Elliott stars as Blues edge out Sharks

Elliott made 16 of his 31 saves in the second period as the Blues beat San Jose 2-1, leaving St. Louis three wins from their first Stanley Cup finals appearance since 1970. "They need to call the game accordingly we need to make them pay a price for being one of the most penalized teams in the league on the power play, which we didn't last night".

The San Jose Sharks couldn't have had any worse luck than they did in their series opener of the Western Conference final and in the end it cost them the game as they dropped to the Blues by a 3-1 final and now have to play their way back into the series on Tuesday night.

St. Louis Blues fans cheer in the final seconds of the third period in Game 1 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Western Conference finals, Sunday, May 15, 2016, in St. Louis.

The Sharks were stressing earlier Sunday the importance of staying out of the penalty box against a Blues power play that's been nearly as good as their own through the first two rounds of the playoffs.

It all underscores how big a role special teams figures to play in the outcome of a close series, as the Sharks went 0 for 3 on the power play in Sunday's Game 1, and the Blues went 1 for 2 in their 2-1 victory. "Well, we were told not to whine for calls, so we're not going to whine for calls". In Game 5, four penalties were called, three against Los Angeles and one against San Jose. "Just gets you more in the game, I think". Hitchcock said. "Well, we were told not to whine for calls, so we're not going to whine for calls". Well make some adjustments and off we go.”. "We'll play the game, we'll play it the right way, we'll play it honest, but we'll play it hard, let the refs decide".

"I found watching our players, it was exhausting", Hitchcock said.

But the Blues scored the period's only goal, capitalizing on a giveaway with Jori Lehtera beating Martin Jones for what became the winning goal. But Backes only set that record because the Joe Thornton line had the puck on a string whenever the two were matched against each other and he spent the night chasing Sharks all over the ice.

On that play most of the Oilers were living in the Red Light Zone, that space in the defensive end where you're not covering the man with the puck and not covering anyone else.

Both teams seemed to sense they might be in for a long haul, perhaps a seven-game marathon. The Sharks dispatched the Kings in five games in the first round but needed seven to eliminate the Predators and earn a first trip to the conference final in five years.

My take on game 1 and the rest of the series.

San Jose coach Peter DeBoer said: "It was a knuckle shot". “Get the last game out of your head and focus on the next game. We'll see if that changes now that the two teams have had a chance to size one another up-and that the officials have heard DeBoer's challenge. Hes 4-0 with a 1.29 goals-against average and. He has played well in the first two games of the series, but the Lightning are hoping to get starter Ben Bishop back in the lineup after he suffered an injury in Game 1. Captain David Backes had a game-high 11 hits. The second unit has Fabbri and Troy Brouwer on the wings with Paul Stastny in the middle and Alex Pietrangelo and Colton Parayko on defense. "It was a big topic for us all week".

"They have a unsafe power play, so the key for is going to be not giving them the ability to play the power play", Sharks forward Tommy Wingels said.

"I'm confident he'll be available at some point in the series", DeBoer said of Nieto.

Shots were 32-23 for the Sharks and the disparity in quality scoring chances was more lopsided than that.