Chicago Blackhawks squeak out 5-3 victory over St. Louis Blues
Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane keyed a four-goal second frame, and Chicago Blackhawks squeaked out 5-3 victory over St. Louis Blues at Scottrade Centre on Monday.
Goaltender Corey Crawford won his 20th game. He stopped 31 shots for Chicago, who were coming off a shootout victory at home against Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday. Blackhawks have won three of four games overall.
"Anything less than two points is unacceptable. It's a confidence builder to get two in a row. These are games we need." Toews said.
With the win, Blackhawks created a five-team logjam between 7th and 11th spots in the Western Conference standings. Chicago has 68 points, five more than St. Louis Blues.
Andy McDonald tallied his third goal in two contests for St. Louis, which had won three consecutive games. Ben Bishop made his first start of season for St. Louis, but was yanked after giving up four goals on eight shots in the middle stanza.
Ty Conklin saved seven shots in relief.
“I felt good going into the game, felt well in the first. I felt good in the second, too,” said the 6-foot-7 Bishop, the tallest goalie in the NHL. “Just a couple of breakdowns there.
“I’ve got to make one big save there to keep the team in the game.”
Andy McDonald put Blues on the board with a power-play goal at 15:04 into the game. Brad Boyes gave St. Louis a 2-0 edge at 16:49.
Blackhawks scored four goals in a span of 10:22 in the second period to erase a two-goal deficit.
“To go from down two to up two in the matter of one period, that’s huge for us,” Kane said. “We knew what we had to do.”
At 2:18 into the second frame, Viktor Stalberg made it 2-1 when he flipped a backhander past Blues goalie. A minute later, Dave Bolland equalized the game at 2-2 when he received a pass from Marian Hossa and fired a shot past net-minder.
In the seventh minute of the second period, Chicago took a 3-2 lead when Patrick Kane hit a wrist shot from the right point that beat Bishop on the far side .
At 12:40, Blackhawks extended their lead to 4-2 with Toew’s power-play goal.
"I would have liked to have that fourth one back, but I have to make a save there and keep the team in the game," Bishop said.
At the 8:48 mark of the third period, Alex Pietrangelo gave Blues 4-3 lead when he beat Crawford with a slap shot.
Marian Hossa notched an empty-net goal for Chicago in the winning seconds.
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