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 They had to pass out the hats and T-shirts adorned with the Blues
logo and the new wording "Central Division Champions."
Moments after returning to their locker room following the win, the
Blues found out the Minnesota Wild had defeated Nashville 4-2. The
two results combined clinched the Blues' second division title in
the last four years, moving them three points ahead of the
Predators, 107 to 104, with one game to play.
The win also pulled the Blues into a tie with idle Anaheim for the
top record in the Western Conference. Chicago remained in third
place in the division, two points behind Nashville.
"Division champions in this division I think means a lot," said the
team captain, center David Backes. "You name every team, there's no
gimmies at all. Each team probably deserves to make the playoffs.
We've done enough to secure the division championship.
"It's a nice reward for a lot of the hard work we've put in. We've
had some ups and downs and now we're on the way up at the right
time. It's a good feeling in here but it's temporary. We've got to
stick a feather in our cap and know that the work has just begun."
Winning the division title didn't look all that likely back on Feb.
24, when the Blues trailed Nashville by nine points in the
standings, 89 to 80. But the Predators went on a losing streak,
allowing the Blues a chance to climb back in the race.
"We've come from a long ways back to catch Nashville," coach Ken
Hitchcock said. "It looks like it's going to be the toughest
division in hockey for a lot of years now. We had to change the way
we played and we did it. We had to adjust, we couldn't play the way
we did before and our guys deserve a lot of credit for being to
adjust on the fly."
The adjustments were necessary because the Blues have had to play
their last several games without their two leading scorers, right
wing Vladimir Tarasenko and left wing Alexander Steen, due to
injuries. Both are expected back for the playoffs.
Both the Blues and Blackhawks went into Thursday night's game
knowing they had already secured a spot in the playoffs but at least
as far as the Blues were concerned, there was more to accomplish.
"Winning the division is nice, but home ice is important for us,"
Hitchcock said. "We needed home ice. That's a little advantage. It's
that little bit of cushion that we can hopefully use sometime down
the line. We wanted home ice badly
"To me what getting home-ice advantage does is validate the amount
of work you put into 82 games. When you put this amount of work in
you want to see some reward. Now we've got something to show for
it."
The Blues will have the home-ice advantage for at least the first
two rounds of the playoffs.
The game was scoreless until the Blues took advantage of a
four-minute penalty against Chicago defenseman David Rundblad for
high-sticking center Jorl Lehtera. Just 49 seconds into the penalty,
right wing Dmitrij Jaskin knocked in a rebound for his first goal in
17 games dating back to March 1. Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo took
the initial shot with Backes tipping it in front of the net.
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"I saw David standing there, and I was hoping it might get in there
somewhere," Jaskin said. "It was lying right on the line."
The Blues increased the lead to 2-0 when center Paul Stastny scored
off a pass from left winger Jaden Schwartz on a 2-on-1 break with
5:55 left in the game.
Chicago was finally able to get a shot past goalie Jake Allen with
2:39 left in the game when center Andrew Shaw scored off a rebound
of a shot by center Teuvo Teravainen.
It was the third consecutive game the Blackhawks were limited to one
goal.
"It just seems to be breakdowns and rushes against at a certain
point in the third period that ends up hurting us," said center
Jonathan Toews. "I guess that is the case when you're down a goal.
We've got to make plays in the offensive zone which we didn't do a
whole lot tonight."
The Blackhawks were 0-for-2 on the power play and have now failed to
score on their last 11 opportunities with a man advantage over their
last five games.
"We had a stretch this year when we weren't scoring and i think at
the end of the day you've got to get your power play working and
you've got to get some ugly goals," said coach Joel Quenneville.
"There's a price to pay to have success both ways. i think we've got
the ingredients in here to find a way to make it work."
NOTES: Blackhawks C Marcus Kruger (illness) missed a game for the
first time this season. He missed only one game in the 2013-14
season. ... After making his NHL debut Tuesday night, RW Kyle Baun
remained in the Chicago lineup. ... LW Chris Porter was inserted
into the St. Louis lineup in place of LW Olli Jokinen. ... Key
players missing the game because of injuries included RW Patrick
Kane and C Brad Richards of the Blackhawks and RW Vladimir
Tarasenko, LW Alexander Steen and D Robert Bortuzzo of the Blues.
... The Blackhawks will end the regular season Saturday against the
Avalanche in Colorado, while the Blues host the Minnesota Wild on
Saturday.
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