St. Louis Blues Lead Chicago Blackhawks 3-1 in Central Division Playoff Matchup

The defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Chicago Blackhawks are facing the St Louis Blues in a Central Division matchup. 

The Blues opened the series at home at the Scottrade Center and battled the Blackhawks in a goalie dual. Both netminders Brian Elliott and Corey Crawford turned away everything thrown at them for more than 60 minutes. 

The Blues took the opener when a David Backes shot deflected off of Blackhawks defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk and past Crawford, 9:04 into the extra period, for the winner. Jay Bouwmeister and Alex Pietrangelo picked up the helpers on the overtime winner. Elliott turned away 35 Blackhawks shots and Crawford stopped 17 by the Blues. 

The Blackhawks were able to take game two and get out of St. Louis with a split as defenseman, Duncan Keith in his return from a suspension, registered two points, a goal and an assist. Vladimir Tarasenko opened the scoring for the Blues at the 15:20 mark of the middle period. Keith was able to respond for the Blackhawks taking a feed from Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, with five seconds left in the second. 

A Successful coaches challenge by the Blackhawks and an unsuccessful one by the Blues helped turn the 1-1 game. Andrew Shaw broke the tie at 4:19 of the final frame, that was upheld after an unsuccessful challenge only minutes after the Blues thought they had taken the 2-1 lead. 

The Blues goal was negated by the successful challenge by Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville, after it was determined that Jori Lehtera was offside before Tarasenko scored. On Shaw’s goal he was able to put the puck behind Elliott, while parked in front of him. Blues coach, Ken Hitchcock’s unsuccessfully challenge the goal for goaltender interference. 

Crawford turned away 29 shots for his 46^th career playoff victory, passing former Blackhawk goalie Tony Esposito for number one in team history. Elliott made 26 saves in taking the loss for the Blues.

As the series shifted to the United Center in Chicago, the Blackhawks opened the scoring for game three, when Brent Seabrook lit the lamp just over two minutes in. About 10 minutes later the Blues tied the game when Colton Parayko found the back of the net. 

In the middle period the only scoring came from Artem Anisimov, about one minute in giving the Blackhawks a 2-1 lead. 

In the third the Blues were able to accomplish something no team had done in almost two years. Patrik Berglund and Jaden Schwartz scored third period goals allowing the Blues to mount a comeback and defeat the Blackhawks 3-2 and take a 2-1 lead in the series. 

The Blues became the first team since May 21, 2014, to defeat the Blackhawks in regulation, at the United Center, when the Los Angeles Kings won 6-2, in game two of the Western Conference Finals that season. Chicago had gone 71-0-5 since that loss to the Kings. 

Game four produced another game where the difference was one goal. Tarasenko’s two goals helped to put the Blackhawks on the verge of elimination in this series. 

After the game, Tarasenko said, “It felt good, we know this feels good especially in this building. We know they can come back from this situation a lot of times, and we have got to forget about this game tomorrow and try to prepare for the next one.”

 

Elliott turned away 39 and Tarasenko, Schwartz and Alexander Steen each had an assist in the Blues 4-3 victory. Crawford stopped 16 shots and Keith had two goals and Shaw had a goal and an assist.

Steen and Schwartz broke a 2-2 in the third period which helped the Blues sweep both games in the “Windy City” as the series moves back to St. Louis where the Blues can wrap it up in front of their fans. 

Chicago will be without Shaw for game five, as he will be serving a one game suspension following a homophobic slur he made in game four. Shaw will also be fined 5,000 dollars for an inappropriate gesture he made towards the on-ice official in the game. He has to attend sensitivity training as part of the punishment by the league, as well. The fine will go towards the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund. 

National Hockey League Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations, Colin Campbell said, “While Mr. Shaw was apologetic and remorseful for both the offensive comments and inappropriate gesture directed at the on-ice officials, he must be held accountable for his actions. The emotion of the moment, cannot and will not be a mitigating factor for the conduct that is expected of an NHL player.”