"It's an unlucky break," said Blackhawks defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk, who was on the ice chasing down the play. "[Hjalmarsson] played it as perfect as you can."
Earlier in the third period, Hjalmarsson showed how willing he is to sacrifice his body when he blocked a point shot from Blues defenseman Joel Edmundson with his left foot, causing him to go down in pain for a moment.
But Hjalmarsson got back up and continued to play while the Blues buzzed around the Blackhawks zone, only to have Alex Pietrangelo take a shot 29 seconds later. Hjalmarsson went down and blocked that one as well, appearing to take it off his other foot.
Hjalmarsson got up again and continued defending, getting a stick on a Fabbri shot attempt, only to have Blackhawks forward Ryan Hartman get called for slashing Fabbri on the play.
Again, Hjalmarsson did everything right, and the play wound up being a negative for the Blackhawks.
"He blocked a couple right in a row, and obviously that first one stung," van Riemsdyk said. "They have some heavy shooters out there, but it doesn't faze him. He's hurting and he's still right in the lane for the next shot. He's an absolute warrior, he played a great game and unfortunately we just couldn't come out on top this time."