Corey Crawford stopped 25 shots for his league-leading seventh shutout, rookie Artemi Panarin and Andrew Shaw scored and the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the St. Louis Blues to end a two-game losing streak on Sunday night at United Center.
It was the second win of the season series for the Hawks. The Blues lost their second straight since ending a three-game win streak and are 5-2-1 in their past eight.
Brian Elliot made 23 saves in his eighth straight start since taking over for Jake Allen, who was placed on injured reserve Jan. 8 with a lower-body injury. Elliot is 5-2-1 since then.
It was deja vu for the Blackhawks in the first 20 minutes. Crawford was stellar in net with 11 saves through the first 15 minutes of the period, but the Hawks continued to struggle clearing the puck and creating offensive chances. St. Louis was the harder working team and were able to keep the Hawks from getting anything going in the offensive zone. The Hawks saw a quality chance by Panarin late that was turned away by Elliott, but little else. As the period drew to a close, SOG were 12-6 in favor of the Blues with the teams tied at zero.
Fatigue was evident in the Hawks play over the last few games; 13 games in 22 days will exact a toll, both physically and mentally. The Blues came out flat in the second period. Kevin Shattenkirk turned in a chance early on only to have it turned away by Crawford. The Hawks continued to work and began controlling the play and holding on to the puck, giving up only three shots to the Blues as the period hit the halfway mark. At 15:26, Artemi Panarin took a picture perfect pass from Patrick Kane and blew one past Elliott for his 17th goal of the season and a 1-0 Hawks lead. It was Kane’s 73rd point this season.
It was not the usual physical affair between these two teams evidenced by the fact that the first penalty of the game did not occur until 4:14 of the third period when Dmitrij Jaskin was sent to the box for tripping. The Blackhawks capitalized on the man-advantage and took a 2-0 lead on a Shaw deflection off a Marian Hossa slap shot. At 11:55, the Hawks returned the favor and went on the kill after Panarin took a seat in the box for interference.
The home team limited the Blues to only five shots on goal in the period and with two minutes remaining, Blues coach Ken Hitchcock pulled his goalie and the Blues made a final push to tie the game. Nothing doing for the Blues as the Hawks closed ranks and shut out the Blues for the victory.
The Blackhawks travel to Carolina on Tuesday to meet the Hurricanes in their final game before the all-star break.