Blues Leave Salt Lake With the Better Looks and the Win
Snuggerud, McTavish and Toropchenko all clang iron for St. Louis, while Keller and Lee find the post for Utah.
St. Louis won 1-0 in Utah. The Mammoth had more pucks on net, but the Blues had the better chances.
Utah outshot St. Louis 29-22 and also had more shot attempts. Shot totals do not show how good those chances were. Expected goals measure how many goals a team's chances were worth. By that measure, St. Louis led 3.22 to 2.43. The Blues won the game and had the better chances, even though the shot count went the other way.
Robert Thomas did not get a shot on goal in 22 minutes of ice time. He still led all skaters in the value of his chances. Jake Neighbours was next among the Blues. He had three shots, playing on a line with Mason McTavish and Jonatan Berggren.
The posts and crossbar kept it scoreless for both teams. Pucks hit the iron five times (four posts and one crossbar). Jimmy Snuggerud, McTavish and Alexey Toropchenko all hit iron for St. Louis. Clayton Keller and Anders Lee did the same for Utah. A few inches either way and this game had a very different score.
