NHL Playoffs: St. Louis Blues vs. Chicago Blackhawks, 1-0: full highlights, final score and more

Game 1 of the St. Louis Blues vs. Chicago Blackhawks series was one of great opportunity—or rather, great missed opportunity. Your evening probably would have been more rewarding if you watched Kobe’s final NBA game.

The St. Louis Blues welcomed the Chicago Blackhawks to Scottrade Center for the first game of what was expected to be the most action-packed series in this round of the playoffs. However, three periods, 44 shots on goal, and zero goals later add up to a pretty anticlimactic showing.

From the get-go, both the Blues and the Blackhawks put forward aggressive, high-tempo offenses, racing up and down the ice without many whistles to slow them down. Chicago’s second line of Panarin-Anisimov-Kane was on fire but could not put a puck past St. Louis’ goaltender Brian Elliot on power plays.

The second period lacked improvement on either side as the players became drained and frustrated. Nevertheless, the game was tight, thanks largely to the solid goaltending of St. Louis’s Elliot and Chicago’s Corey Crawford.

By the Third Period, the Blues seemed to be back at full strength, and at this point, the Blackhawks were being hit pretty badly. David Backes hit on Patrick Kane in the first; Troy Brouwer crunched Marcus Kruger, Robby Fabbri got Michal Rozsival, and Brouwer again got one on Viktor Svedberg.

The Blues unquestionably were going full force in the third—pounding out 41 hits compared to Chicago’s 22—but it had to be extremely concerning to the team that the offense was unable to score against a Duncan Keith-less Chicago…

Until overtime. Approximately nine minutes into OT, St. Louis center Backes, assisted by Jay Bouwmeester and Alex Pietrangelo, shot the puck by Crawford off a deflection, ending the unbearable Game 1 stalemate and giving the Blues a 1-0 series lead over their rivals.

The postseason OT marked the Blackhawk’s fifth, consecutively (though the others were with 2-2 scores); this was Chicago’s first 0-0 OT since that against the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1994.

Three stars

MVP: Goaltender Brian Elliott (Blues)
The Blues’ goaltender was resilient, making 35 saves and constantly deflecting shots from Chicago’s most successful forwards like Kane and Toews.

Runner-Up: Center David Backes (Blues)
He scored the team’s only goal. The game’s only goal. Against the Blackhawks.

Honorable Mention: Goaltender Corey Crawford (Blackhawks)
After missing the Blackhawks’ last eight games in the regular season due to an upper-body injury, Crawford gave a mighty impressive performance in the net, blocking 17 shots and earning a solid .944 save percentage.

Sore Loser: Jonathan Toews (BLackhawks)
Things just weren’t going well for the Blackhawks’ captain. Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews, though leading all players with seven shots on goal, failed to win a face off since the opening draw.

Highlights

Honestly, it’s hard to find highlights in a relatively redundant game. Both the Blackhawks and the Blues had multiple opportunities to capitalize on power plays and shots on goal to no avail.

Neither team had any qualms about getting dirty from the get-go, however, and frankly, those moments of aggressive, over-the-top action were the most memorable of the game. If anything, Game 1 was a battle of the penalties.

Yet, Backes’ goal certainly deserves kudos, if not for its skill for the fact that it took viewers out of their misery by ending the game.

Next Game

Chicago will try to even the score in Game 2 of the series on Friday, April 15 at 8 p.m. EST. The game will be aired on NBC Sports Network.

For more coverage of the NHL Playoffs, make sure to check out our NHL hub page.