BenFred: Blues bite in defeat of first match | Ben Frederickson

On average, they have missed one set each along the way to the Western Conference finals. There was the terrible game 3 of the first round at home against Winnipeg. There was the brutal match 4 in the second round on the road against Dallas. But the 6-3 defeat on Saturday night in the first game at SAP Center was the worst thing.

Mainly because we do not know how it will end, right? And because a crushed toe is even worse than a step in the race. But also because common sense says that this type of performance probably becomes more expensive as competition improves.

When you are part of the remaining four teams, it is quite possible to play your best game without losing. And that is perhaps what happens to the Blues. If so, so be it. There is no shame in losing so at this point, but there will be many if the Blues continue to lose in this way. If the Blues do not escape in their debut, the players closest to the Stanley Cup this season will see it circumnavigate this arena before the match on Saturday, trying and teasing these two organizations as always, but never to theirs. reach. Only one team played the kind of hockey Saturday that could change his fate. It was not the blues.

The Sharks did not dominate Match 1. They did not need it. They just took what the Blues had given them, time and time again.

Every decisive moment began with an error or game that was not done and that will cause coach Craig Berube to chew his chewing gum when he will watch the movie.

Defender Alex Pietrangelo's inability to stay on his feet during a Timo Meier check in the first half sparked San Jose's first goal rush. No, it was not a missed penalty on Meier. At least not since this siege in the press, here with the dusty bundles that block half of the view on the ice. The Blues captain just needs to be tougher over there or get rid of the puck before taking the shot.

"We managed to get past them," Logan Couture said, referring to the game that set his goal. Shots were fired.

Two unfortunate Blues penalties gave the Sharks a 5-on-3 power play in the first period that scored Joe Pavelski's goal of giving the Sharks a 2-to-1 lead, thus establishing San Jose's lead. has never been capitalized. Before the match, Bérubé had congratulated his players for their discipline. A group that had spent 126 minutes without committing a penalty committed the first three games of this match. The first two proved to be expensive. The interference call against Jay Bouwmeester was a little soft, of course. Colton Parayko's slash that followed, while the Blues were already trying to suppress the first sentence, was just a nonsense moment. There should be no debate on the call. Just look at the evidence: Evander Kane's broken staff. If you give the Sharks a power play of 5 to 3, they will score. Following.

Joel Edmundson's ineffective and confusing pass in the neutral zone could have been an assist for Kevin Labanc's goal in the second period, which put the score at 3-1 Sharks. The chipped puck, aimed at a portion of the ice that contained a ton of teal, not blue, was knocked down by Joe Thornton and sent forward for the score. Oops.

Sorry to play against Parayko, but it was his turnover that wiped out his teammate Ryan O'Reilly's second-half goal and set up Meier's response barely a minute and a half later. Parayko lost the puck in favor of Couture and his teammate, defender Jay Bouwmeester, was too slow to catch up. Meier's finish was both beautiful and unstoppable. The series of events that allowed it was totally preventable.

The second goal of Meier's match was not as good, but he counted anyway. No, no help was given to Vince Dunn, even though the puck rebounded and returned to the game. Okay, okay, OK? But it was a goal that let him confirm that he was trying to score, not pass. Brutal.

At the moment, the Sharks had a 5-2 lead, the Blues were starting to push behind the whistles and it became clear that the game was setting the tone for future games. In this department, the Blues have been rather successful.

"This third period we had our game," said Bérubé. "We were aggressive, we were on failure before, controlling the puck in the offensive zone. We did not get enough tonight.

Berube remains stuck with goaltender Jordan Binnington despite rumors that he's being replaced by Jake Allen, in doing so he cleverly keeps the veil on any debate over the coach's loss of confidence towards the novice player after a bad night. Tyler Bozak scored, which is another good sign for the third line of the Blues. Robert Bortuzzo defeated Barclay Goodrow to make sure the Sharks had scars in their win. Of course, all this was too little, too late. It was over well before the Sharks' last goal on a net.

An excerpt from Bérubé's pre-match press conference seems relevant. Asked what will determine the outcome of the first match, Bérubé is dead.

"It's hard to say what will be the decisive factor," he said. "It will probably be better."

It would be nice to see what team wins when the Blues do not fight.