It's been some kind of turnaround in the playoffs for Schwartz. He is second in the NHL with 12 goals in 18 games, behind Sharks forward Logan Couture (14), after scoring 11 goals in 69 regular-season games.
Schwartz, who also had a hat trick in a 3-2 win against the Winnipeg Jets in Game 6 of the first round, is the first player in Blues history with multiple hat tricks in a single postseason and the first to do so in the NHL since Johan Franzen did it with the Detroit Red Wings in 2008.
"That's something you don't really think about before the game," Schwartz said about getting a hat trick. "You're just kind of preparing the way you usually do and get focused for the game and help the team. Sometimes you get some bounces your way and you never score a goal by yourself. You need your linemates, your D, Jordan Binnington | Blues not ready to punch Cup Final ticket yet]*
Tarasenko, who converted the first penalty shot in Blues history at 6:53 of the second period to make it 3-0, has enhanced the line's effectiveness by playing a physical role.
"It's huge," Schwartz said. "For a guy to score as many goals as he does, to do all the little things goes a long way. Watching from the bench, watching other players sacrifice and work, it kind of builds momentum for everyone, it builds energy. When your leading goal-scorer's getting to the net, being physical and bringing energy, it wears off on everyone else. And this time of year, it's huge."
Berube put the Schwartz-Schenn-Tarasenko line back together in Game 6 of the second round against the Dallas Stars, when the Blues were trailing that series 3-2. St. Louis is 5-2 since.
"I feel when we're skating, moving our feet, tight defensively, we're hard to play against and that kind of leads to us supporting each other, taking care of pucks and getting our forecheck going," Schenn said. "Forecheck is a huge part of our game, cycle game's kind of how we score a lot of our goals. I think just moving our feet and hard to play against is part of our game."
