Blues Trounce Canucks, Blackhawks Edge Stars

By ESPN

Magnus Paajarvi has used a newfound wave of confidence to solidify his spot in the lineup and help the St. Louis Blues go on a strong run.

Paajarvi scored twice to lead the Blues to a 4-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night. St. Louis has won 14 of 20 since Feb. 7 after Paajarvi was recalled from Chicago of the AHL.

"My main thing is the confidence for me," Paajarvi said. "I try to do things and drive the net with or without the puck and things happen. I got a couple goals here and there. That's always nice for the confidence as well."

Kyle Brodziak and Alex Pietrangelo also scored for the Blues who won their fourth straight to give them nine wins in their last 10. Jake Allen made 27 saves for his seventh win in eight starts while allowing just nine goals in the stretch.

"We're finding ways to win, Jake's playing great," Pietrangelo said "We're going to need more of that this time of year. It's not always going to be the way that you want. We're not really looking at the streaks that we're on. We're just kind of playing every game taking it day by day."

Henrik Sedin scored for the Canucks who have lost seven of their last eight to fall to 11-22-3 on the road. Ryan Miller stopped 30 shots.

Brodziak snapped an 11 game goal-scoring drought when he roofed a slap shot by Miller late in the second period for his eighth goal of the season to put the Blues up 2-1.

"It was a good play," Brodziak said. "The shift before us hemmed them in a bit, gave them some trouble, and they came out and turned it over right after a change. (Pietrangelo) made a good play, dished it off, drove through the net, and opened up a lane."

Vancouver was on the power play for 3:51 spanning from the end of the second period into the third, but the Canucks failed to score on two shots on goal with the extended man-advantage.

"I thought we had a chance on the power play to start the third," Canucks coach Willie Desjardins said. "We needed to capitalize on the power play and we didn't to start the third."

Paajarvi added some insurance when he scored his second of the game and eighth of the season midway through the third period. That gave him the second multi-goal game of his career and first since Feb. 5, 2011, with Edmonton.

Vancouver coach Willie Desjardins challenged the goal saying that the Blues were offside entering the zone but the video replay proved inconclusive.

"We got to see on the bench, and the only way it could not of been off side was if the puck was in our end and came out on the blue line," Sedin said. "They say they can't see the puck on their screen. I've got a tough time seeing how you can't follow the puck where it's coming from. But again they're making the calls. I don't think that's where we lose the game."

Pietrangelo capped the scoring with an empty net goal at 2 1/2 minutes left.

Sedin opened the scoring for Vancouver when he scored his 15th of the season.

Paajarvi tied the game when he pushed his own rebound past Miller.

Blackhawks 3, Stars 2

The Blackhawks weren't at their best, but marquee players came through -again -- to keep Western Conference-leading Chicago on a roll.

Patrick Kane scored his team-leading 33rd goal in regulation and connected again in the shootout as the Blackhawks beat the Dallas Stars 3-2 on Thursday night to open an eight-point lead for first place in the Central Division.

Artemi Panarin also scored in the shootout as Chicago rode a 42-save effort by Corey Crawford through overtime to improve to 6-0-1 in its last seven. It was also the Blackhawks' 18th win in their last 22 games. Marian Hossa scored his 24th goal of the season midway through the third period.

"We didn't have the best game and Corey was strong for us there," Hossa said. "He made some huge saves, especially in the shootouts, too. Two nice points."

Kane agreed that Crawford, who reached 30 wins for the sixth time in his career, was the difference.

"He played amazing tonight." Kane said. "The reason we won the game.

"Hats off to him. He's done that a lot this year."

Crawford was beaten only by Tyler Seguin in the shootout and twice in regulation by Ales Hemsky as he matched his season high for saves. The All-Star goalie rebounded smartly from giving up four goals on 10 shots to Vancouver on Tuesday night.

The Blackhawks have been spotty in their last three games, all at home, despite going 2-0-1. Chicago needed big third period rallies in their previous two contests to earn points, then leaned on Crawford in this one.

"Games like tonight you can't be too happy with what you saw," coach Joel Quenneville said. "We want to make sure there's more attention to detail and pace to our game."

Dallas' Kari Lehtonen made 24 saves through overtime, following up on a 30-save shutout on Monday against San Jose.

Hemsky's second goal of the game with 5:09 left in the third tied it at 2 and sent it to overtime. From the left side of the crease, Hemsky buried a rebound of Esa Lindell's shot from the right point.

Coach Lindy Ruff thought the Stars, all but eliminated from playoff contention, should have had more on the board before the extra period.

"You've got to give Crawford some credit on the saves," Ruff said. "But, at the same time, we missed some beauties. You know, we probably doubled them up 2-1 in chances.

Hemsky connected for his second goal and third goals this season in his 10th game back following hip surgery.

"We finally feel like a team and if we can play like that, we can play with anybody," Hemksy said. "We just didn't score."

Kane opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 8:13 of the first. He moved in on a 2-on-1 break with Richard Panik, then beat Lehtonen on the stick side.

Crawford was sharp as the Stars started piling on shots. That including a point-blank pad save on Jiri Hudler's backhander at 9:42.

Hemsky tied it at 1 at 12:26 of the second on a 40-foot shot from the slot that may have been screened by Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson. Hemsky beat Crawford high on the stick side after taking John Klingberg's feed from the right boards.

Hossa fired a quick wrist shot from 30 feet out in the slot, through a screen and past Lehtonen to put Chicago ahead 2-1 at 8:37 of the third. Hossa was set up by rookie Nick Schmaltz, who passed from just inside the Dallas blue line on the left boards.

Kane fired a shot off the post during a power play 26 seconds into overtime.

Later in the extra period, Crawford stopped two in-close chances by Jamie Benn from the right edge of the crease. He then came up with a pad save on Remi Elie's breakaway with 1:15 left in overtime.

Thursday, March 23 Scoreboard

Tampa Bay 6, Boston 3

Washington 2, Columbus 1 (SO)

Toronto 4, New Jersey 2

Carolina 4, Montreal 1

Ottawa 2, PIttsburgh 1 (SO)

Florida 3, Arizona 1

St. Louis 4, Vancouver 1

Nashville 3, Calgary 1

Philadelphia 3, Minnesota 1

Chicago 3, Dallas 2 (SO)

Edmonton 7, Colorado 4

Los Angeles 5, Winnipeg 2

Friday, March 24 Schedule (All Times Central)

New York Islanders at Pittsburgh, 6 p.m.

Tampa Bay at Detroit, 6:30 p.m.

San Jose at Dallas, 7:30 p.m.

Winnipeg at Anaheim, 9 p.m.

Saturday, March 25 Schedule (All Times Central)

Philadelphia at Columbus, 1 p.m.

Vancouver at Minnesota, 1 p.m.

Toronto at Buffalo, 6 p.m.

Ottawa at Montreal, 6 p.m.

Chicago at Florida, 6 p.m.

Carolina at New Jersey, 6 p.m.

Boston at New York Islanders, 6 p.m.

Arizona at Washington, 6 p.m.

Calgary at St. Louis, 6 p.m.

San Jose at Nashville, 7 p.m.

Colorado at Edmonton, 9 p.m.

New York Rangers at Los Angeles, 9:30 p.m.

Sunday, March 26 Schedule (All Times Central)

Minnesota at Detroit, 11:30 a.m.

Dallas at New Jersey, 4 p.m.

Philadelphia at Pittsburgh, 6 p.m.

Vancouver at  Winnipeg, 7 p.m.

New York Rangers at Anaheim, 8 p.m.