Panarin OT goal lifts Blackhawks to 2-1 win over Blues

Costly late penalty hurts St. Louis, which tied 

game late; Allen, Crawford stand toe-to-toe in goal

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- When the puck sailed over the glass giving the Chicago Blackhawks a power play late in the game, it wound up not costing the Blues a point in regulation but it did in overtime.

Artemi Panarin scored just as Alex Pietrangelo's penalty expired, 25 seconds into overtime and gave the Blackhawks a 2-1 victory over the Blues Wednesday before 18,704 at Scottrade Center.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Blues goalie Jake Allen (left) makes a right pad save on Chicago's Patrick

Kane (88) Wednesday in a 2-1 overtime loss.

Panarin, who had an assist, scored from the top of the left circle one second after the Blackhawks' power play ended, and his wrist shot beat Blues goalie Jake Allen through a screen of Blues defenseman Colton Parayko and teammate Jonathan Toews.

"No idea. Just heard it hit the net," Allen said. "Tough way to go."

Pietrangelo, who tied the game with 2 minutes, 11 seconds to play in the third period to tie the game 1-1, flipped a puck from the side boards in his end over the Blackhawks bench with 1:36 remaining in regulation for a delay of game penalty.

The door was opening for him to step out as Panarin was shooting the puck, ending the game.

"Yeah, that's a tough way to lose. I feel really bad right now," Pietrangelo said. "Tough to take a penalty there in the last minute. It's a lonely feeling sitting in that box, let me tell you. I thought we did a good job crawling our way back and getting a point out of it.

"Just get the puck out of our end. Sometimes the puck rolls. I'm not trying to flip it over the glass."

Marian Hossa scored his sixth goal in seven games, and Chicago (10-3-1) has won seven in a row for the first time since it won 12 straight from Dec. 29, 2015-Jan. 19, 2016. 

Allen made 28 saves for the Blues (7-4-3), who play at Nashville on Thursday night.

It was a game in which the Blues out-chanced and had more better play that the Blackhawks did, but goalie Corey Crawford, who is 6-0-0 in his past six starts, allowing only six goals, was the story for Chicago, as he's been on a number of occasions.

But the Blues, who were coming in solid waves in the third period, stunted their momentum with a trio of penalties inside of the final 10 minutes of regulation.

Patrik Berglund had a slashing penalty with 8:02 remaining, and the Blues took a second too many men this season with 5:16 to play. 

"We're taking way too many penalties when the game is on the line," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We're having to extend a lot of energy with a short bench. Two games in a row, we took three penalties in the third period. It's not a good recipe. They're the same penalties. I think that's our third too many men on the ice penalty this year, isn't it? It's no good. It's on me at the end, but we have to find a better way to hear and we just can't take the penalties that we're taking in the third period when the games are on the line. To put in that type of effort in the third period and not be able to continue the momentum, it hurts us. We did the same thing in the game before, even though we won 5-1, all we did was kill penalties and that's where guys are going to get hurt. That's where two guys got banged up. Can't keep doing that."

Then after Pietrangelo tied it, the delay of game penalty was too much to overcome.

"He never meant to do that," Allen said. "He was just trying to clear space and get it outside. Sometimes those pucks just roll on you. Just a little too much mustard on it. It's the name of the game."

Does it come down to discipline?

"I think it's a combination of a lot of things," Hitchcock said. "It just becomes a conscious decision that you're going to stay disciplined and you're going to stay focused and you're not going to reach. Some of them are reaching fouls and some of them are just puck management fouls."

The Blues, who were trailing on Hossa's goal, finally were able to beat Crawford when Pietrangelo's slap shot from the left point beat the Chicago goalie through traffic. Blues center Jori Lehtera and Blackhawks defenseman Brian Campbell were in front of Crawford, but the puck seemed to squirt through the pads.

The Blackhawks challenged Lehtera interfered with Crawford, but the goal stood.

"The theme for us there in the third was get to the net and shoot the puck," Pietrangelo said. "I think we had a lot of chances, it was just a matter of time before one of them went in. I didn't think it would be mine, but I'll take it."

The Blackhawks wasted a terrific chance to open the scoring in the first period with a two-man advantage for 1:36, but Allen came up with two clutch saves on Seabrook and Panarin.

"That's huge," Allen said. "They could have got a couple on that and it's a different ballgame. They might have had the momentum the whole game. A big kill by our PK guys." 

Hossa scored 1:22 into the second period off a rebound of defenseman Gustav Forsling's one-time slap shot from the left point to give the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead. 

Allen was able to keep it 1-0 by sliding to his right and thwart Patrick Kane's forehand attempt after Kane got behind Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk with 4:13 remaining in the second.

But the save of the game came from Crawford when he robbed right wing Vladimir Tarasenko with his left skate with 9:39 remaining on the Blues' third power play of the night. 

Tarasenko looked like he had an empty cage but couldn't quite elevate the puck high enough before Crawford kicked his left skate out to keep it 1-0.

"Yeah it was kind of a broken play in front of the net there," Crawford said. "Kind of saw he was going on the backhand. He didn’t shoot right away. He kind of wound up with it. I just tried to force it in there and it gave me enough time to get over."

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford makes a sprawling left skate save on 

the Blues' Vladimir Tarasenko in the third period Wednesday.

"Crawford made a couple of big saves there late and Jake was outstanding from the start," Pietrangelo said. "Jake kept us in the game and we bailed him out with that goal. We need to get a couple more for him, though."

It was another reminder of the Blues having trouble finishing despite the Grade-A scoring chances.

"I think there's a time on the bench where you're standing there and you're wondering if you are going to score," Hitchcock said. "I think our bench was up three or four times thinking the puck was going to go in the net and (Crawford) made those saves. I'm sure they're feeling the same on their bench about our guy. Both guys were outstanding, outstanding. It was a hell of a hockey game. But the little part discipline-wise is concerning. I don't want it to become a trend and I think it would be really good if we addressed it and we went a different direction."