St.  Louis,  MO (SportsNetwork.com) -  For the fourth  time in five games, the 
Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues went to overtime. 

And  for  the first  time in their  opening-round series, the  road team won a 
game. 

Jonathan  Toews  scored on a  breakaway at 7:36 of  the extra session, and the 
Blackhawks  beat  the Blues  3-2 on  Friday night at  Scottrade Center to take 
a 3-2 lead in this best-of-seven set. 

The Blackhawks captain skated down the middle alone in on St. Louis goaltender 
Ryan  Miller, pulled the  puck to the backhand and slipped it inside the right 
post  and  past Miller's left pad,  giving the defending Stanley Cup champions 
their third straight win. 

Corey  Crawford  made 27 saves  for Chicago, which will  look to close out the 
series Sunday at home. 

"We know it's not over. We're excited to have the opportunity at home to close 
it  out, but we're gonna need our best  game  of  the year,"  said Blackhawks 
defenseman Duncan Keith. 

Miller also stopped 27 shots for a St. Louis that welcomed back its captain to 
the lineup. 

David  Backes returned after missing the previous two games with an upper-body 
injury. The forward was injured late in Game 2 after absorbing a vicious check 
from  Brent  Seabrook, a hit  that earned  the Chicago defenseman a three-game 
suspension he finished serving Friday night. 

"It seems against a team that's got this type of finish, you make a big error, 
you  pay  for it," said Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock. 

The Blackhawks quickly  got into penalty trouble, as they were called for two 
holding infractions before the game was seven minutes old. 

St.  Louis,  however,  generated  only  one  shot  on  the  two  power  plays, 
squandering an opportunity to put Chicago in an early hole. 

The  Blues  wound up  falling behind  later in the  first period  on a goal by 
Marian  Hossa,  who poked in  his own  rebound from the  slot into an open net 
with 3:49 remaining. 

Chicago  then  drew  a  holding-the-stick  penalty  on  Alexander  Steen  with 
sustained  pressure  in the St. Louis  zone, but it  was the Blues who had the 
best chance late in the frame. Crawford made a save on an Alex Pietrangelo tip 
on a shorthanded rush with a minute left to preserve the Blackhawks' 1-0 lead. 

The Blues tied things up on T.J. Oshie's highlight-reel goal at the 11:04 mark 
of  the second period.  Oshie handled a pass from Steen, cut to the middle and 
beat Crawford with a backhander while on his knees. 

St.  Louis came close to moving ahead later in the middle stanza, but Vladimir 
Sobotka misfired at a yawning cage. 

Chicago  managed  to reclaim  the lead  with 2:50 left  in the second. Sheldon 
Brookbank's  one-timed  blast from  the point  was knocked  down and Ben Smith 
backhanded the loose puck past Miller from the slot. 

The Blues drew even early in the third period, when Pietrangelo finished off a 
2-on-1  rush with Jaden Schwartz by firing a wrister past Crawford at the 1:42 
mark. 

                                   Game Notes 

St. Louis tied a franchise record for most overtime games in a series ... Both 
teams were 0-for-2 on the power play.