saw the Chicago Blackhawks, the defending champions dominate the proceedings.
The defending champions came up with pin point passing along with play making skills that showed why they won the Stanley Cup last season. Shots came in rare for the St. Louis Blue’s in the opening period. The Chicago Blackhawks were able to come up with
a tight, non-porous defensive backline that was very difficult to break past. The St. Louis Blues managed to get past it quite a few times but weren’t able to score during the course of the period.
The period ended with the score all level at 0-0. The home team, St. Louis Blues were able to make only 5-goal attempts. The Chicago Blackhawks managed to fire 14 shots but none were able to find the back of the net.
Second period
The second period saw some sort of urgency in both teams game for scoring. Though, they wanted to score but this didn’t result in ragged plays or teams losing possession. Both teams attacked, and this resulted in some splendid NHL action to watch.
Coupled with this was that neither of the teams was weak on the defence that made the game all the more exciting. When Chicago Blackhawks started to dominate play once again, they scored in the 8th minute thanks to the St. Louis Blues defender
who deflected the puck into his own net.
The goal came thanks to a Ben Smith shot fired from 17 feet. The home team didn’t back down from the challenge and managed to score in the 11th minute after executing a perfect move. The puck was netted by David Perron from a snap off from 7 feet.
The Chicago Blackhawks from then onwards came up with numerous shots directed towards the opposition goal but didn’t score. The St. Louis Blues goal keeper, Jaroslav Halak was the hero after he stopped 8 potential goal scoring shots.
The St. Louis Blues scored again in the 18th minute thanks to perfect finish by T.J Oshie from 12 feet on a fast break. This put the home team in the lead with the score on 2-1. During the last 2 minutes St. Louis Blues managed to come up with
plenty of shots but weren’t able to score.
The period ended with the St. Louis Blues scoring twice out of the 10 goal attempts. The Chicago Blackhawks also managed 10 shots out of which one found the back of the net.
Third period
Continuing from where they left, the St. Louis Blues dominated play from the start and managed to score once again in the 3rd minute. The goal was scored by the Matt D’Agostini from 27 feet. This put the St. Louis Blues in a comfortable position
leading 3-1.
The Chicago Blackhawks didn’t stop and managed to come up with shot that could have gone in the goal if it hadn’t been for Jaroslav Halak, the St. Louis Blues goalkeeper. The Chicago Blackhawks dominated majority of the play during the third period, but
it didn’t prove to be a productive period in terms of goals for the Blackhawks.
However, the St. Louis Blues scored once again through a countered attack. The puck was netted by Alexander Steen in the 19th minute and secured the victory for the St. Louis Blues with the score on 4-1.
During the course of the last period the St. Louis Blues managed to score twice out of the 11 shots, whereas the Chicago Blackhawks managed 7 unsuccessful shots.
Regarding Jaroslav Halak coach Davis Payne said, "I thought he was real solid out there tonight, and frankly, he needed to be. The only one that got by him was one that was tipped. He looked like he was tracking well, moving well."
The star selection Jorslav Halak said "I felt better, especially because I got some shots early in the game. I think most goalies want to get shots early in the game. It gets them in the game, and that's what happened tonight with me."
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