Written by Craig Custance at ESPN.com
The St. Louis Blues pushed. Boy did they push. They had all the jump in the first overtime after a third-period rally got them there. The Chicago Blackhawks players could feel it on the ice. This was a group of players from St. Louis that had the defending champs on the ropes and wanted desperately to end it. The crowd felt it. The players felt it.
And the Blackhawks weathered it.
That’s just how this postseason is going to have to go for Chicago — a lot less dominance than in the past, a lot more savvy.
“It’s kind of a bend but don’t break mentality,” said Hawks forward Patrick Kane, who scored the 4-3 game-winner in double overtime that narrowed the Blues series lead to 3-2. “We just had to stay alive and wait for our push.”
They stayed alive in the game, they stayed alive in the series and, with the series shifting back to Chicago, they continue to prove that they’re the toughest team in the NHL to send home for the summer.
With the win, the Blackhawks improve to 12-3 in elimination games since winning the Stanley Cup in 2010. Two of those losses were overtime losses in Game 7 during classic games against the Vancouver Canucks and Los Angeles Kings.
This version of the Blackhawks is the same as those teams in that they don’t give in. If the Blues want to win this series they’re going to have to beat them, plain and simple.
This version of the Blackhawks is different in that they rely on their stars perhaps more than any Blackhawks team in that stretch.
The Blues were able to get back in this game after a big second period by the Blackhawks because they have superior depth. They keep coming. Unlike Blues teams from years past, they don’t let a little adversity sink the effort. They just keep pushing and pushing and pushing. They did against the Blackhawks in Game 5 and they’ll do it again in Chicago.
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