Blues edge Blackhawks, head to West semifinals

St. Louis’ Alexander Steen (right) and Alex Pietrangelo celebrate after the Blues’ 3-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday in Game 7 of their NHL Western Conference playoff series.
St. Louis’ Alexander Steen (right) and Alex Pietrangelo celebrate after the Blues’ 3-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday in Game 7 of their NHL Western Conference playoff series.

ST. LOUIS -- Troy Brouwer tapped in his own rebound to snap a third-period tie and the St. Louis Blues advanced to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in four seasons, eliminating the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 in Game 7 of their NHL Western Conference quarterfinals series Monday night.

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AP

St. Louis defenseman Colton Parayko (right) and center Patrik Berglund embrace during the Blues’ serieswinning victory Monday night over the defending Stanley Cup champions.

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AP

Chicago’s Andrew Shaw (right) collides with St. Louis’ Scottie Upshall in the second period.

Brouwer, who played for the Blackhawks' Cup winner in 2010 and was among the veteran additions to a team trying to break through, swiped in a backhander. The goal at 8:31 was his first in 24 postseason games since 2013.

"That was the ugliest goal I've ever scored," said Brouwer, who has eight career playoff goals. "And probably the most timeliest goal I've ever scored."

Chicago just missed a chance to tie it when Brent Seabrook's shot went off both posts with about 3:30 left.

It is the first time the Blues advanced past the first round since 2012, when they beat San Jose in five games but then lost four consecutive to Los Angeles. They advance to play Central Division champion Dallas in the second round.

"We're still not where we want to be," Brouwer said. "We want to be playing in a month and a half still."

Jori Lehtera scored his first career playoff goal and rookie defenseman Colton Parayko also scored for the Blues, who avoided another inglorious finish. They led 2-0 early before the Blackhawks tied it in the second period.

Marian Hossa scored his third goal of the series and Andrew Shaw got his fourth on a power play for the Blackhawks. Patrick Kane was dangerous all night but was scoreless, and was minus-3.

"It just doesn't really feel right," Kane said. "Pretty quick right after to put everything right after into words. Obviously not the outcome we were looking for."

The Blackhawks have won three of the last five Cups -- but when they don't win it all, the postseason can be a short one, with three first-round eliminations the last six seasons.

"You get the feeling that it'll be one of those things again and we feel from the get-go we've got the team to do it again," Chicago captain Jonathan Toews said. "Not much you can say right now. It was close the whole way."

Brouwer, playing in his seventh career Game 7, scored from close range off a feed from Robby Fabbri. The first shot went off the right post and he nudged the second past Corey Crawford.

St. Louis was coached by the Blackhawks' Joel Quenneville the last time it played in a Game 7, a loss at Vancouver in 2003. The Game 7 victory was the franchise's first since 1999.

PREDATORS 3, DUCKS 1

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- By treating their elimination game like a Game 7, the Nashville Predators finally have pushed a playoff series to a seventh game.

Now they want to go back to Anaheim and finish off the Ducks.

James Neal scored the winning goal late in the second period, and the Predators beat Anaheim on Monday night to force the second Game 7 in the first round of this postseason.

The Predators had lost the previous five Game 6s when needing a victory to stay alive in the playoffs, and they snapped a three-game skid to the Ducks to force this series back to Anaheim for the deciding game Wednesday night.

Shea Weber sealed the victory with an empty-net goal with 10 seconds left off an assist by Neal. Mattias Ekholm also scored a goal, and Pekka Rinne made 26 saves for the win.

Ryan Kesler scored a power-play goal for the Ducks, who now are 8-6 in Game 6s. They return to Anaheim where they lost their last three last spring in the Western Conference finals to eventual Stanley Cup champ Chicago. They also lost Game 7 on home ice to the Kings in 2014 and Detroit in 2013.

Sports on 04/26/2016

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