The puck seemed to bounce a lot during the first period, but the Blues’ Ben Kramer took a pass from Mike Williams at the 6:34 mark and put away a Power Play goal to give the Blue and Gold a 1 – 0 lead. Both teams were up and down the ice as the puck went back and forth throughout the period. Just two penalties were called during the first twenty minutes and both were on the Hitmen. The Blues went 1 for 2 on the man advantage. Play was a bit ragged as the bouncing puck made finesse non-existent.
The Blues continue to miss pass after pass and the puck continues to bounce around on the ice. The Hitmen scored twice and the Blues once to be at 2 – 2 at the second intermission. If the Blue and Gold are to win this game they will have to step up their game on both sides of the red line. The defense needs to start hitting and the offense needs to handle the puck better. Coach Dibble needs to rally his troops, and the Blues need to slow down the Chicago attack. Period two was up and down the ice in a big hurry so we’ll see how the Blues respond when they come out for the third period.
It was more race horse hockey in the third period and neither team was able to score. It was tied 2 – 2 at the end of regulation so the game went to overtime.
Neither team could score in the overtime so the game went to a shootout. Walters started the shootout with a goal, followed by Cook after a Mike Williams miss. Radim Matus finished it off with a goal to win the game for the Blues.
The same two teams meet again tomorrow in a 2:30 game to wrap up this three game series.
