Brian Elliott and a lot of luck carry the Blues to Game 1 win

Not even a spectacular dive from Joe Pavelski could keep Brian Elliott from stealing a Game 1 win from the San Jose Sharks. Not even a shot which hit off the post, hit Elliott in the back and miraculously popped over his shoulder instead of falling into the net could stop the Blues.

Realistically, it was a pretty lucky win by the Blues. They were outshot (56 to 42) and were contained within their own zone for vast stretches of the game, including yet another second period which could have been a disaster. The officials also gave the Blues an early whistle which would have been a pretty easy goal for the Sharks. Disallowed goal or not, the Blues were on the good end of a lot of puck luck.

But first, that dive:

Joe Pavelski just jumped into the air. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/MFqXd7O9UK

— Cristiano Simonetta (@CMS_74_) May 16, 2016

The Blues were later on the positive end of a fairly light tripping call which mostly evened things out, but that dive though! 10.0!

Back to the Elliott show:

Moose robs Pavelski. Seems like a good reason to vote #NHL17Tarasenko pic.twitter.com/4zqLQnjXSg

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 16, 2016

Another amazing toe save.

Then there’s this crazy play which seemed to ignore the laws of physics:

How did it hit Elliott and not bounce back into the net?

Let’s not ignore the fact Elliott was really, really good regardless of good bounces.

That’s the story. There were some wild bounces, many of which went the way of the Blues, but Elliott was the difference.

Looking ahead, the Blues did play well for chunks of Game 1, but they’ll need to improve. They survived this one, but they are playing a risky game (again) in front of Elliott. The overall play in the defensive zone needs to be cleaned up (clear the zone if the opportunity is there in favor of the fancy pass, cut down on the turnovers, be more aggressive and make it harder for the Sharks to find space) or things could get ugly.

It’s great to jump out to a Game 1 win, but – like always – there’s a lot to work on. The Blues need to improve their overall effort so that they can overcome the puck luck when it inevitably shifts the Sharks’ way.