All posts by The Associated Press

Resilient Blackhawks score 5 straight, force Game 7 vs. Blues

CHICAGO- Artem Anisimov, Trevor van Riemsdyk and Dale Weise scored during Chicago's dominant second period, and the Blackhawks beat the St. Louis Blues 6-3 on Saturday night to send their first-round playoff series to Game 7.

Andrew Shaw added a third-period goal in his return from a one-game suspension for using a gay slur during Chicago's 4-3 loss in Game 4. Andrew Ladd had a goal and an assist as the Blackhawks improved to 15-1 in their last 16 Game 6's in the playoffs.

Chicago trailed 3-1 in the series, but stayed alive with a 4-3 double-overtime victory in St. Louis on Thursday. Then, the defending Stanley Cup champions trailed 3-1 after one period in Game 6, but found a way again.

Game 7 is Monday night.

Vladimir Tarasenko, Alex Pietrangelo and Scottie Upshall scored for St. Louis, which lost in the first round of the playoffs in each of the last three seasons. Brian Elliott made 30 saves.

Trailing 3-1 after one and facing the possible end of their title defense, the Blackhawks roared back with perhaps their best period of the season.

With St. Louis center Kyle Brodziak in the box for hooking, Anisimov got Chicago within one when he poked home a rebound opportunity for his third goal of the series. That seemed to spark the Blackhawks, and Elliott made a couple of nice stops on Richard Panik and Marian Hossa to keep the Blues in front.

But Chicago only turned up the pressure from there.

Panik left the puck for a streaking Jonathan Toews, and the captain slid it over to van Reimsdyk for the tying goal at 12:21. Spurred on by a raucous crowd of 22,260, which stood and applauded for a whole TV timeout at one point, Chicago went ahead to stay when Artemi Panarin passed from behind the net to Weise for a one-timer at 16:18.

It was Weise's first goal since he was acquired in a trade with Montreal on Feb. 26. It also was his sixth career playoff score, including a pair of overtime winners during his time with the Canadiens.

Shaw's third goal of the series, a power-play tally off a slick pass from Patrick Kane, made it 5-3 at 16:53 of the third, and Hossa added an empty-netter.

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Ducks take Game 5, push Predators to edge of elimination

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Ryan Garbutt scored the go-ahead goal in the second period for the Ducks, who beat the Nashville Predators 5-2 on Saturday for the first win by a home team in their first-round series, which Anaheim leads 3-2.

Nashville had won the first two games in Anaheim before the Ducks tied it with two wins on the Predators' home ice.

David Perron scored the tying goal earlier in the second and assisted on Garbutt's goal along with Ryan Getzlaf.

The Ducks added three goals in the third. Sami Vatanen scored on a breakaway, Cam Fowler had a power-play goal and Ryan Kesler added an empty-netter.

Frederik Andersen stopped 27 shots for the Ducks.

Game 6 is Monday in Nashville.

Pekka Rinne had 27 saves for the Predators, who closed within a goal at 3-2 in the third on Miikka Salomaki's wrist shot before the Ducks put the game out of reach with a pair of goals.

Ryan Johansen scored for Nashville 22 seconds before the Ducks tied it in the second.

After a scoreless first, the teams combined for three goals in a span of 2:10. Johansen's backhander gave Nashville a 1-0 lead at 14:13.

Perron scored his first playoff goal 22 seconds later on a slap shot from the point. The puck took a weird bounce, hitting defenseman Roman Josi before Rinne made a desperate stab with his left glove as it sailed over his head and into the net.

Garbutt gave the Ducks their first lead of the game at 16:23. He fought off two defenders while digging the puck out of the boards behind the net and stuffing it around the right post.

NOTES: The Ducks improved to 5-0-0 in postseason day games over the last 10 years. ... Nashville is 0-8 when losing three of the first five games in a playoff series. ... The Ducks had scored four goals in the first period of the series until Saturday. ... Anaheim has outscored Nashville 16-9 through five games.

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Neuvirth has the game of his life to keep Flyers alive against Capitals

WASHINGTON - Michal Neuvirth made a playoff career-high 44 saves and the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Washington Capitals 2-0 in Game 5 on Friday night to stay alive in their first-round series.

Neuvirth was dominant, carrying the team on his shoulders and blunting Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals' every charge to cut the series deficit to 3-2 and send it back to Philadelphia for Game 6 on Sunday.

Ryan White scored the lone goal for the Flyers against Braden Holtby, with the puck deflecting in off Washington defenseman Taylor Chorney and past the goalie.

Chris VandeVelde added an empty-netter late.

Holtby was barely tested in making 10 saves.

The pressure is now on the Presidents' Trophy-winning Capitals, who led the series 3-0 before Neuvirth replaced Steve Mason in goal for Philadelphia. Washington lost back-to-back games in regulation for the first time all season.

Sidelined by a lower-body injury for three weeks, Neuvirth only played two games since March 4 before making his Flyers playoff debut in Game 4 on Wednesday, stopping 31 of 32 shots against the team that drafted and developed him.

Neuvirth faced the Capitals in relief while with the New York Islanders in the 2015 playoffs, but this was his big opportunity. Some of his former teammates made sure it was a busy one.

The Capitals put on a shooting gallery against Neuvirth almost all game, hemming the Flyers in their zone and forcing him to be sharp. The 28-year-old Czech made a big glove save on Daniel Winnik short-handed attempt early in the second period to keep the Capitals off the board, and then Philadelphia finally gave him some support.

Three seconds after another unsuccessful power play, White was credited with the goal when it banked off Chorney's skate and in. The Flyers fell to 1 for 21 on the power play in the series but remained alive.

Neuvirth was singlehandedly the reason for that as he sprawled to stop Karl Alzner, denied Ovechkin and robbed Marcus Johansson in the second period. In the third he denied Dmitry Orlov on a rush and smothered the puck and handled a slap shot from Ovechkin.

On a Capitals power play midway through the third, Neuvirth made another stand and always looked in control while facing an onslaught. VandeVelde scored an empty-netter with 30.8 seconds left to seal it.

The 33-shot disparity (44 to 11) tied the second-biggest margin by a losing playoff team since 1989-90, according to STATS.

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Ducks roll over Predators, knot series at 2

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Nate Thompson and Jamie McGinn scored nearly 2 minutes apart late in the second period, and the Anaheim Ducks beat the Nashville Predators 4-1 on Thursday night to even up their first-round series at 2-2.

Ryan Getzlaf and Andrew Cogliano also scored as the road team stayed perfect in this best-of-seven series.

Goalie Frederik Andersen picked up his second straight win by making 30 saves and setting a career shutout streak of 91 minutes, 26 seconds.

Mike Fisher scored his first goal of the series.

Nashville lost a 2-0 series lead despite outshooting the Ducks for a second straight game, this time with a 31-25 edge in shots. But the Predators went 0 of 6 with the man advantage and are 1 of 19 on the power play in this series against the NHL's best penalty killers in the regular season.

Game 5 is Saturday in Anaheim.

The Predators, who use country star Tim McGraw's hit ''I Like It, I Love It'' as their goal song, brought McGraw before the puck dropped to wave a towel and rile up the home crowd. The Predators certainly started playing with more energy than in Game 3.

But Anaheim just missed out on the Stanley Cup finals last spring after losing Game 7 on its own ice, and these Ducks have been through plenty of adversity this season after being 16 points back in the Pacific before rallying to win the division.

Getzlaf put the Ducks up 1-0 just 62 seconds into the game when he poked the puck past Rinne off a shot from David Perron. Coming off his 3-0 shutout in Game 3, Andersen stopped the seven shots the Ducks didn't block in the first period. That gave him a career-high 80-minute shutout streak in the postseason and Anaheim a 1-0 lead after the first period.

The Predators dominated in the second, pressuring Andersen with shot after shot. Finally, Fisher scored his first goal of the series on a snap shot from the right side off a pass from Colin Wilson, beating Andersen to the far side of the net at 11:26 to tie it up.

At that point, Nashville outshot Anaheim 12-1 only to see the Ducks close out the period.

Thompson, stopped twice earlier in the period by Rinne, put a wrister past the Nashville goalie to put Anaheim up 2-1 at 17:04 for his second goal of the series. Then McGinn tapped in a rebound off Chris Stewart's shot at 18:56 for a 3-1 lead.

The Ducks killed off two more penalties in the third, helping Andersen by blocking more shots and flooding the slot in front of their goalie. Then Cogliano sealed the win with his second goal of the series at 16:52.

Notes: Andersen's previous high had been 72 minutes, 51 seconds. ... The Ducks blocked 25 shots. Titans coach Mike Mularkey and GM Jon Robinson were on hand for the game. ... Nashville honored Prince, who died earlier Thursday, playing his songs throughout the game and putting his photo on the video board during a break in the third period to ''Purple Rain.''

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Malkin, Murray shine as Penguins blowout Rangers in Game 4

NEW YORK - Flashing his old brilliance, Evgeni Malkin scored two goals and set up two others and the Pittsburgh Penguins pushed the New York Rangers to the brink of playoff elimination with a 5-0 victory Thursday night.

Malkin, whose four points tied his single-game high in the postseason, assisted on two of the Penguins' three first-period goals in helping Pittsburgh dominate the Rangers for the second consecutive game and take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven, first-round series.

Sidney Crosby, who added two assists, and the red-hot Penguins can wrap up things in Game 5 in Pittsburgh on Saturday.

Rookie goaltender Matt Murray, who returned to the lineup for Game 3, made 31 saves in posting his first playoff shutout.

Eric Fehr, Patric Hornqvist and Conor Sheary also scored as the Penguins tallied four times on 18 shots against Henrik Lundqvist, who was lifted early in the second period.

Related: Lundqvist yanked early in 2nd period after allowing 4 goals

Pittsburgh converted 3 of 6 power plays, and is 7 of 19 in the series with the extra man.

The Rangers, who have lost five straight home playoffs games dating to last season, came into Game 4 vowing to pick things up after being totally outplayed in a 3-1 loss Tuesday night.

They brought tenor John Amirante out of retirement to sing the national anthem and the crowd at Madison Square Garden was buzzing when the puck was dropped.

The excitement disappeared 69 seconds into the game when Lundqvist gave up a juicy rebound on a slap shot by Ben Lovejoy and Fehr charged down the middle of the ice to poke the rebound into the net. Malkin made the pass that set up Lovejoy's big shot.

The big Russian, who hurt an arm in early March and didn't return to the lineup until Saturday, helped push the lead to 2-0 at 7:11 with a shot from the point on a power play. Crosby deflected the shot on the way in and Hornqvist tipped it again standing in front of Lundqvist for his fourth goal of the postseason.

Sheary hushed the crowd and made them start to realize this might be the final home game of the season, when he blocked a point shot by defenseman Kevin Klein, skated down the left wing and beat Lundqvist badly on a shot from the circle for a 3-0 lead at 16:12. It was his first NHL playoff goal.

Related: Watch: Sheary snipes Penguins' 3rd 1st-period goal on Lundqvist

By the final minute of the period time, the Penguins' near perfect play had the Rangers' fans booing the team that went to the Cup Finals two years ago and the Eastern Conference finals last season.

Malkin, who had a goal waved off late in the first period for an obvious goaltender interference call, stretched the lead to 4-0 with another power-play goal at 4:00 of the second period. It was scored with a rocket from the point after the Penguins refused to let the Rangers clear the puck out of the offensive zone.

A little more than two minutes after the goal, Rangers coach Alain Vigneault lifted Lundqvist after giving up four goals on 18 shots. Antti Raanta finished up.

Malkin added his second of the game and 44th of his postseason career on deflection in front in the third period with Pittsburgh on another power play.

The only thing remaining after that was to see if Murray got his shutout, and the Penguins made sure he did.

The Rangers had some scoring chances. Murray stopped Eric Staal on a rebound late in the first period and Chris Kreider missed the net after being set up in close.

In the second period, Dominic Moore could not convert on a short-handed 2-on-1 with Viktor Stalberg, who played despite losing three teeth in a high-sticking incident with Kris Letang in Game 3.

NOTES: The Rangers made one lineup change, inserting rookie Oscar Lindberg and sitting Kevin Hayes. Lindberg played on the fourth line with Moore and Tanner Glass. Stalberg moved up to third line with Eric Staal and J.T. Miller. ... Crosby and Malkin played in their 104th playoff game, passing Kevin Stevens for third in franchise history.

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Lightning beat Red Wings in 5, advance to 2nd round of Stanley Cup Playoffs

TAMPA, Fla. - Ben Bishop stopped 34 shots, Alex Killorn scored with less than two minutes remaining and the Tampa Bay Lightning advanced to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs with a 1-0 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night.

Killorn's second winning goal of the series was set up by Ryan Callahan, who retrieved goalie Petr Mrazek's bad pass behind the Detroit net and centered the puck in the crease for Killorn's backhander at 18:17 of the third period.

Related - Watch: Lightning's Killorn scores series clincher off Mrazek misplay

Tampa Bay eliminated the Red Wings in the first round for the second straight year. Detroit pushed the defending Eastern Conference champions to seven games a year ago, but could only beat them once in five attempts this time, with Killorn, Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov picking up the offensive slack for Tampa Bay with star Steven Stamkos injured.

Detroit only scored eight goals in the series, though not because of a lack of opportunities.

The Red Wings finished 1 for 25 on the power play, and their futility was never more evident than Thursday night, when they failed to even get a shot on goal during a 5-on-3 advantage early in the opening period.

The closest they came during that first power-play was Pavel Datsyuk hitting the post. The Lightning were fortunate again late in the period, when Detroit's Danny Dekeyser also hit the post before the puck glanced off Bishop's right arm.

Just as frustrating was an inability to crack Bishop in the second period, when the Tampa Bay goalie rejected Riley Sheahan, Darren Helm and Dylan Larkin on breakaways that could have snapped a scoreless tie.

Bishop sopped 14 shots in the second and 11 more in the third, two in the closing seconds with Detroit on its fourth power play of the night. Mrazek wasn't tested as often but his teammates played a hand in that by limiting the line of Johnson, Kucherov and Killorn to a combined two shots heading into the final period.

Mrazek, who replaced Jimmy Howard after the Red Wings lost the first two games of the series on the road, finished with 23 saves. He won Game 3 in Detroit 2-0 - his third career playoff shutout - all against the Lightning - but contributed to his own demise this time when he went behind the net but failed to clear the puck.

Notes: Bishop has allowed two or fewer goals in 10 of his last 11 playoff starts, dating to last season. ... Detroit has trailed 3-1 in a playoff series 21 times, but only rallied to win twice - in the first round vs. Toronto in 1987 and vs. the Minnesota North Stars in 1992. ... Earlier Thursday, the Red Wings assigned D Xavier Ouellet to the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL, which begins a first-round playoff series against the Milwaukee Admirals on Friday night.

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Stars hold on to push Wild to elimination brink

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Jason Spezza scored the go-ahead goal with his skate, Ales Hemsky and Patrick Eaves each scored on a second-period power play to give Dallas' lagging special teams a lift, and the Stars defeated the Minnesota Wild 3-2 on Wednesday night to push their series lead to 3-1.

Antti Niemi assumed the net from Kari Lehtonen, who started the first three games, and made 28 saves for the Stars. They'll host Game 5 in Dallas on Friday.

Jason Pominville and Charlie Coyle both gave the Wild the lead with second-period goals, but they weren't able to sustain the momentum from a spirited comeback in Game 3 for the entire night.

The Wild finished the game with a 6-on-4 after a high-stick penalty on Antoine Roussel with goalie Devan Dubnyk pulled, but the Stars tightened up and allowed only one shot on target over the 84-second two-man advantage.

By the time the first period was half-finished, the Stars had cast aside their sluggishness from the previous contest that saw them manage only 17 shots on net. After a scoreless but fast-paced first period, the floodgates opened on both sides in the five-goal middle frame.

Pominville, playing on that thriving third line with Erik Haula and Nino Niederreiter, scored his third goal of the series by crashing the crease and knocking in Niederreiter's fluttering rebound shot off his shin.

Then the Wild got a little sloppy, and the Stars seized the opportunity. With Colton Sceviour screening Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk, Hemsky's slap shot evened the game with 6 seconds left on the first Dallas power play.

Related: Watch: Stars' Hemsky turns back the clock with 1st playoff goal in 10 years

Coyle answered 63 seconds later with the most skillful goals of the series, fighting through a would-be hooking penalty on Stars defenseman Alex Goligoski as he nudged the puck forward, snagged it in the air and set it back down to set up a right-left deke on Niemi and backhand it in the corner.

Related: Watch: Wild's Coyle flashes incredible hand-eye coordination on goal

Niederreiter took a slashing penalty a few minutes later, though, and Eaves followed with a redirection that eluded Dubnyk. Finally, with 69 seconds remaining before the second intermission, Jason Demers launched a shot that ricocheted perfectly off the front of Spezza's left foot for a 3-2 lead.

The Stars have a dangerous power play that finished fourth in the NHL during the regular season at 22.1 percent, but the Wild killed 12 of 13 penalties over the first three games.

After acquiring Niemi in a trade with San Jose last summer to pair him with Lehtonen, the Stars carefully rotated the 32-year-olds throughout the season, with each goalie getting exactly 25 wins. Lehtonen posted a shutout in Game 1, but he wasn't as sharp in Game 3, making the transition a natural one for coach Lindy Ruff.

NOTES: Of the Wild LWs with upper-body injuries, Thomas Vanek is closer to returning than Zach Parise, whose status coach John Torchetti labeled ''week to week.'' Said Vanek: ''I really ramped it up the last few days here, and I feel good, but again, I just need time, and there's not a whole lot of it right now. I'll just keep pushing it and see where it goes.'' ... Niemi raised his career postseason record to 36-26. ... Stars D Kris Russell returned to the lineup after missing the last game with an illness. ... Haula has 10 goals and 14 assists in 30 games including the playoffs under Torchetti, who replaced Mike Yeo in mid-February.

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Petrovic nets winner as Panthers knot series at 2

NEW YORK - Alex Petrovic scored the tiebreaking goal midway through the third period and the Florida Panthers beat the New York Islanders 2-1 on Wednesday night to even their first-round playoff series at two games apiece.

Teddy Purcell also scored for Florida and Jaromir Jagr had an assist for his 200th career playoff point. Roberto Luongo stopped 26 shots.

John Tavares had his third goal of the series for New York, and Thomas Greiss finished with 27 saves.

The Panthers got their first playoff road win since April 17, 2012, against New Jersey in Game 3 of the first round.

Game 5 of the best-of-seven series is Friday night in Sunrise, Florida.

On the go-ahead goal, Petrovic got the puck up high near the middle, slowly skated to the right and fired a shot into the top left corner past Greiss to put the Panthers ahead 2-1 at 9:25 of the third.

The Panthers nearly scored with 9:15 left in the second when Jonathan Huberdeau had a breakaway and his shot was stopped by Greiss. Huberdeau slid into Greiss and the puck was knocked loose and went over the line. No goal was called on the ice and the play was reviewed and the call was upheld. Panthers coach Gerard Gallant was upset over the non-goal and used his challenge. After a lengthy review, the non-goal call was upheld again, much to the delight of the home crowd.

Related: Panthers' Huberdeau disallowed 1st playoff goal after sliding into net

About 90 seconds after play resumed, the Islanders' Josh Bailey jammed a puck out of Luongo's pads and across the line, but the officials waved it off because the whistle had blown.

The Panthers finally got on the scoreboard first late in the second period. About a minute after the Islanders' Matt Martin was sent off for tripping Nick Bjugstad, Greiss slid to the left to knock away Jagr's tip attempt. However Jagr got the puck behind the net, skated around and fed Purcell, who fired it in as Greiss was getting back in position. The assist, Jagr's 200th career postseason point, was his 122nd in the playoffs, breaking a tie with Al MacInnis and Glenn Anderson for sole possession of ninth place on the NHL list.

Related: Jagr becomes 5th player with 200 career playoff points

Penalties to Aleksander Barkov and Dmitry Kulikov gave the Islanders a 5-on-3 for 39 seconds in the final minute of the second. New York took advantage as Pulock passed to Tavares on the right side and the captain skated in and wristed a shot past Luongo to tie it with 16 seconds remaining - just after the first penalty expired.

The Panthers had a 10-5 advantage on shots in a tightly played first period. Florida had a power play just 2:04 in as Casey Cizikas was whistled for tripping Brian Campbell. Nick Bjugstad had their lone shot during the man advantage, but his snap shot was stopped by Greiss.

The Islanders got one shot on goal in their lone power play about six minutes in as Okposo's shot fluttered in the air and deflected up off Luongo's mask.

Greiss stopped Bjugstad's backhand from the left side about 8 minutes in, and also made a nice stop on Reilly Smith's wrist shot from in close with about 3 1/2 minutes left in the first.

NOTES: Panthers C Vincent Trochek and D Steven Kampfer have not played in the series while recovering from lower-body injuries, though Gallant again said earlier Wednesday they were close. ... Florida used 11 forwards and 10 defensemen, with Jakub Kindl replacing C Greg McKegg ... Jagr, who has not scored a goal in 35 consecutive playoff games, played in his 206th postseason game - breaking a tie with former Devils goalie Martin Brodeur for 17th place in NHL history. ... Tavares, who also has four assists in the series, now has 10 goals and 11 assists in his last 14 games. He also has scored a goal in seven of his last eight games, including the regular season. ... The Islanders fell to 11-4-3 at home since the All-Star break.

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Tarasenko, Blues move within 1 win of eliminating Blackhawks

CHICAGO - Vladimir Tarasenko scored on a pair of impressive wrist shots, Brian Elliott made 39 saves and the St. Louis Blues beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 on Tuesday night to open a commanding 3-1 lead in their first-round playoff series.

Jaden Schwartz scored a tiebreaking power-play goal in the third period for the second straight game as St. Louis moved to the brink of its first appearance in the Western Conference semifinals since 2012. The Blues were eliminated in the opening round in each of the past three years.

Game 5 is Thursday night in St. Louis.

Duncan Keith had two goals for Chicago, which dropped consecutive home playoff games for the first time since 2012.

Andrew Shaw had a goal and two assists, and Corey Crawford finished with 16 saves after getting into a fight with Blues rookie Robby Fabbri during a wild second period.

With Keith in the box for holding Alexander Steen, Schwartz intercepted a clearing attempt by Blackhawks defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk and beat Crawford low on his stick side at 1:36. Schwartz also had the game-winning goal in St. Louis' 3-2 victory in Game 3 on Sunday.

Steen then picked off a passing attempt by van Riemsdyk and went in all alone on Crawford for his first goal of the series at 4:46, stunning the sellout crowd of 22,212.

A fortunate bounce for Keith off Tarasenko's stick and over Elliott gave the Blackhawks some hope, but Elliott shut the door from there. He jumped on a loose puck during a Chicago rush with 4:10 remaining, and Shaw was penalized for interference with 2:04 left.

Before Schwartz and Steen broke through, it was the Tarasenko show once again for St. Louis. The dynamic winger has three goals and two assists in the series and 13 goals in 17 career playoff games.

The Blackhawks had a 2-1 lead and momentum before Andrew Ladd was whistled for interference at 17:09 of the second. Just 22 seconds later, Tarasenko whistled a shot under Crawford's glove for the tying score.

Tarasenko's goal capped a frenetic second period that included a fight between Crawford and Fabbri after the forward was pushed into the goaltender on a rush to the net. Crawford skated into the corner and shoved Fabbri before the two wrestled on the ice.

The crowd responded with chants of ''Co-rey! Co-rey!'' and the resulting fracas between the teams somehow generated a power play for the Blackhawks. Fabbri (interference), Alex Pietrangelo (roughing) and Kevin Shattenkirk (roughing) were sent off for St. Louis, and Crawford (roughing) and Ladd (roughing) were penalized for Chicago.

There was another big fight between the teams right after the final horn.

During the power play after the Crawford-Fabbri dispute, Keith scored on a rebound to give the defending Stanley Cup champions a 2-1 lead at 13:09. The defenseman has three goals in the series after winning the Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP a year ago.

Chicago got off to a fast start, but St. Louis kept most of the action away from Elliott in the first period. The Blues also caught a break when Artem Anisimov's shot stopped right on the goal line and Elliott knocked it out of the way before the Blackhawks could get to it.

St. Louis managed just five shots on goal in the first, but one of them was a laser from Tarasenko that made it 1-0 at 14:02. Jori Lehtera made a nice pass from behind the net to set up the play.

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Andersen’s shutout of Predators puts Ducks back into series

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Frederik Andersen made 27 saves, and the Anaheim Ducks shut out the Nashville Predators 3-0 Tuesday night to pull within 2-1 in their first-round playoff series.

The Ducks have not lost three straight to open a postseason series since the 2006 Western Conference finals, and they didn't come close to dropping a third straight this year.

Andersen, who started in net after John Gibson took the first two losses in Anaheim, posted his second postseason shutout despite taking Shea Weber's slap shot off his head. He has 15 postseason wins since 2014.

Chris Stewart had a goal and an assist, and Jamie McGinn and Rickard Rakell each scored their first goals of the series.

Game 4 is Thursday night in Nashville.

The Predators returned home with their first 2-0 lead in the postseason. The Predators lost center Craig Smith to a lower-body injury after he played only 65 seconds over two shifts, leaving coach Peter Laviolette mixing up his lines.

Coach Bruce Boudreau called out his Ducks after a 3-2 loss in Game 2 for taking too many penalties and talking too much to the officials. Boudreau also switched back to Andersen and played Shawn Horcoff for the first time in this series looking for a spark.

Even though the Ducks took five penalties, they still showed much more discipline once the whistle blew.

They also took very good care of the puck with no turnovers in the first 20 minutes, and the combination helped them lead at the end of a period for the first time in this series.

McGinn scored on a wrister from the right circle off a pass from Horcoff after he skated up the slot midway through the first.

A sold-out crowd tried to give the Predators a boost, but some sloppy play with too many turnovers and missed opportunities on the man advantage led to a smattering of boos late in the second.

When Filip Forsberg helped kill off a big chunk of an Anaheim power play, fans gave him a standing ovation. Nashville took the first few shots of the second period and even got its second man advantage when McGinn tripped Forsberg after the Predators forward beat two Ducks for the puck.

Weber, who won the hardest shot competition at the All-Star Game in January, had a slap shot in the opening seconds of the power play that hit Andersen in the mask. A trainer came out to check on Andersen, who missed seven games because of a concussion in March. The goalie stayed in the game.

Rakell, who returned for this series after a ruptured appendix, finally got his first goal of the series at 11:33 of the second. He redirected a shot from Sami Vatanen to give Anaheim its biggest lead in this series. Then Stewart padded the lead, putting a backhand top shelf off his own miss at 17:06 of the second.

NOTES: Captain Ryan Getzlaf became the first Anaheim player in franchise history to play in 100 playoff games. ... Weber set a franchise record by playing in his 48th postseason game, breaking a tie with David Legwand (47).

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