Blues End Blackhawks Season, NHL News

The Blues acquired Troy Brouwer for moments like this, dealing fan favorite T.J. Oshie to Washington for some badly needed veteran presence.

The 30-year-old forward showed plenty of poise when his first shot clanked off the post midway through the third period. The second effort off the backhand produced the goal that put a long-frustrated franchise over the top against the defending Stanley Cup champions.

Brouwer described the go-ahead score in the third period of the 3-2 Game 7 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday night as "the ugliest goal I've ever scored and probably the timeliest goal I've ever scored."

"I just tried to stay with it, knowing the magnitude of the game, knowing how everything's been going," Brouwer said.

Brouwer played for the Blackhawks' Cup winner in 2010, and this was his seventh career Game 7. The goal at 8:31 was his first in 24 postseason games since 2013 and was the difference in a tense series that was either tied or a one-goal game 91 percent of the time, according to NHL.com.

Chicago just missed a chance to tie it when Brent Seabrook's shot went off both posts with about 3:30 left. Coach Joel Quenneville came close to challenging the play.

"We had a sniff there," Quenneville said. "We didn't get the positive feedback from the headset. It was close."

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 straight to Los Angeles. St. Louis plays Dallas in the next 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, their second two-goal cushion in two games, 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 minus-3.

Predators 3, Ducks 1

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 3-1 on Monday night to force the second Game 7 in the first round of this postseason.

"Anything can happen," Nashville captain Shea Weber said. "It's obviously two good teams that are pretty equal and it is going to come down to the last game, and we'll see how it goes."

The Predators had lost the previous five Game 6s when needing a win 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.

"For our group to come together like that with the way we played at home, we really wanted to make sure we left it all on the ice tonight because it would have been really disappointing if we lost every game at home," Predators center Ryan Johansen said.

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.

"I don't think there's anything better in the Stanley Cup [playoffs] than a Game 7 when everything means something," Predators coach Peter Laviolette said. "It's a big game, our guys will be excited."

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.

Monday, April 25 Scoreboard

Nashville 3, Anaheim 1

Game 6 - Series tied 3-3

St. Louis 3, Chicago 2
Game 7 - Blues won 4-3

Tuesday, April 26

No Games Scheduled

Wednesday, April 27 Schedule (All Times Central)

NY Islanders at Tampa Bay

Game 1 - Series tied 0-0, 6 p.m.

Nashville at Anaheim

Game 7 - Series tied 3-3, 9 p.m.