Chicago, IL (SportsNetwork.com) - Jonathan Toews scored, Corey Crawford had 34 
saves and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the St. Louis Blues 2-0 Monday in Game 3 
of the Western Conference quarterfinals. 

After  a pair of  overtime losses in St. Louis, the Blackhawks got their first 
win in the best-of-seven series with Game 4 on tap for Wednesday in Chicago. 

"That  was  a big  win for us  but we  have to keep  the same mentality," said 
Crawford.  "Just  because we came  here and got the  first one at home doesn't 
mean  it's  going to be easy.  We have to be  prepared to work even harder and 
keep the same good feelings we had in this game." 

Crawford  had 15  saves in the first  period, eight in the second and made his 
11th save of the third period on an Alex Pietrangelo shot that was re-directed 
in the final minute. 

It  was Crawford's third career postseason shutout. Toews scored 4:10 into the 
game and Marcus Kruger added an empty-netter to seal the win. 

Both teams were missing top players. 

Blackhawks  defenseman  Brent Seabrook began serving his three-game suspension 
for  the check that  knocked David Backes out of Game 2 on Saturday and led to 
Vladimir Tarasenko's tying goal for the Blues with 6.4 seconds remaining. 

Backes was also out after Seabrook drove his shoulder into the Blues captain's 
face, sending him head-first into the corner boards. 

After  Tarasenko tied Game 2, Barret Jackman scored 5:50 into overtime to give 
St. Louis a 2-0 series lead. 

The  Blues won  Game 1 in a similar hear-stopping fashion after Jaden Schwartz 
scored with 1:45 left in regulation and Alexander Steen won it 26 seconds into 
the third overtime, the longest game in franchise history. 

Both  games  ended 4-3. Now,  the Blues  are hoping to  avoid a repeat of last 
year, when they posted a pair of 2-1 wins over Los Angeles in the first round, 
then lost the next four games. 

"We  knew this was going to be a long series," said Blues coach Ken Hitchcock. 
"We really played hard and played well and did a lot of things we needed to do 
to win the game, but you have to give their goalie credit. He was good." 

Ryan  Miller  stopped 23 of  the 24  shots he faced  in this one, only letting 
Toews' drive from the top of the right circle get past him. 

Toews  took the  shot with Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk in front of him, 
and it squeaked through Miller's legs. 

"After  that I feel like I competed an battled," said Miller. "There are going 
to  be moments where things aren't going to go your way, you just have to keep 
moving forward." 

Later,  with St. Louis  making a late push, Crawford was able to get his glove 
on Pietrangelo's re-directed shot from the right side, knocking it down. 

"He saw everything," said Toews. 

It  was the Blues'  last good chance before Kruger sealed the Chicago win with 
his empty-net goal with 20 seconds left. 

                                   Game Notes 

Duncan  Keith, Sheldon  Brookbank, Brandon Saad and Michal Handzus each had an 
assist  for Chicago. It was Saad's second assist of the series ... Chicago was 
0-for-4 on the power play and St. Louis went 0-for-3.