For now, Brouwer and the Blues have gotten the upper hand and will take on the Dallas Stars in what should be another heated Central Division showdown. Still, there was time left, and opportunities followed for the Blackhawks as they attacked on the Blues’ efforts to kill the clock.
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There was no secret that the Chicago Blackhawks were the favorite to beat the St. Louis Blues in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. St. Louis plays Dallas in the next round.
The Blackhawks had a close call of their own in the third, though luck didn’t seem to be on their side as the puck went off not just one but both posts before bouncing away from the net.
In the aftermath of defeat, the look on Jonathan Toews’s face summarized Game 7, and the end of Chicago’s Stanley Cup defense.
One of hockey’s best traditions is the handshake line after each series.
For the first time in four seasons, the Blues won a playoff series, finishing off the defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks with a 3-2 win in Game 7 at Scottrade Center on Monday.
The Blackhawks had their fair share of chances to tie the game up, but the best one was also the most agonizing.
He looked like Ernie Els at Augusta, and had Brouwer not scored, the play would have been logged as a video metaphor for the Blues’ existence. The Blues were fixed, after so many gut-wrenching handshakes in year’s past.
Quenneville said the Hawks planned to go through their normal pregame routine without any alterations. The fans are already showing they are cup insane, as Game 7 was the most-watched sporting event ever on FOX Sports Midwest and also produced NBC’s highest ratings ever for a first round game. They led 2-0 early, their second two-goal cushion in two games, before the Blackhawks tied it in the second period. When they pushed back like a champion when the Blues opened up a 3-1 series lead to force Game 7, it only re-enforced the inclination.
On paper, the Stars might have drawn the tougher opponent in the St. Louis Blues for their second round playoff series. “It’s obviously two good teams that are pretty equal and it is going to come down to the last game, and we’ll see how it goes”.
People like David Backes and Alex Steen, Alex Pietrangelo and Kevin Shattenkirk had heard far too much about losing, but kids like Robby Fabbri, who set up Troy Brouwer’s victor and Colton Parayko, who blew a shot past Corey Crawford, were all about today, not yesterday.
“I don’t know if it’s a milestone”, said Hitchcock. “You find yourself on the bench just in awe of some of the things they do”. “But we have knowledge (now), and it’s the emotional knowledge of how deep you have to dig”.
As Patrick Kane said, “It just doesn’t really feel right”. I think the Blues then became a rallying cry with the St. Louis Cardinals. He posted unbelievable ice time for the “Hawks, which was one of the reasons why the blue liners had some very good games”. “I think in here, we have that mentality that what happened in the past happened in the past”.
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Now they want to go back to Anaheim and finish off the Ducks. When he came back in game two, it was clear that Keith was back and ready to make an impact. We needed to not just run up against the wall and fall backwards again. The Chicago Blackhawks wanted to avoid joining that ill fated list, but before we talk about game 7, let’s take a moment to recognize how they got to game 7.
