Chicago Blackhawks Dominate St. Louis Blues, Force Game 7

The Associated Press
The Associated Press
Mary Chastain

Instead of going down in flames, defending Stanley Cup champions Chicago Blackhawks fought back and defeated the St. Louis Blues 6-3 to force a Game 7.

Spectators rocked the United Center as the Blackhawks and Blues took the ice. The Blackhawks fed off the energy and began a fast paced game with Andrew Ladd scoring almost four minutes into the first period after he corralled the puck from Marcus Kruger’s stick.

The lead did not last as Blues forward Scottie Upshall tied the game 1-1. Blackhawks forward Andrew Desjardins had an open wide net, but the shot went wide. The team appeared deflated as they gave up goals to Alex Pietrangelo and Vladimir Tarasenko.

However, the Blackhawks came back after intermission. Blues forward Kyle Brodziak received a hooking penalty and it was all the Blackhawks needed. Artem Anisimov gave them a power play goal, which erupted the United Center.

The Blackhawks continued to grind the Blues net, becoming a completely different team than what spectators saw after Ladd’s goal. Trevor van Riemsdyk and Dale Weise added their first goals of the playoffs to give the Blackhawks a 4-3 lead.

“We didn’t get too down,” explained Weise. “We just had to defend a little better. We gave them too many odd-man rushes [in the first]. They have too many good players over there. They’re going to score on those. [We continued] to defend and fed off the crowd there.”

The third period started with a bang, but as the Puckin Hostile crew points out, the Blackhawks provided fans with plenty of “worrisome moments.” But goalie Corey Crawford kept them in the game and stopped all 11 shots. Instead, the Blackhawks scored the only two goals of the period.

Richard Panik drew a penalty giving the Blackhawks a power play. With a man in the box, Andrew Shaw scored a power play goal to give the team a 5-3 lead. He returned after a one game suspension for yelling an anti-gay slur in Game 5.

The Blues pulled their goalie since they played themselves down in a hole only for Marian Hossa to score the empty net goal to secure the 6-3 lead.

The win ties the series at 3-3, which means the winner in St. Louis will advance to the second round.

They will play Game 7 on Monday at 8:30 p.m. Eastern.

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