“We just had two go the wrong way, so you know we’re owed two back the other way.” — Ken Hitchcock after Game 2, on catching breaks.
CHICAGO — The best thing about being perhaps the best quote of all 30 National Hockey League coaches? Even the hockey gods hang around to listen to your media availabilities.
The St. Louis Blues, who came out on the wrong end of a coach’s challenge and an offside review in a 3-2 loss in Game 2, caught two lovely breaks around which Game 3 turned Sunday afternoon.
Centreman Patrik Berglund tied the game on a hard hopper that went against the grain and top shelf all at the same time after caroming off Chicago defenceman Michal Rozsival. Then Patrick Kane accidentally cut Alex Pietrangelo with a high stick, and it was on that double-minor that the winner was scored, a beauteous bit of tic-tac-toe by the St. Louis power play.
“Good thing he still has that baby skin, and we get the four-minute call,” said his captain, David Backes.
If it is true that a playoff series does not truly begin until someone has won a game on the road, then the Blues and Blackhawks have doubled down on an absolutely tantalizing Central Division matchup here, with the Blues’ 3-2 win Sunday inching them ahead by a nose, 2-1. Game 4 goes Tuesday night in Chi-town, and she’s a coin flip for certain.
“That’s a tough one. A wicked, wicked bounce,” said Chicago goalie Corey Crawford, who has teamed up with St. Louis netminder Brian Elliott on a goaltending clinic here in Round 1. “It, like, hops the other way. You just somehow have to not let that get in your way and keep playing. (Then) a tough break too on the penalty — four minutes where they just got all the momentum in the world out there on that power play.”
This is boiling down to a battle of wills: The Blackhawks’ will to push through a Blues team that is sick and tired of getting pushed around by the Hawks, after having played so many playoff series these past seven springs; and the Blues’ will to change their reputation as regular season titans that choke every April.
Crawford was asked if, after winning Game 2 under the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, the Blackhawks had the Blues right where they wanted them.
“No,” Crawford said emphatically. “Whatever happens in the season, whatever’s happened in years before, they’re not the same team.”
Hmmm…
Here’s a stat: The Blackhawks had been 70-0-4 when leading after two periods since the start of the 2014-15 season, including playoffs. So in the 75th game Sunday, the Blues scored twice in the third period to end that streak.
“You’re never as bad as you think, and you’re never as good as you think,” reasoned Elliott, who faced 46 shots. “It’s the same with bounces. You can’t get too high or too low. It usually works out in the wash.
“(When you get some bad breaks) you put your head down and work. Try to do your job and the refs will take care of whatever happens. Petro got one in the eye there. Pretty close to being real dangerous.”
Two Russian imports painted a Rembrandt in this one. Vladimir Tarasenko had seven shots on goal and rifled six more that didn’t hit the target, combining with linemates Jori Lehtera and Jaden Schwartz for 15 shots on Crawford.
Across the way, Artemi Panarin was fabulous, looking every bit the heir to Pavel Datsyuk’s throne. He, Kane and Artem Anisimov were simply too much for the Blues to handle, though somehow the unit only cashed once.
“We looked like the Washington Generals a few times,” said Hitchcock, evoking a little Harlem Globetrotters lore. “They were going around, and around, and around, and around… This was the most — in any of the games including regular season — that that line was in our zone, dancing.”
Alas, the Blues were the ones who sashayed out of a jam-packed United Center (22,207 fans) with a series lead. They’ve spent the past week telling everyone who will listen — including themselves, no doubt — that it’s going to be different this time. That they’re not the same team that always rolls over when playoff adversity arrives.
You just read Crawford say he sees a difference. From the press box, we may need a few more examples before we’ll be sold.
“There are some inspirational stories in some of these guys who have been out and come back, and they’re playing some of their best hockey,” said Backes, who has banged the drum hard on this front. “We’re talking about Bergy, or Otter (Steve Ott) coming back from a fluky hamstring thing that no one had seen in hockey before…
“It’s the First round, but it feels very much like a Final,” said Hitchcock. “It’s nice to have home-ice (advantage) back again.”
He’ll want that, in a series that seems destined for seven games.
