Now, the challenge will be to parlay that lead into a series win, and it is truly a challenge.
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Jaden Schwartz scored at 13:32 of the third period with Patrick Kane in the penalty box for high-sticking, and the St. Louis Blues beat the Blackhawks, 3-2, on Sunday in Chicago for a 2-1 lead in their first-round series. They’re going to need more scoring from throughout the lineup if they want to fully give Elliott the offensive production his play deserves. I think us, with the way we played him, has probably hurt his power-play numbers this year a little bit because we’ve had to use him so much in the other situations and when you’re playing young defenseman, it falls on him and (Jay Bouwmeester) to play heavy matchup minutes and does such a great job. No opponent had rallied to beat the Hawks in regulation when trailing after two periods since the Kings in Game 2 of the 2014 Western Conference finals – a span of 76 games. The Blackhawks were 70-0-4 since the start of last season when leading at the start of the third. “We were in a great spot”, Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. Obviously can’t take a penalty at that time of the game, especially when the score is 2-2.
For one, these Blackhawks have struggled mightily to take advantage of golden opportunities. Tarasenko passed down low to David Backes, who sent it right to Schwartz in the slot.
The Blackhawks pulled Corey Crawford for an extra attacker with 1:10 remaining, but Elliott and the Blues held on. Adjustments will be made on this Monday off day, then Chicago will return to its home ice Tuesday and hope it pays off in Game 4. When it got a power play of its own in the back half of the first, it took Colton Parayko all of seven seconds to tie the game at 1-1, thereby letting the Blues off the hook for some sloppy play. But I’ll try my best to keep things even. “We’ve got to have everything as equal as we can to have success against this team”. Some of this comes back to Elliott, but can you honestly think of how many stellar saves Elliott has had to make so far and say it’s larger than the number Crawford has been tasked with?
Crawford wasn’t done with the ridiculous saves as he robbed Blues center Jori Lehtera of what should have been an easy goal. He finished with 33 saves.
The two controversial plays in the game were both called correctly though.
“We looked like the Washington Generals a few times”, said Hitchcock, evoking a little Harlem Globetrotters lore.
“That’s a tough one”. “We had about five or six minutes of the second period where we didn’t play well and it cost us two goals”. He also caught a break when Andrew Ladd’s shot bounced off the left post and then the right one with about 6:20 to go.
Centreman Patrik Berglund tied the game on a hard hopper that went against the grain and top shelf all at the same time after caroming off Chicago defenceman Michal Rozsival.
Red Wings 2, Lightning 0 – Andreas Athanasiou and Henrik Zetterberg scored, Petr Mrazek made 16 saves, and host Detroit beat Tampa to cut its deficit to 2-1 in the first-round series.
Barkov made it 2-0 just 1:11 into the second period. The Blues opened with a pair of overtime victories, and then dropped four in a row – including overtime losses in Games 4 and 5.
Thomas Hickey scored 12:31 into overtime to lift the Islanders to a 4-3 victory over the Florida Panthers on Sunday in Game 3 of their first-round series, giving NY a win in its first playoff game in Brooklyn. Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo zipped a pass to Parayko, who blasted a one-timer from the top of the left circle for his first career playoff goal.
The Blues needed a win following Friday’s disappointing, and controversial, 3-2 loss to the defending Stanley Cup champions at Scottrade Center.
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Ryan Pulock, Shane Prince and Frans Nielsen also scored for the Islanders in their first playoff game in Brooklyn.
