Blues coach Ken Hitchcock suggested that this series might not be as much of a low-scoring affair as people are predicting. Perhaps not, but Game 1 at least was the goaltending duel that almost everyone anticipated it would be.
Jonathan Quick and Brian Elliott allowed a combined three goals and the Kings also got an empty netter in their 3-1 victory over St. Louis.
Here’s a few post-game notes:
- The Blues spent eight of the final 20 minutes of the game killing off penalties. St. Louis didn’t allow a power-play goal, but it’s still very hard to stage a comeback under those circumstances.
- The squads’ combined shots total for the first period was 24, but they only managed 33 shots on goal for the remainder of the game.
- Blues’ defenseman Alex Pietrangelo was boarded by Dwight King in the second period and left the game.
- Slava Voynov and Matt Greene each netted their first goal of the playoffs for Los Angeles.