The waited 15 years between wins in the Western Conference finals. Despite some tense moments in Game 1 against the Sunday night, the Blues held on for a 2-1 victory for the early series lead. The Sharks had a relentle s attack and made a huge push to tie the game late, but the Blues slowed them down just enough and got another fantastic performance from goalie to earn the big victory in the first conference finals appearance many of the Blues players. Though San Jose carried the play for a lot of the game, there were several key matchups that seemed to work out well for St. Louis, and a few individual performances that were particularly important for St. Louis to come away with a 1-0 series lead. Here are the key takeaways from the Blues' Game 1 win: 1. Blues' focus on defense first pans out: The Blues seemed to head into Game 1 with a plan to make the Sharks' transition game Domantas Sabonis Jersey difficult. They did that with numbers in the neutral zone and kept pa sing lanes clogged. That worked for the most part, but it is a bit of a dangerous game to play against a team like San Jose. Still, it looked like the Blues did just enough to break up some of the Sharks' offensive flow. That was particularly true in the first period, but you could see it started become more and more difficult for St. Louis to sustain as the game wore on. That said, the Blues managed to have a great penalty kill and limited the Sharks' chances despite San Jose's absolutely deadly top power-play unit. With as good as the Sharks are offensively, they still found ways to get chances and at times were able to take advantage of the Blues' defensive strategy when they were finally able to get in the zone. San Jose owned the second period in particular, but had nothing to show for it, mainly because ... 2. Brian Elliott had another huge game for St. Louis, especially late: When you're almost sure to give up 30-plus shots a game, you need your goaltender to be great, and T. J. Leaf Jersey once again Elliott was for the Blues. The veteran netminder made 31 saves and held strong during a 15-shot barrage in the second period and an intense flurry in the final 2:30 of regulation after San Jose pulled their goaltender. Here was one of his best saves, robbing with a toe save in the second period. Joe Pavelski gets robbed by his college teammate Brian Elliott. Cristiano Simonetta (@CMS_74_) In the closing minutes of the third period, two separate net-front scrambles nearly resulted in a goal in the final minutes of regulation, but Elliott held strong and managed to find the puck each time. He's unquestionably been the Blues MVP for the majority of this postseason and absolutely was in Game 1. However, even when you're having a great performance, sometimes you need a few bounces to go your way. Elliott got the benefit of a referee's quick whistle on a puck he never had covered that could have resulted in a Sharks goal in the second period, and got some help from his post and a fortunate angle on the rebound off the pipe to keep the Blues' lead. NHL on NBC (@NHLonNBCSports) 3. probably could've done better with the go-ahead goal: The Blues didn't generate a ton of grade-A chances on Jones, but they got a fortunate bounce on the eventual winner. took advantage of a turnover -- of which there were many Sunday night -- and came speeding down the left wing. Lehtera then wound up and, despite Sharks forward getting his stick up to disrupt the downswing, powered a slap shot that squeezed under Jones' left arm. Sometimes you just have to let it fly. #StanleyCup Playoffs (@NHL) That's one you'd expect Jones to stop. It's one he'd probably expect to stop, too. The Sharks ended up losing the scoring battle in that period 1-0 despite winning the shot battle 16-5. That's a tough pill to swallow, but coach Peter DeBoer didn't want to hang T.J. McConnell Jersey any blame on Jones because the team never picked him up with another goal. 4. The Sharks have a few things to clean up, but were still dangerous: Game 1 can be somewhat deceptive. Both teams have played each other a few times this year, but a lot changes over the course of the postseason. It was pretty clear that the Blues were well prepared to thwart the Sharks' rush game and disrupt their general offensive flow. They did that to an extent, but the Sharks still controlled the puck for the latter two thirds of the game. After the game, Blues coach Ken Hitchcock noted that his team hasn't seen a team like this yet in the postseason. He was especially impre sed with how they played a "heavy game" and still managed to push the pace offensively. San Jose doesn't have a ton of adjustments to make beyond cleaning up some of the mistakes. There were a lot of pa ses that got broken up, like the one Victor Oladipo Jersey that Lehtera ended up scoring on. That's part of the game when you have the puck as much as the Sharks like to. They had to take risks to try to generate some offense, but it wasn't their night thanks in large part to the guy in the big pads at the other end of the ice. 5. scored another big goal: The Blues captain is having an incredible postseason, and that continued Sunday night. He scored his seventh goal of the playoffs, which is two more than he scored over his entire postseason career coming into the 2016 postseason. This time, he got a little lucky. He put his stick up, deflected the puck and replays showed the puck made contact just under the level of the cro sbar. That gave the Blues a 1-0 lead and tied Backes with for the team's goal-scoring lead. Hot tip from Backes to get it going. #StanleyCup Playoffs (@NHL) On top of all that, Backes saw a lot of the Sharks' top line playing alongside and . That's as tough a signment as you can give a forward lineup. Although Backes seems to enjoy getting under Joe Thornton's Brian Bowen Jersey skin (or beard): THEYRE YANKING EACH OTHERS BEARDS Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) 6. This is the first time the Sharks have trailed in a series this year: For the first time in the 2016 playoffs, the Sharks find themselves down a game in a series. For a lot of the players in the room, this isn't the first time they've been in this scenario, but there's a little bit of a different mentality that takes over when you're playing from behind. We'll see how they respond in what becomes a much bigger Game 2. The Blues take Game 1 of the Western Conference finals with a tight win over the Sharks. (USATSI)