Blues/Avalanche vs Blackhawks

For additional insight into the Stanley Cup Playoff series between the St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks, NHL.com has enlisted the help of former NHL coach Craig Ramsay to break down the action. Ramsay will be checking in throughout the series.

Ramsay played in more than 1,000 NHL games with the Buffalo Sabres before going on to coach the Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers and Atlanta Thrashers. In the 2000 Stanley Cup Playoffs, he led the Flyers to the seventh game of the Eastern Conference Final. Ramsay was most recently an assistant coach with the Florida Panthers.

CHICAGO -- It was almost inevitable that Patrick Kane was going to need a few games to regain his elite level of play.

After missing the final month of the regular season with a lower-body injury after an opponent landed on his left leg during a game on March 19, Kane got back into the lineup in the opening game of the Chicago Blackhawks' Western Conference First Round series against the St. Louis Blues. He scored a breakaway goal near the end of the first period in that game at Scottrade Center, but didn't really look like himself.

But in Game 4 on Wednesday at United Center, Kane looked as dangerous as ever. He scored two goals, including the game-winner in overtime of Chicago's 4-3 victory that knotted the best-of-7 series at 2-2. He also assisted on Andrew Shaw's goal that opened the scoring in the second period.

"I was out a month, so you're not going to come back [the same]," said Kane, who was moved off captain Jonathan Toews' top line early in the third period. "You can get all the rest you need, but you're not going to come back and have that game pace and timing that you had when you left, so it takes a little while. It's something I've never really dealt with too much throughout my career. I'm trying to do my best."

CHICAGO -- They came back from a two-goal deficit in a hostile environment. It was a chance for the St. Louis Blues to grab the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks by the throat and take a 3-1 lead in this Western Conference First Round series.

But the Blues saw their lead evaporate with 3:52 remaining on a Bryan Bickell goal before Patrick Kane sealed Chicago's 4-3 overtime victory in Game 4 Wednesday night.

Chicago's rally turned this Stanley Cup Playoff series into a best-of-3, starting with Game 5 on Friday at Scottrade Center (8 p.m. ET, CBC, RDS2, NBCSN, CSN-CH, FS-MW).

The Blues, down 2-0 late in the second period, got two goals in a 1:05 span from Vladimir Tarasenko and Maxim Lapierre to stun the Blackhawks and 22,123 on hand at United Center.