Blues happy with 2-1 series lead
The St. Louis Blues kept pushing and pushing until a costly play by Patrick Kane provided an opening. And there was nothing for the Chicago Blackhawks to challenge.
Jaden Schwartz scored at 13:32 of the third period with Kane in the penalty box for high-sticking, and the Blues beat the Blackhawks 3-2 Sunday for a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series.
Patrik Berglund and rookie Colton Parayko also scored as St. Louis rallied after a difficult 3-2 loss in Game 2 that included two key coach’s challenges that went against the Blues one of them wiping out a tiebreaking goal for Vladimir Tarasenko.
Brian Elliott made 44 saves Sunday, keeping St. Louis in the game during Chicago’s strong second period.
“No one said it was going to be a short series and even with them getting the win in Game 2, that didn’t affect us,” Schwartz said. “We came out and executed again today and we did a good job of that.”
It was Chicago’s first regulation loss when leading after two periods since Game 2 of the 2014 Western Conference finals against the Los Angeles Kings. The Blackhawks had been 70-0-4 since the start of last season when they had the lead at the beginning of the third, according to STATS.
“That was a tough loss,” Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “Let’s get back into it. But it was a pretty competitive game, kind of comparable to what we saw in the first two.”
Kane, the NHL’s leading scorer this season and one of the favorites for league MVP, got four minutes for a high stick on defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, and St. Louis made Chicago pay for the mistake.
“I’ve got to be smarter in that situation,” Kane said. “Obviously I can’t take a penalty at that time of the game, especially when the score’s 2-2. I take responsibility on that one.”
Tarasenko passed down low to David Backes, who sent it right to Schwartz in the slot. Schwartz then beat Corey Crawford low on the glove side for his third career playoff goal and a 3-2 lead.
The Blackhawks pulled Crawford for an extra attacker with 1:10 remaining, but Elliott and the Blues held on. Game 4 is Tuesday night in Chicago.
Detroit 2, Tampa Bay 0: Andreas Athanasiou and Henrik Zetterberg scored, Petr Mrazek made 16 saves and the Detroit Red Wings beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-0.
Detroit cut its deficit to 2-1 in the first-round series. Game 4 is Tuesday night at Joe Louis Arena. Game 5, which is now necessary, will be at Tampa Bay.
After brawling late in the last game, gloves were dropped, fists flew and there were piles of players on the ice when the Game 3 ended.
Ben Bishop made 28 saves for the Lightning, who had their top line of Tyler Johnson, Nikita Kucherov and Alex Killorn shut down after the trio combined for six points in the first two games of the series.