Blues’ Elliott good and lucky in the postseason
The Hawks are bringing the heat. And Blues goaltender Brian Elliott is handling it.
Elliott stopped 44 of 46 shots and parlayed a big break on a shot by Andrew Ladd that hit both posts into a 3- 2 victory Sunday at the United Center that gave the Blues a 2- 1 lead in this first- round playoff series.
The Hawks had their chances. Ladd had eight shots on goal. Artemi Panarin had six and Patrick Kane five. Defenseman Brent Seabrook had six shots on goal and scored on the Hawks’ first shot — a slap shot on a power play for a 1- 0 lead in the first period.
“We created a ton of offense,” Hawks captain Jonathan Toews said. “Maybe sometimes we’re getting too pretty, but we should just be putting everything on net.
“Give their goaltender credit. He played a great game again. At the same time, so did ours. But offensively, I think we can keep creating the way we have with the puck down low and working for those second chances and rebounds around the net and just finding those ugly goals.”
Elliott was particularly strong in the second period, when he stopped 23 of 24 shots, allowing only Artem Anisimov’s goal that gave the Hawks a 2- 1 lead.
“[ The Hawks] did a good job of crashing the net and creating traffic,” Elliott said. “Our guys battled and kept guys to the outside — kept shooting lanes in my sight of view.”
And he caught a break when Ladd’s shot hit the left post and caromed off the right post and out.
“Sometimes those go in; sometimes they go out,” Elliott said. “[ Luck] was on our side.”
Panarin’s guile
The Hawks broke a 1- 1 tie in the second period when Panarin lost a faceoff in his offensive end but quickly retrieved the puck from Blues defenseman Colton Parayko off the boards and passed to Anisimov for the goal.
It was Panarin’s first faceoff of the series and only faceoff of the game. He was credited with a faceoff win, apparently because he recovered the puck so quickly.
“I loved the thought process, and we may have to utilize him more,” coach Joel Quenneville said. “That was a pretty smart play.”
Weise in; Desjardins out
Forward Dale Weise played in Game 3 after being a healthy scratch in the first two games, with Andrew Desjardins sitting. Weise played on the third line with Teuvo Teravainen and Richard Panik. He had four hits and no shots in 6: 29.
Ott man in
Steve Ott, in for Ryan Reaves, was playing for the first time since Dec. 5, and he played a typical Steve Ott game, delivering four hits and making no friends on the Hawks.
“He did good; he did exactly what he needed to do for a first game in four months,” Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. “He wants to be an impact guy, and he can have a big impact on the series here.”