Brouwer, Allen lift Blues past Blackhawks

ST. LOUIS --When St. Louis Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk scored a shootout goal, he felt vindicated for his failed clearing attempt that led to the game-tying goal for the Chicago Blackhawks late in the third period.
Shattenkirk scored in the sixth round to help the Blues defeat the Blackhawks 3-2 at Scottrade Center on Wednesday. He beat Chicago goalie Corey Crawford with a wrist shot high to the glove side, and Teuvo Teravainen hit the post trying to tie it for the Blackhawks.

Shattenkirk's outlet feed was picked off at the blue line, leading to Artemi Panarin's game-tying goal with 1:17 remaining to help Chicago get a point.
"When I think about that play, it was one where I tried to make a pass to [Vladimir Tarasenko]; I handcuffed him with a bad pass," Shattenkirk said. "At that point, it's easy for [Chicago defenseman Duncan Keith] to keep that puck in. He's got a guy on top of [Tarasenko] and he's got all the time in the world. I was a little upset with myself just making kind of a little bit of a panicky play there. But we were able to get back on top of it.

"When there's a minute and a half left, you can kind of get down, and I think we were able to finish that period and move into overtime."
Patrik Berglund and Troy Brouwer scored in the shootout for St. Louis; Panarin and Artem Anisimov scored for Chicago.
After an overtime in which each team had quality scoring opportunities, Shattenkirk was able to learn from Brouwer, who scored in the fifth round before Anisimov kept the tiebreaker going.
"I think after seeing Troy go, and [Crawford] seemed to give Troy that half of the net, I felt like if I came in at that same angle, I would have to make [Crawford] guess," said Shattenkirk, who was 0-for-6 in the shootout this season. "And if he gave me that same shot, I was going to take it. But he seemed to be right back in position, so I just tried to freeze him and get the puck above his glove as quickly as possible."

David Backes and Brouwer scored power-play goals in the third period, and Jake Allen made 33 saves for the Blues (39-20-9), who have won four games in a row and are one point behind the Blackhawks (41-21-6) and Dallas Stars in the Central Division.
"I thought we played really well; I thought we played great in the second and couldn't get the first one," St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We kept up the pressure. Two power-play goals were great; we earned the power plays."
Andrew Ladd scored a power-play goal in the second period for the Blackhawks, and Crawford made 28 saves.
"We're disappointed we gave up the lead," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said, "but when you score with the goalie out, you're pretty happy on the road. It was a great hockey game, both teams had their chances late, shootout, overtime. I mean it was a back-and-forth, game was on the line there throughout. Now we're all tied (in the standings)."

The Blackhawks are 32-0-3 when entering the third period with the lead.
Ladd thought he scored the game-winning goal with 2:52 left in overtime when he followed up Tomas Fleischmann's initial shot, but it immediately was waved off because Ladd contacted Allen in the crease before the puck crossed the goal line.
Backes tied it 1-1 at 8:46 of the third when he tipped Shattenkirk's wrist shot from the point while standing in front of Crawford.
Brouwer gave the Blues the lead on their third power play of the period when he beat Crawford with a slap shot after taking a feed from Paul Stastny with 6:40 remaining.

After Keith picked off Shattenkirk's clearing pass near the St. Louis blue line, he fed Jonathan Toews, who set up Panarin in the slot for the slap shot to tie it 2-2.
"I think the majority of the game we played pretty well," said Toews, who injured his hip flexor when he was checked near the door to the Blues bench in the second period. "We just need those timely penalty kills in the third and we didn't get them."
It was a matchup of the NHL's top-ranked penalty kill (Blues) and No. 1 power play (Blackhawks) entering Wednesday. Chicago went 1-for-4 with the man-advantage.
The Blackhawks converted on their third power-play opportunity, after Blues forward Ryan Reaves was given a five-minute charging penalty and game misconduct for a hit on defenseman Christian Ehrhoff behind the Chicago net at 17:43 of the first period.

Ladd scored when he tipped Teravainen's shot from the right faceoff circle past Allen at 1:14 of the second period for a 1-0 Blackhawks lead.
The Blues felt limiting the Blackhawks to one goal on the major gave them a confidence boost.
"I think that was the turning point, to be honest," said Allen, who is 4-0 in shootouts this season and 8-2 in his NHL career. "... If you get five minutes, you should score a goal, but we stuck with it in the second period, guys played great and we had some chances. Crawford made some big saves for them to keep them in it, and we took it to them in the third."