After 10 long years, the Blues turned their playoff fortune around in 45 quick seconds against the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night. Seeking to win their first postseason series since 2002, and with those chances diminishing late in the third period, the Blues received back-to-back goals from Jamie Langenbrunner and David Perron for the team’s first lead, and Andy McDonald added an empty-netter for a 3-1 victory in Game 5.
The Blues, who were backstopped Brian Elliott’s 26 saves, wrapped up the Western Conference first-round series 4-1, advancing to the second round of the playoffs against an opponent to be determined.
“It gave me chills at the end of the game, with the crowd and knowing that we’re going on,” said defenseman Barret Jackman, who is the longest- tenured Blue on the roster. “It’s a stepping stone of a long journey ahead.”
In the third period, after San Jose’s Joe Thornton put the Sharks ahead 1-0 late in the second period, it appeared the Blues’ journey was headed for an early-morning flight back to HP Pavilion for Game 6 on Monday.
The story of the series was the ability of the Blues’ No. 1 line to negate the Sharks’ top line and receive contributions from their No. 2 line. But after two periods, Thornton had scored for the Sharks and the Blues’ second line of McDonald, Patrik Berglund and Alex Steen, which came into Game 5 with a total of 16 points, had no shots on goal.
Blues coach Ken Hitchcock swapped his centers, moving Berglund with T.J. Oshie and Perron and putting David Backes with Steen and McDonald in the third period. Hitchcock said the tip to make the move came from assistant coach Scott Mellanby.
“Thank God, he suggested it on the bench to me,” Hitchcock said. “He said, ‘I think it’s time to flip the centers again, we need a different energy going.’ And it worked. That’s the second time it worked in this series. Flipping the centers gave them new focus, new energy. We practice that way and the guys were ready for it.”
Perron scored his first goal of the playoffs, with 7:59 left in regulation, deflecting a shot by Alex Pietrangelo past San Jose goalie Antti Niemi. McDonald and Berglund assisted on the goal for their eighth and seventh points of the series, respectively.
“I think (Pietrangelo) shot that one wide on purpose for me to get a stick on it,” Perron said. “I did, and it ended up going in. That was a real exciting feeling.”
But the goal would have had no chance to be the game-winner with more dogged work from the Blues’ fourth line. After B.J. Crombeen scored a key goal Thursday in Game 4, Langenbrunner and Scott Nichol converted a rush, with Langenbrunner banking in the rebound for a 1-1 score with 8:44 left in regulation.
The game was tight throughout, with Elliott responsible for keeping the Blues involved. However, the Sharks broke the ice with 41 seconds left to go in the second period.
Thornton netted his second straight goal for his club, also giving him a hand in the team’s last five goals in the series.
Teammate Torrey Mitchell whiffed on a shot in front, sending the puck behind the Blues’ net. Daniel Winnik took control and halted his initial path around the net, forcing defenseman Pietrangelo to chase him back the other way. He fed Thornton in the slot, and Thornton beat Elliott for a 1-0 advantage.
The late-period goal was unfortunate for the Blues, but it was a development that was brewing after the Sharks turned up their offensive intensity late in the second period.
“We came into the dressing room and we were very calm,” Jackman said. “We knew that we did a lot of good things in the first two periods and we knew it wasn’t going to be easy. We knew we had to overcome some adversity and we didn’t stray from our game plan.”
Elliott believed, even after Thornton’s goal, that if he kept the Blues alive, something would break for the club.
It did. And then it did again.
“You sensed once we got one, then we’re going to get another one,” Elliott said. “It came pretty fast. The tides turned pretty quickly. You’re not looking at the bench, waiting for the call to come over the extra attacker. It was a change (of events) that I haven’t seen really before.”
And the fans finally breathed a sigh of relief.
“In the introduction in the first period, they cheered for us, but they said, ‘Could you get to the end of the game?’” Hitchcock said. “That was the feeling we had on the bench. I thought the explosion when we scored the second goal … the joy and explosion that happened in this building was unbelievable. It was 50 percent joy in my opinion and 50 percent relief.
“I think the fans carried the tension of something bad is going to happen, and I know what that is like. But, man, when we scored that second goal, that roof came right off. Then, you saw joy. People an hour later still didn’t want to leave the building. That just shows you, to me, where that fan base is at now. … They can now enjoy hockey rather than live in the disappointment of not getting through first round or even not getting in the playoffs.”
