NHL - Playoffs - St Louis Blues @ Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 - Sunday, April 17, 2016 - Game 3

The St. Louis Blues did something against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Sunday that no one had done in nearly two years. Patrik Berglund and Jaden Schwartz scored third-period goals, and the Blues came from behind to defeat the Blackhawks 3-2 in Game 3 of their Western Conference First Round series. Brian Elliott made 44 saves for the Blues, who lead the best-of-7 series 2-1. Game 4 is Tuesday in Chicago.
The Blues became the first team to defeat the Blackhawks in regulation when Chicago led after two periods since the Los Angeles Kings won 6-2 at United Center on May 21, 2014, in Game 2 of the Western Conference Final. Chicago had been 71-0-5 since that loss. Just as they did twice in the regular season against Chicago, the Blues trailed starting the third and came back to win. One of those victories was in a shootout at Scottrade Center (March 9) and the other ended in overtime at United Center (April 7).
St. Louis also overcame a 5-2 first-period deficit Nov. 4 in Chicago, tied the game in the second period and won 6-5 in overtime. Counting the regular season, this was the eighth time the Blues have trailed starting the third and won (8-20-3). Berglund's goal tied it 2-2 at 5:15 of the third. He took a shot that clipped Blackhawks defenseman Michal Rozsival's left skate, bounced off the ice and went over the glove of Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford.
The Blues controlled the play afterward. They held Chicago to 12 shots in the third, after being outshot 24-13 in the second, and capitalized on a mistake by Patrick Kane just past the midway point. Kane's stick hit Alex Pietrangelo in the face and he was assessed a double minor for high sticking. Schwartz scored the game-winner, the first of his NHL career, 1:31 into the long power play. He camped in the low slot, took a feed from David Backes and snapped a shot past Crawford.
Defenseman Colton Parayko scored in the first period for St. Louis, which went 2-for-3 on the power play and got its first two man-advantage goals of the series. Brent Seabrook and Artem Anisimov scored for Chicago, which went 1-for-4 with the extra man, is 2-for-12 in the series (16.7 percent) and has one goal during 5-on-5 play in the three games. Unlike the first two games, it didn't take long for the first goal. Seabrook put the Blackhawks up 1-0 at 2:18 of the first period with a point shot that went through traffic and past Elliott to cap a power play. It was Seabrook's 20th career playoff goal, moving him past Doug Wilson and Bob Murray for most all-time by a Blackhawks defenseman.
St. Louis tied it 1-1 at 12:11 on Parayko's goal, a one-timer from the left circle on the Blues' first power play. Anisimov made it 2-1 with the lone goal scored in the second, which had a combined 50 shots attempts. Elliott faced 24 shots in the second and had to make three quick saves in the first minute, before Anisimov scored at 1:04. Rookie left wing Artemi Panarin, who took his first NHL faceoff on the play, got the assist by chasing down the puck in the corner for a feed to Anisimov. It was the only shot of the period that the Blackhawks could get past Elliott, who set a playoff career high in saves.
Crawford came up big in the second period as well, making five saves within 18 seconds in one sequence to preserve the lead. With 5:59 left in the period, Andrew Ladd nearly put Chicago up by two goals, but his wrist shot from the left circle hit both posts and bounced out. The Blues made their first lineup change of the series by activating forward Steve Ott, who hadn't played since Dec. 6 after surgery to repair both hamstrings followed a bout of colitis. Chicago played forward Dale Weise for the first time in the series. Jay Bouwmeester's back-to-back penalties early in the first period gave the Blackhawks their second and third power plays.

Hawks Quotes

Corey Crawford: "Stuff happens in games and playoffs. You have to try to not hang onto moments like that and let that affect you. We were in control of that game and that's a tough one. A wicked, wicked bounce. You just somehow have to not let that get in your way and keep playing."
Patrick Kane: "I was trying to lift the guy's stick there and got it up. You see there's blood there, you know it's not a good thing. [I've] just got to be smarter in that situation. I'll take responsibility on that one, for sure."

Blues Quotes

Ken Hitchcock: "We've come back so many times. I don't know what we've done, seven or eight already this year. It just doesn't seem to be a big deal with this group. We've got a lot of resiliency in us."
Jay Bouwmeester: "The second [period] they came out real strong, and when they get going like that, they're a team that can create momentum. They can get going on that cycle and make it hard to stop sometimes. It's just a matter of trying not to give up real good chances. Brian made some real good saves, and that's always been the story."

Other Results

Tampa Bay @ Detroit 0-2 - Bolts Lead Series 2-1

Andreas Athanasiou and Henrik Zetterberg scored, and Petr Mrazek made 16 saves in the Red Wings’ 2-0 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round series at Joe Louis Arena on Sunday. It was Mrazek’s third career Stanley Cup Playoff shutout, all of them coming against the Lightning. He was the backup the first two games of the series behind Jimmy Howard, who allowed seven goals on 64 shots. Tampa Bay goalie Ben Bishop made 28 saves, including against Riley Sheahan on a breakaway with 7:37 left in the first period. The Red Wings held the Lightning's top line of Tyler Johnson between Alex Killorn and Nikita Kucherov without a shot after it scored seven of Tampa Bay's eight goals and combined for 15 points in the first two games. Blashill used the line of Justin Abdelkader, Luke Glendening and Sheahan against Johnson, Kucherov and Killorn. Forward Brian Boyle is the only other Tampa Bay player to score a goal in the series. Athanasiou and Zetterberg scored 4:40 apart in the second period. Athanasiou, a rookie forward, made it 1-0 with 7:18 left in the period. He one-timed a rolling puck from the left circle, and it deflected off Bishop's blocker and in on the short side. It was the first NHL playoff goal of Athanasiou's career. Zetterberg made it 2-0 with 2:38 left in the second. The puck deflected in off his skate during a goal-mouth scramble. The goal was upheld after the NHL Situation Room initiated a video review to determine if Zetterberg kicked in the puck. Cooper then challenged the goal, contending a Red Wings player interfered with Bishop, but it again was upheld.
It was Zetterberg's first goal of the 2016 playoffs, his first in 14 games and second in 27. The Detroit captain has two goals in his past 19 postseason games. Tampa Bay killed off a 59-second 5-on-3 power play for Detroit late in the first to keep it scoreless. The Lightning allowed two shots on the two power plays. Detroit limited Tampa Bay's chances throughout the game, allowing 16 shots on goal after the Lightning had 34 in Game 1 and 31 in Game 2.

Florida @ NY Islanders 3-4 OT - Isles Lead Series 2-1

Thomas Hickey is no stranger to scoring overtime goals. Hickey, whose overtime goal on April 5 put the New York Islanders into the Stanley Cup Playoffs, scored at 12:31 of OT on Sunday to give the Islanders a 4-3 win against the Florida Panthers in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference First Round series at Barclays Center. Josh Bailey won a battle along the boards to get the puck to Brock Nelson behind the net. He found Hickey, a defenseman, coming down the slot for a one-timer that beat Roberto Luongo. It was Hickey's first Stanley Cup Playoff goal in 11 games. New York rallied from a pair of two-goal deficits in the second period to send the game into overtime. Florida took a 2-0 lead 1:11 into the second when Aleksander Barkov put in a bouncing puck that came to him at the side of the net after Reilly Smith's shot came off the end boards. The Panthers appeared to score again at 4:08 when Aaron Ekblad beat Thomas Greiss; however, the Islanders challenged, saying that forward Jonathan Huberdeau was offside. After a review, the goal was overturned. The Islanders scored 1:13 later to make it 2-1. Ryan Pulock beat Luongo with a slap shot during a 5-on-3 power play at 5:21, after passes from Kyle Okposo and John Tavares. Nick Bjugstad then gave the Panthers their two-goal lead back at 7:23 to make it 3-1. Smith had an assist on the goal. He had a goal and two assists on Sunday and has four goals and four assists in the series. But the Islanders tied the game later in the period. Shane Prince beat Luongo from the slot off a feed from Pulock at 11:48, and Frans Nielsen's power-play backhander at 16:55 tied the game 3-3. The Panthers took a 1-0 lead 2:25 into the game on a goal by Smith. Defenseman Alex Petrovic's shot from the blue line was stopped by Greiss, but the rebound came to Smith at the side of the net and he put it over the outstretched goaltender. Greiss made 36 saves, including eight in overtime. Luongo made 35 saves. New York will try to take a 3-1 series lead on Wednesday; the Islanders have not led a series by two games since the first round against the Washington Capitals in 1993. The Islanders haven't won two playoff games in a row since they took Games 3 and 4 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2002. New York has lost 11 straight playoff games following a win.

Nashville @ Anaheim 3-2 - Preds Lead Series 2-0

The Nashville Predators won the first two games of a Stanley Cup Playoff series for the first time in franchise history by holding off the Anaheim Ducks 3-2 in Game 2 of the Western Conference First Round on Sunday at Honda Center.
Mattias Ekholm, Craig Smith and Shea Weber scored for the Predators, and Pekka Rinne made 27 saves. The series continues Tuesday at Bridgestone Arena. Nashville scored three unanswered goals after Andrew Cogliano put Anaheim ahead 1-0 at 14:20 of the first period by beating Rinne on a breakaway. Weber attempted to dump the puck into the offensive zone but Cogliano blocked it, raced in alone and slid a backhand shot through the goaltender's five-hole. The Ducks continued to pressure Rinne, who stopped Ryan Kesler from point-blank range with 1:09 remaining in the period.
The Predators tied it 13 seconds later when Colin Wilson broke away from defenseman Simon Despres and found Ekholm down low. The defenseman lifted a high backhand shot that hit the stick of Ducks goaltender John Gibson and went into the net. Smith put the Predators ahead 2-1 at 9:55 of the second period when he found a soft spot in the defense, took a passout from Filip Forsberg and beat Gibson from 10 feet. Weber made it 3-1 with 38.8 seconds left in the period when he took a cross-ice pass from Roman Josi and one-timed it past Gibson from just above the left circle. The Predators limited the Ducks to three shots in the first 17 minutes of the third period before Nate Thompson cut the lead to 3-2 with 2:42 left when his backhand shot from the slot deflected off Josi's stick and went past Rinne. The Ducks quickly pulled Gibson for an extra attacker but managed only one more shot on goal. Gibson made 24 saves and is 2-4 for his career in the postseason. Ducks defenseman Kevin Bieksa returned from an upper-body injury. In his first game since March 24, he played 17:46 and had one hit, one blocked shot and no shots on goal in three attempts.