It was almost broken record time. The St. Louis Blues secured a lead, sat back on it and were nearly overwhelmed in embarrassing fashion. Instead of completing the meltdown and allowing the Minnesota Wild to force Game 6, Magnus Paajarvi and Vladimir Sobotka teamed up to push the Blues into the next round.
That’s right – Paajarvi and Sobotka are your Game 5 overtime heroes, combining to beat Devan Dubnyk when all of the momentum seemed to be in Minnesota’s corner. It feels pretty ridiculous to write that these two were responsible for such a big moment this year considering just a few months ago Paajarvi was still an outcast banished to the AHL while Sobotka wasn’t even on the roster a few weeks ago.
And yet, here we are with the duo combining for the biggest goal of the season.
While it’s fun to celebrate the win and appreciate that the Blues didn’t need another Game 7 to vanquish an opponent (that seemed to be the trend last year), there’s a lot that this team must work on before facing the Nashville Predators. Those points will be covered on a different day in a different article, so for now let’s all enjoy the rest of our weekend and celebrate the fact the Blues are moving on.
This victory should taste extra sweet considering the Blackhawks didn’t win a single playoff game this year.
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