St. Louis Blues Vladimir Tarasenko Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI
The Western Conference First Round series between the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues has been pretty tight through two games.
In Game 2, a successful challenge by the Blackhawks and an unsuccessful one by the Blues went in Chicago’s favor and helped them even the best-of-7 series 1-1.
Andrew Shaw scored the tie-breaking power play goal with 4:19 remaining to give Chicago a 3-2 victory against the Blues at Scottrade Center on Friday. The Blues won, 1-0 in overtime in Game 1 on Wednesday. Game 3 is Sunday at United Center.
A 1-1 game turned quickly when a Blues overturned goal negated a 2-1 lead, and minutes later, Shaw’s goal was upheld following a second review.
The Blues thought they had taken a 2-1 lead with 7:54 remaining in the third period when Vladimir Tarasenko scored from the slot off a pass from Jori Lehtera, but the Blackhawks challenged the play that Lehtera was offside, and the call was reversed after a lengthy delay.
Corey Crawford made 29 saves for the Blackhawks. He got his 46th playoff win with the Blackhawks, passing Tony Esposito for first all time.
Elliott made 26 saves for the Blues.
Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith scored in his return to the lineup after serving a six-game suspension. He played a game-high 30:59 and had a goal and an assist.
Artemi Panarin scored an empty-net goal with 1:26 remaining to make it 3-1.
Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk scored with 1.1 seconds remaining to make it 3-2.
Tarasenko’s seventh goal in the past eight playoff games put the Blues ahead 1-0 after Lehtera forced a defensive zone turnover on Michal Roszival, Jaden Schwartz collected it and fed Tarasenko in the slot for a wrist shot at 15:20 of the second period. It was Tarasenko’s 11th playoff goal in 15 games.
Chicago tied it late in the period and ended Elliott’s shutout streak in the series at 109:00 when Keith’s shot from the right point through a screen beat Elliott with 4.4 seconds remaining. After David Backes’ icing, Toews won a faceoff from Lehtera, Patrick Kane deflected the puck to the point and Keith used Andrew Shaw for a screen.
