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Kane's OT goal draws Blackhawks even with Blues

Chicago,  IL (SportsNetwork.com)  -  Patrick  Kane's goal  with  8:43 left  in 
overtime  sent  the Chicago Blackhawks  all square in their Western Conference 
quarterfinal series with the St. Louis Blues, giving the defending Stanley Cup 
champs a thrilling and critical 4-3 Game 4 victory at United Center. 

Kane  also scored earlier  in the contest and contributed an assist as well to 
help  the Blackhawks  record  their  second straight  win  after  a  pair  of 
heartbreaking  overtime defeats  in St. Louis, where the series will now shift 
for Friday's pivotal Game 5. 

"We kind of have the momentum now," Kane said. "We know it's going to be a 
tough game in Game 5 in their building. They're going to be fired up and 
that's always a tough place to play, pre-season, regular season or playoffs. 
So, we'll expect them to get better and we'll get better too." 

Bryan  Bickell came up with a big goal as well for Chicago, as his marker with 
3:52  remaining  in regulation tied  the score at 3-3  and ended a sequence of 
three straight scores from the Blues that erased a 2-0 deficit. 

Andrew  Shaw also lit  the lamp in the win, while Corey Crawford backed up his 
34-save shutout in Monday's Game 3 by turning aside 30 shots on Wednesday. 

Vladimir  Tarasenko  scored twice for the  Blues in a losing cause, with Maxim 
Lapierre  accounting  for the other  St. Louis  goal and Ryan Miller finishing 
with 30 saves. 

"Oh, they've got the momentum now," St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We've 
got to take it back. We've got two of three at home, but we've got to take the 
momentum back. These have been two really hard-fought games here. This is a 
momentum-builder for them, and we've got to find a way to regroup and take it 
back from them. That's a big challenge for us." 

Miller  was able  to thwart a couple  of good scoring chances during the extra 
period, in which Chicago produced a 6-2 shot advantage, but couldn't prevent a 
hard-charging  Kane from  finishing off a strong Blackhawks rush that resulted 
in the game-winner. 

The  standout  wing skated  into the  St. Louis  zone and  faked a pass before 
rocketing  a wrister  over Miller's  right shoulder  that evened  this tightly 
played series. 

St. Louis had taken its first lead of the night courtesy of Tarasenko's fourth 
goal  of the  series and second of the  game, which came with 7:33 left in the 
third  period. Taking in  an outlet pass from Alex Pietrangelo that began a 2- 
on-1,  the  talented youngster beat  Crawford glove-side after racing down the 
right wing for a 3-2 Blues advantage. 

Bickell,  a key contributor during last year's Stanley Cup run, forced another 
overtime   less  than  four  minutes  later  with  a  successful  redirect  of 
Michal Rozsival's long drive from near the blueline. 

After  neither  side found the  back of the net  during an opening period that 
featured  a 13-save  effort from  Miller, the  teams combined  for four  goals 
during a more wide-open second stanza. 

The Blackhawks  capitalized on a  tripping penalty  to Lapierre 8:29 into the 
frame  to strike  first. Kane fed the  puck to Jonathan Toews for a close one- 
timer  that was  blocked in front of Miller, but Shaw was perfectly positioned 
to backhand in the carom just 11 seconds after the infraction occurred. 

Kane  made it a 2-0 lead with just under four minutes remaining in the period, 
placing a cross-ice pass from Johnny Oduya over Miller's glove to finish off a 
Chicago rush. 

St. Louis quickly got right back in it, however, with a pair of goals over the 
final 69 seconds of the session. 

The  Blues needed  a mere seven seconds to convert Kane's penalty for shooting 
the  puck over the  glass, with Tarasenko putting his team on the board with a 
wicked left-circle drive while T.J. Oshie screened Crawford. 

St.  Louis kept the pressure on with time winding down in the second, and were 
rewarded  when  Steve Ott's diving  play to keep the  puck in the Chicago zone 
turned  into Lapierre's  blast that clanked off the right crossbar and in just 
3.1 seconds prior to the intermission. 

                                   Game Notes 

The  Blues  played a second straight  game without captain David Backes, still 
recovering  from  an upper-body injury caused  by a hard check from Blackhawk
defenseman Brent Seabrook in Saturday's Game 2. Seabrook received a three-game 
suspension  for the hit which will end following Game 5 ... Toews recorded two 
assists  ... The Blues lost for only the second time in eight all-time playoff 
meetings in Chicago that went to OT ... The team that has scored first has won 
all four matchups of the series. 

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