Artem Anisimov scored with 5:20 left in the third period to lift the Blackhawks over the St. Louis Blues 4-2 on Sunday night for their fourth straight win and ninth in their last ten. Meanwhile the Blues lost more ground on third place in the Central Division after their third straight loss. It was the Blues first game back after a mandatory bye week.
Magnus Paajarvi and Alex Pietrangelo scored for the Blues, with Pietrangelo scoring during a power play in the second period to tie it at 2-2, moments after he took a deflected puck to the ear while sitting on the bench.
“This would have been a good one to come away with,” Pietrangelo said. “I know teams haven’t had a lot of success coming out of the break. It would have been nice to break that trend.”
23 of the 28 teams coming off their bye week, lost their first game back. Chicago’s Scott Darling made 30 saves as he stepped in for No. 1 goalie Corey Crawford who came down with the flu. Jake Allen made 38 saves.