INSIDE HOCKEY

The Blues pull off a huge upset victory in a shootout against the Bruins in an afternoon game on Martin Luther King Day. Spurred by David Backes' goal as time expired in regulation, the Blues rallied to 5-4 win. Going into the 3rd tied 2-2, the Bruins scored two late goals to go ahead 4-2. But it wasn't enough to hold off the Blues who scored a goal under two minutes. After Blake Wheeler missed an open netter in the final minute, the Blues skated the puck up the ice with less than 10 seconds to go. The Blues fired a quick shot and a tip by David Backes' found the back of the net as the clock ran out. The play was under review for several minutes, but was ruled a goal and the game went to overtime. The Bruins came up empty in 2 tries in a shootout, and the Blues came away with the victory.

Inside Hockey Photographer Peter Keeling was at the TD Banknorth Garden for the game.

Who says they’re not playoff performers?

Unrestricted free agents Daniel and Henrik Sedin, commonly criticized for their disappearing acts in the playoffs, led Vancouver to a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues Wednesday night at General Motors Place. Daniel scored the game’s first goal midway through the first period, after redirecting Pavol Demitra’s slap pass five-hole on Blues goaltender Chris Mason. Both Sedins assisted on Sami Salo’s early second period power-play marker, which proved to be the game winner. In a highly penalized affair, Vancouver’s penalty killing came up large their best players proved to be just that. Roberto Luongo stopped 25 of 26 shots leading his Canucks to victory in their playoff opener.

Although Luongo was called upon to make several key saves throughout the night, the Blues failed to generate enough traffic in front of the Canucks captain. Most of their scoring chances, which were limited in number, came from the perimeter and Luongo was able to see the puck clearly and therefore control his rebounds for the most part. The Blues lone goal, however, came off a rebound the Canucks goaltender couldn’t control. Brad Boyes found the gaping cage on a power-play late in the second after Luongo stopped Alex Steen’s original shot from the point.

A defining moment in the game, however, came when Brad Boyes and his Blues were unable to capitalize on their 1:42 two-men advantage in the first period. Soon after Daniel Sedin’s first period marker, Mattias Ohlund and Sami Salo - two of Vancouver’s top penalty killers - took consecutive penalties but the Blues were unable to take advantage. Ryan Kesler made three blocks on Brad Boyes and Roberto Luongo made a cross-crease left pad save on Andy McDonald, which proved to be the Blues only shot on their extended power-play.

Both teams will look to cut down on their undisciplined penalties in game two of this Western Conference Quarterfinals series Friday in Vancouver and go back to their respective styles of up-tempo play that enabled them to be amongst the top teams in the NHL since the All-Star break.