Blues vs Blackhawks Game 7: Jori Lehtera deflects Bouwemeester shot to give Blues lead (Video)

Early in Game 7 Jori Lehtera deflected a Jay Bouwmeester shot past Corey Crawford to give the Blues an early 1-0 lead.

Entering Game 7 against the Chicago Blackhawks, the St. Louis Blues knew that they needed a huge start to energize their home crowd. A brief delay due to glass issues prevented that at first, but less than a minute into the game, Jori Lehtera sent the Scottrade Center in St. Louis into a frenzy with an early goal via a deflection of a shot from his teammate Jay Bouwmeester.

The Blues have gotten strong starts before in the series and watched them disappear, most notably in Game 6. Still, getting an early goal in Game 7 is exactly what the Blues needed to do to get the crowd into the game and put immediate pressure on the Blackhawks. Scoring the first goal won’t mean anything though if the Blues can’t hang onto it.

Lehtera scored his first goal of the postseason and now has four points (a goal and three assists) in seven games. It was also his first career postseason goal after Lehtera had two assists last postseason. Lehtera had nine goals and 25 assists for 34 points during the regular season. The Blues will need more aggressiveness like Lehtera showed during his goal in order to down the Blackhawks.

For more coverage of the NHL Playoffs, check out the NHL hub page.