The Roundup- Stanley Cup Playoffs Edition: May 14/19

ST LOUIS BLUES 4 SAN JOSE SHARKS 2- (Series tied 1-1)

The Sharks let a spectacular night from Logan Couture go to waste as they dropped Game 2 to the St Louis Blues 4-2. The Blues got things going early with a goal from who else but Jaden Schwartz:

So, maybe the Sharks ought to (and bear in mind that I’m just spitballin’ here), not give Schwartz that much time and space in the slot? Just a thought. They’d end the period with a 1-0 lead, and then Vince Dunn would make it 2-0 early in the middle frame:

And with that 2 goal lead it really looked like the Blues had things in control. No one told Logan Couture that, and he answered back with this short-handed beauty:

And he wasn’t done there, as he strikes again just after the Sharks finish killing off the penalty:

Forget Tuukka Rask, this guy is your Conn Smythe favorite in my opinion. Just a ridiculous pace, and he could conceivably break the record for most goals in a playoff year if they make the finals. So they’re all knotted up and feeling good. They have the momentum and the Blues have to be second-guessing themselves. So why on earth do you let a guy like Robert Bortuzzo score a goal like this?

The Blues would put it out of reach in the 3rd with this nice one from Oskar Sundqvist:

Holy smokes that pass from Alexander Steen was absolutely sick! Game 3 goes tomorrow in St Louis.

TEAM CANADA (2-0-0-1) 6 TEAM SLOVAKIA (1-0-0-2) 5

Mark Stone celebrated his 27th birthday in style, scoring the game winner with one second left on the clock to give Canada a 6-5 win over the host Slovakian team. Canada battled back from a two goal deficit twice in the game.

The Slovaks got the crowd on their feet in the first on this goal from Mates Sukel:

Former Kitchener Rangers F Adam Liska then made it 2-0 just over a minute later and it looked like Alain Vigneault’s team was in for a long night:

Coming off a 5 point performance against Great Britain on Sunday Anthony Mantha kept his terrific run going with the first goal of the night for Canada:

He then sets up Shea Theodore who gets one by Slovakian goalie Patrik Rybar to tie it 2-2 after one period:

In the 2nd things continued to be a little crazy, and Ladislav Nagy gave the Slovaks the lead again:

Bad bounce for Troy from Richmond there, but he’ll make amends later in the game. Liska would strike again and restore the 2 goal Slovakian lead, and it was starting to look like maybe they made a mistake starting Matt Murray after Carter Hart had the shutout in the previous game:

It didn’t take Canada long to respond, though. Thomas Chabot would set up Jonathan Marchessault on the power play to make it 4-3:

And a minute and a half later it’s the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Anthony Cirelli from Sam Reinhart and Theodore and the game is tied 4-4:

The Slovaks responded when Montreal’s Tomas Tatar scored, but the goal was challenged by the Canadian bench for goaltender interference and this one, while it took a while for them to decide, was pretty clearly not a legal goal:

That set the stage for our boy Troy, as he gives Canada it’s first lead of the day:

That would be the end of Rybar’s night, as Slovakian coach Craig Ramsay would pull him in favour of Marek Ciliak. On to the 3rd, and the Slovaks would tie it up as Martin Marincen sets up Sukel for his 2nd of the game:

Mantha took a slashing penalty with about 6 minutes to go, and it looked like Slovakia was going to get the chance to retake the lead but Martin and the Canadian PK came through bigtime. And just as it looked like this one would head to overtime, Erik Cernak was called for tripping with just 1:14 remaining and the lethal Canadian PP went to work.

Needless to say, the crowd wasn’t happy about how it all played out, and littered the ice with coins and trash, also throwing stuff at the Canadian bench. They also booed the Canadian anthem. The Canadians lost Brandon Montour to an undisclosed injury, and with one open roster spot and two days off, they could call someone over to fill the hole on the back end before the game against Team France on Thursday. After that they face Germany on Saturday, Denmark Monday and the much-anticipated showdown with Quinn Hughes and Team USA a week from today to wrap up the round robin portion of the tournament.