CHICAGO, Ill. - Marcus Kruger lit the lamp for Chicago at the 15:57 mark to give the Blackhawks the 1-0 lead over their rival St. Louis Blues after the first period Wednesday night.
Brandon Saad, credited with the assist, caused a turnover from the Blues' Ian Cole in the neutral zone and darted a quick pass to Kruger.
They would charge together on a 2-on-1 against Jake Allen before Kruger flung his 4th goal this season to Allen's left for the late lead.
Jake Allen saved 12-of-13 for the Blues, in net for injured Brian Elliott. The team signed all-time winningest goalie Martin Brodeur a few days ago as backup.
He faced a single power-play attack from the Blackhawks (15-8-1), against which he allowed no goal.
The best penalty-kill in hockey resides in Chicago, and it showed in the first period as the Blues 5th-best advantage went 0-for-3 on their power-play opportunities.
Chicago's Niklas Hjalmarsson was booked at 3:03 for high-sticking Vladimir Taransenko after the right-winger took a pass from Lehtra and came open for for a 1-on-1 chance against Antti Raanta.
Though little would come from that advantage as St. Louis shot twice for no goals in two minutes as they were largely kept out of the Blackhawks zone.
Toews came open suddenly and fired for Chicago to Allen's right when the teams drew even, but was pushed wide on the charge.
But the Blues (16-6-2) would have one more chance with an extra man.
Daniel Carcillo sat two minutes at 8:31 for retalitating against Steve Ott after the Blues center leveled Andrew Shaw from behind deep in the Chicago zone away from the puck.
Again, the Blues would do nothing in the 5-on-4 session, though Carcillo would emerge from the penalty box and seconds later fire a back-hander on Allen that went wide.
Antti Raanta stopped all 13 shots he faced for Chicago, as he sits in net tonight for Corey Crawford, who sustained a lower body injury off the ice and will be out for at least two weeks.
Raanta was under fire at the halfway point in the period, deflecting away four shots in succession as the Blues held possession in the Chicago zone.
He nearly allowed a shot from Ian Cole in the first three minutes, but the shot rang against the high post and out of play. The Hawks' right post was rung again with 12 minutes remaining off Alex Pietrangelo's one-timer.
Marion Hossa ventured a shot past Allen's left skate after he snuck around the defense in the right circle, but was pushed aside by the quicker goalie.
St. Louis defeated Chicago 3-2 in their previous meeting Oct. 25th.
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