The Chicago Blackhawks evened up their Stanley Cup First Round playoff series against the St. Louis Blues Friday night with a controversial 3-2 win that saw one St. Louis goal overturned and a Chicago tally upheld after video reviews by officials.
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The Blackhawks’ Andrew Ladd (right) is checked by the Blues’ Vladimir Tarasenko during the first period in Game 3 of a first-round Stanley Cup playoff series Sunday in Chicago.
A little more than a minute later, Tarasenko was called for slashing Andrew Shaw and with just seven seconds left in the penalty, Shaw knocked in his own rebound to put the Blackhawks up 2-1 with 4:19 to play in regulation. St. Louis Blues defenseman Colton Parayko, second from left, celebrates with teammates after scoring his goal against the Chicago Blackhawks during the first period in Game 3 of an NHL hockey first-round Stanley Cup playoff serie… But the scorecard of greatest import was the one that listed the breaks, and Chicago got all of them to even this series at 1-1.
St. Louis took a 1-0 series lead in exciting fashion with a thrilling overtime victory on Wednesday in Game 1.
“They said the puck was chipped over him (Elliott) before he made contact. We had three centres out there and lost the draw and didn’t get in the shot lane”, said Hitchcock. You can bet it will be looked at during the off-season. Duncan Keith also quickly made his impact felt upon returning to the lineup. Last night marked his 46th playoff win, a feat that he accomplished in only 78 career playoff games versus Esposito’s 99 games.
After a painfully long review, the goal was waved off, and Blues fans lustily booed. “Rightfully so. First shot of the game for me, too”. He saved a sure goal in the third, racing off the bench to get a stick on an Alex Pietrangelo shot just before it slipped past an out-of-position Corey Crawford, and was a constant disruptive presence in the neutral zone.
Like I said…actual quote. “For us, we want to play our game and get the puck up to our forwards and try to create things off the rush, use our speed and get pucks to the net”.
“It’s not easy”, captain Jonathan Toews said of waiting for a decision, per the Chicago Tribune.
There was some controversy in Game 2 of the Chicago-St.
He also got the Sharks off to a pretty good start in their quest to erase their memories of the last time they took on the Los Angeles Kings in the postseason.
“I thought it would be a 2-on-1, top shelf”, Hitchcock said. The Blues have the talent but as people have stated that they don’t always win with their character. Jake Allen had six of the shutouts. He was shut out in Games 5 and 6 as the Hawks won both games to clinch the series. “We had to step on the throttle, and we did”.
It was an uplifting victory for Chicago and a hard loss for St. Louis. The Blackhawks outshot the Blues 24-13 in the second.
The series shifts to Chicago with Game 3 on Sunday.
Get all of Allan Muir’s columns as soon as they’re published. It was Tarasenko’s 11th playoff goal in 15 games.
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“In overtime, there’s no such thing as a bad shot, ” Backes said. The Blackhawks tied the score with five seconds to go in the period. “So I just tried to stand my ground”.
