Coaches and Teammates on Vladimir Tarasenko: “He’s an Elite”

Vladimir Tarasenko’s burst last night brought the lead to his St. Louis Blues in the series against the Dallas Stars.

The 27-year old Russia scored twice, and his Blues won 3-2. This was his 7th postseason multi-goal game and is now tied on the franchise all-time list with Bernie Federko in that category.

His teammate, center Ryan O’Reilly praised Tarasenko after the match, saying that the Russian is one of few players who can produce wonders on the ice on their own, without the help of others.

“It’s amazing how he can make something out of nothing,” O’Reilly said. “That’s just him. He’s one of the few people in the game that can turn it on and make those amazing plays.”

Tarasenko was the first player who managed to beat Dallas’ goalie Ben Bishop on a power play in this playoff. Up until last night, the Stars were 15 of 15 when killing penalties, and that stretch finally ended. And it happened in the best possible time for the Blues.

Brayden Schenn made a cross-ice pass and the right winger just snapped a wrist shot which went through Bishop’s legs. The five-hole goal was a bit lucky, but what wasn’t is the that the Blues scored on a power play. They have been intensively working on that segment of the game and focused on it especially after hearing that the Stars are their next rival in the playoffs.

“We talk a lot about our power play in practices,” Tarasenko said after the contest.

His second of the game came with 3:51 into the final period. And that one was a masterpiece. He took the puck near the center, stormed towards the goal easily got rid of Stars’ defensemen and once again beat Bishop, who couldn’t do anything this time.

It was simply, unstoppable.

“Just God-given talent,” Blues coach Craig Berube said after the game about his player.

Visitors’ coach Jim Montgomery also didn’t spare kind words for Tarasenko.

“Well, I mean he’s an elite player, he’s an elite goal scorer,” Montgomery said.

After that third goal, the home team stopped a little bit, the attention shifted from Tarasenko onto the goalie Jordan Binnington, who was superb on several occasions.

Though he did concede a goal, when Jamie Benn netted with 2:17 until the end of the match, Binnington was the defensive hero of the Blues.

Throughout the entire third period, and especially in the final two minutes, the guests from Dallas were aggressive and they had the initiative in the ice. Blues goalie had 16 of his total 27 saves in that sequence alone, so you might imagine under what kind of a pressure he went through.

That is precisely what Montgomery said after the game.

“I thought we had traffic in front of Binnington. I didn’t think it was an easy night for him,” Montgomery said.

Still, Blues goaltender didn’t want to put himself in the first plan, but instead praised the defensive line, saying that when they play like last night, it is a pleasure to be behind them.

“Just good discipline, good back checking, good tracking and awareness in the D-zone. It’s good to be a goalie on this team.”

Game 2 will take place this Saturday at 3 p.m. at Enterprise Center. Last night’s victory was the first one for the hosts after two straight Dallas had during the regular part of the season.

Both of them were a bit frustrating for St. Louis as they lost with 5-2 in Texas and 1-4 here in Missouri. This indicates that Stars know how to win here, and having in mind that they did outplay the Blues last night in certain intervals, this second game of the series looks promising for sure.