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Allen stumps Blackhawks, Schwartz tallies hat-trick

The Blues will battle the Colorado Avalanche at 8:00 pm on October, 19.
Billy Hurst-USA TODAY Sports

After a four-game (2-2) road trip, the St. Louis Blues returned home to face-off against their Central Division rivals, the Chicago Blackhawks. Both teams headed into the game with 4-2-0 records.

Five minutes in, Vladimir Tarasenko collected a loose puck down low and drifted up to the blue line. Pressured, he turned and slung the puck toward Chicago’s goaltender, Corey Crawford. On its way, the puck was stopped by Jaden Schwartz, who backhanded it in to give the Blues a 1-0 lead.

Schwartz had a shorthanded breakaway midway through the first. He ripped a shot that was stopped by Crawford, then lost his balance and rammed into the boards head first. The impact looked brutal, but he would return.

St. Louis lead Chicago 1-0 after one period of play.

In the second, a late line-change by the Blues allowed Schwartz to sneak behind Chicago’s defense and retrieve the puck for a breakaway. Crawford came out of the crease, so Jaden faked right, took the puck left, then punched it into the empty net. His second of the night and fourth of the season put the blues up 2-0 just 5:59 into the period.

Tarasenko stripped the puck from a Blackhawks’ defenseman two minutes later. He winded-up and ripped it short-side to add another goal to the Blues’ lead. Tarasenko’s snipe was his fifth goal of the season.

After three, St. Louis outshot Chicago 26 to 8. They headed into the final period with a 3-0 lead.

Kyle Brodziak entered the offensive zone on a two-on-one. He hesitated a shot, faked a pass, then sniped the past Crawford’s glove and into the top-right corner to make it 4-0.

“I was looking to pass,” explained Brodziak. “The d-man kinda gave me a little fake and showed me he wasn’t coming so I just decided to shoot. You see (Tarasenko) coming down the other side like that, I’m sure the d-man is gonna shape to him and take that away.”

With under eight minutes remaining in regulation, the Blackhawks found some offensive zone momentum when a Blues player’s stick snapped. Jake Allen stepped-up and made several jaw-dropping saves, including a goalline paddle stop.

In the final minutes, Chicago buried two powerplay goals to cut the Blues’ lead in half.

Schwartz sent home an empty netter with 0:42 left for his hattrick. The Blues defeated the Blackhawks 5-2.

“I think we did a good job taking away their time and space,” said Schwartz. “Obviously, they’ve got a lot of skilled players and you don’t want to give them a whole lot of time. At the same time, I thought we did a good job of having them in their own zone—their o-zone—and creating chances that way. Tiring them out; that’s what happened on my second goal there.”

The Blues will battle the Colorado Avalanche at 8:00 pm on October, 19.

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