April 16--After a less-than-satisfying result in Game 1, the Chicago Blackhawks looked to even their Western Conference quarterfinals series against the St. Louis Blues on Friday night at the Scottrade Center.
Trailing 1-0 in the best-of-seven series, the Hawks were hoping to seize home-ice advantage with a victory.
After one period, the game was scoreless. The Blues controlled much of the play and held a 7-2 shot advantage after 20 minutes of play.
"We feel we have to get better every game," coach Joel Quenneville said prior to puck drop. "We try to as series progress improve in areas, knowing that the emotion, the intensity, the purpose rises every single game."
The 1-0 overtime loss to the Blues in Game 1 on Wednesday night wasn't the ideal scenario but it wasn't a crushing blow as the Hawks were a bounce away from the win despite not having two-time Norris Trophy winner Duncan Keith in the lineup.
"Obviously, losing Game 1 is disappointing but there are a lot of things we can bring with us from that game, especially defensively," blue liner Niklas Hjalmarsson said. "We have to find a way to score some goals. We had a couple of chances but their goalie (Brian Elliott) was playing good. We have to find a way to get some goals, if that's in the power play or just getting guys in front of the net I guess we'll see how we'll find a way. But we're going to try to find a way."
The return of Keith from a six-game suspension for slashing the Minnesota Wild's Charlie Coyle on March 29 figured to send a jolt to the Hawks' lineup.
"You're putting one of the best players in the world back in your lineup," winger Andrew Ladd said. "Just his quickness, his speed (and) his hockey sense. There are so many things that he does really well. Offensively, he'll be able to jump up and help us off the rush too."
Quenneville mixed up the Hawks' lineup, inserting Viktor Svedberg in on defense in favor of Erik Gustafsson and Richard Panik in at wing replacing Brandon Mashinter.
Corey Crawford was back in the goal for the Hawks to oppose Elliott.
