I don't think we looked lethargic at all. We dominated from puck drop and even though we were down 3-1, never stopped. Had Crawford gave up 3 goals on 6 shots everyone would have had a cow, but Emery gets the pass. The Hawks had some great chances in the 1st, Halak was tested quite often and he was able to come up with the save facing over double the chances Emery had faced. For the majority of the period, and the game, the Blues were pinned in their own zone. Crawford comes in and made it look easy, but he faced some great quality chances as well, including quite a few tipped pucks. You gotta make those tough saves, out-shooting the Blues 13-6 in the 1st, the Hawks easily could have crawled back into their shell but they didn't give up and they weren't intimidated, they kept true to the game plan. The only thing that changed between the 1st period and the final 2 periods was our goaltender.
We must have been watching different games...I went back on hockeystreams and watched just the first 4 minutes...these are specific things I saw:
19:23, Seabs pinches and gives the puck away. Nobody was sliding back
to cover him and a 2-on-1 resulted. Hossa began below the goal line
and RACED back to mess up the rush. When the puck was turned over
as had 4 Hawks below the bottom of the circle. (Team not awake / aware.)
19:04, Seabs takes the puck with time and launches straight to a Blues
player in the center zone with no Hawk in the area. Not what a puck
possession team does.
18:53, Oduya puts the puck right on Bolland's stick and he pukes it to
StL in the slot.
18:35, Bickell makes a nice play to grab a rebound, but Shaw is clear
over on his side of the ice. When Bickell wraps it around, Shaw is still
out of position and the puck does not get out.
18:28, We should have had the puck out again, but Bolland puked the pass
from Bickell. Bickell fights it out anyway. Nice shift for him--3 good
plays in his own end.
18:03, Hawks defenseman has nobody open except a D-to-D pass and decides
to throw the puck to StL in the neutrel zone rather than tossing to his
partner to look for different passing angles and more time so we can keep
the puck.
17:28, Hjammer tried a simple D-D pass (though Kane was covering D) and
it is way off target, effectively becoming a dump in for StL.
17:22, Kane flips the puck toward a covered Hossa and a loose puck results
in the center zone and Kaner does a fly-by and gets beat. We were locking
nicely though and snuffed the play and that led to the 1-0 goal.
16:45, Keith made 2 really nice stick checks.
16:39, if you freeze this Bolland has the puck, Shaw is in the middle,
Seabs even with them on the far side. Shaw is going to the low area off
the left side of the net looking for a pass or rebound, Bolland Shoots
to the right side of the net and there is a rebound but Shaw was not in
the dirty area screening or getting the rebound. Seabrook take a giant
figure skating loop going all the way below the goal line for now apparent
reason. 3 players working on 3 different agendas here.
16:17, Seabs hits Bruno with a pass, it bounces off of him but he takes
a turn to come back to the puck, not a stop and start. StL has to puck
now.
16:13, Hjammer's fly by...COME ON! HIT HIM!!!!
16:12, Hjammer screens Emery and deflects the first StL goal.
That's just the first 4 minutes...don't have time to go on...that's the kind of
stuff I am referring to in the first period.
