ST. LOUIS -- Hey, hey, hey. HEY! Would everyone remain calm, please?
"We need to rise up," said Shark forward Joe Pavelski. "No one's backing down."
"When things get really tough and physical," said St. Louis Blues forward T.J. Oshie, "that's when we're at our best."
No. Guess everyone won't remain calm.
"What do you expect?" Pavelski said. "We both want to win."
Saturday night, the Sharks and Blues also wanted to shove and punch and slam into each other questionably, within or without the rules. The end result was a 3-0 victory by St. Louis to tie up the series at one game each. We'll see on Monday night, when the Game 3 puck drops at HP Pavilion, if the hostilities carry over.
You could see those hostilities simmering as Saturday's game progressed. It began with a goofy St. Louis goal and was followed by many minutes of exhilarating tight-checking hockey with great chances by both teams. But when the Blues added on a goal and took a 2-0 lead into the third period, the nastiness really erupted.
After a series of ugly fender-benders that resulted in nine penalties, including a blatant charging penalty by Sharks' agitator TJ Galiardi and a roughing call against the Blues' David Backes, emotions really boiled over when the final horn blew.
Gloves and helmets flew off and turned the ice into a yard sale. Various Sharks and Blues wrestled and fought and were assessed 15 more penalties -- including two game
misconducts on both sides. Officials needed five minutes to separate players and finally send them to their dressing rooms.It's a good thing this was not Game 7. The post-series handshake line would have needed a security force and paramedics.
Todd McLellan, the Shark head coach, minced no words when he was asked about the fracas after the game clock had expired, focusing specifically on one element of the melee -- a fist that Blues' forward Vladimir Sobotka launched without warning into the chops of Shark centerman Dominic Moore, who went down as if he'd been shot.
"If you're talking about the instigator, the sucker punch, the blow to the head, the broken nose -- what do you think I thought of it?" McLellan said. "It's everything we're trying to get rid of. The rest of it in the corner? The men that looked at each other and got at it? That's part of playoff hockey. The sucker punch is unacceptable."
Ken Hitchcock, the Blues' coach, said he didn't see the punch in question and offered only this remark about the other rough stuff: "Boys will be boys."
And will continue to be, for at least three and probably four or five more games. This shows every indication of being a long series.
Which is why, in taking a step back from Saturday's fracas, it's important for the Sharks to realize that they are returning home to San Jose with pretty much what they needed from their trip to Missouri. The beloved Los Tiburones split the first two games of the series on the Blues' home rink. It means the series is now best-of-five, with three of the five potential remaining games set for HP Pavilion.
The Sharks won Thursday's Game 1 in overtime. And while they lost Saturday, they gave the Blues their first goal on a misplay by defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic and allowed the last goal on a late-game 5-on-3 power play.
Only one of the Blues' goals was a 5-on-5 production -- and it was a beauty, created by Oshie on some fancy moves and a perfect pass to David Backes. But the Sharks had many good chances and carried the play at times.
Neither team, in other words, has established itself as the dominant one. So it's still anyone's series.
As for the crazy violence of Saturday, that was probably to be expected, as well. The Sharks believe they can be the more physical team and wanted to see how the younger Blues would react.
Hitchcock said his team "grew up" by responding in kind -- although in truth, both teams occasionally stepped over the line. Shark defenseman Brent Burns snapped a glove into the face of Blues' centerman Scott Nichol. Dan Boyle, the veteran Sharks defender, took exception to a high hit by the Blues' Alexander Steen and engaged Steen in a scrum that was officially ruled "roughing" instead of a "fight" with 48 seconds left in the third. It earned Boyle an early tip to the dressing room.
This explains why, when someone sought Boyle's view of the wildness when the scoreboard hit zero, he couldn't respond.
"I didn't see what happened at the end," Boyle said at his locker."I was in here."
Will the passionate chaos wind up helping or hurting the Sharks as we move ahead? Most likely, neither. In the past, critics of the Sharks have called them too docile and unwilling to stand up for each other. That definitely wasn't the case Saturday.
Of course, hockey has such exasperating unwritten protocol. And in many ways, a player or a team can't win the etiquette battle. For instance, if your opponent starts unloading questionable hits and you stay poised and play hard but still lose, your team is called soft. But if you respond by punching back and still lose, your team is called undisciplined.
On the other hand, if you respond by doing either of those things and win the game, then your team is called ... wait for it ... playoff-savvy. Monday night, the Sharks need to be playoff-savvy.
Contact Mark Purdy at mpurdy@mercurynews.com or 408-920-5092.
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