Chicago Blackhawks end St. Louis Blues domination 4-3 in shootout -NHL Update
St. Louis had the match settled in the opening 20 minutes but lost control in the remaining time as Chicago Blackhawks rebounded to take the Blues down in a shootout 4-3, Tuesday night, March 13, 2012, at the sold-out United Centre in Chicago, Illinois.
Blackhawks snapped the Blues impressive five-game winning streak which had slowly become in issue of worry for other teams around the National Hockey League (NHL), but St. Louis is not expected to slow down after this minor speed bump.
The Western Conference is being led by St. Louis, a team that struggled last year and failed to make the playoffs, but is now heading in number-one in the league and could be most likely to make it to a 100 points first.
Andrew Brunette scored the opening goal of the match for his 11th of the 2011-2012 NHL regular season, but St. Louis just broke loose after that.
Jamie Langenbrunner fired off to inaugurate the shooting spree followed by Andy McDonald’s tie-breaker and Patrik Berglund’s extension shot at 15:59.
Blues were taking it slow but it turned out to be just a little too much as Chicago’s Viktor Stalberg added the home team’s second of the night and Brent Seabrook equalised it on the third period power play nearly midway through.
Chicago kept shooting at veteran Blues’ goalie, Jaroslav Halak who faced 46 shots on his net but still managed to block 43, falling short on three while St. Louis had nearly half the tries at 24.
Usually, St. Louis is one of the best teams when it comes to taking advantage of the power plays but Blues were on the benches this time more than their competition, giving six power play opportunities to Chicago.
"I think it's obviously tough to win a game when we're in the penalty box a whole lot. Today, too. We play the same guys on the penalty kill as much as we do on the power play," Blues forward, Patrik Berglund, said.
Patrick Kane made the deciding shot in the shootout on their first attempt after a scoreless overtime extension to take the match as both teams missed on the following chances.
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