Blues defeat Blackhawks in overtime, gain in wild card

CHICAGO -- Patrik Berglund scored with 1:29 remaining in overtime, and the St. Louis Blues moved closer to the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference with a 5-4 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Sunday.
"A couple really big come-from-behind wins, but tonight was another level, playing back-to-back games," Blues coach Mike Yeo said. "And you look at what happened in the game, whether it's the disallowed goal, whether it's the goal with under two seconds left. And then to battle back and then to give up another one with just over four minutes left, for our guys to continue to fight the way that they did, pretty impressive."

Berglund's slap shot from the point trickled past Blackhawks goaltender J-F Berube, giving the Blues their second consecutive overtime win. They defeated the New York Rangers 4-3 on Saturday.
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"I got the puck from [Alexander Steen] and just teed it up and shot it," Berglund said. "Luckily it went in five-hole."
Alex Pietrangelo and Vince Dunn each had one goal and three assists, Steen and Vladimir Sobotka scored, and Jake Allen made 26 saves for the Blues (39-28-5), who won for the fourth time in five games (4-1-0) to move within one point of the Los Angeles Kings for the second wild card.
"Obviously you want to win every game in regulation, but right now we just need points, especially two," Pietrangelo said. "... These last two games, [if] you want to get in, you gotta win games like that."

Alex DeBrincat had a hat trick, David Kampf scored, and Berube made 36 saves for the Blackhawks (30-34-9), who have lost three in a row (0-2-1). They are 15 points behind the Kings.
"I feel like we've played well and we just came up a little bit short," DeBrincat said. "And I feel like that's been the theme of this whole season."
DeBrincat set a Blackhawks rookie record with his third hat trick of the season. Steve Larmer had two in 1982-83. DeBrincat also tied Tony Granato (New York Rangers, 1988-89) for most hat tricks in a season by a U.S.-born rookie.
DeBrincat's third goal of the game, at 16:47 of the third period, made it 4-3, but Pietrangelo scored at 18:38 to tie it at 4-4.

Sobotka tied it at 3-3 15:24 into the third period, jumping on a loose puck and scoring past Berube.
The Blackhawks took a 3-2 lead with 1.4 seconds left in the second period when Kampf slipped the puck past Allen.
"We could have easily folded it up, honestly," Allen said. "I think a lot of teams probably would have. It takes a lot out of you. It [stinks]. Two or three seconds left, they get a goal. But we know we're fighting for our lives right now and every point's crucial. It was a resilient comeback by everyone."
Dunn tied it at 2-2 at 5:14 of the second with the Blues' second power-play goal of the game.
The Blues made it 2-1 on the power play at 2:02 of the second period when Steen redirected a Dunn slap shot.
DeBrincat put the Blackhawks in front 1-0 with a power-play goal at 13:07 of the first period to end a 13-game goal drought, and extended the lead to 2-0 at 19:08 when he jammed the puck past Allen.

Goal of the game

Pietrangelo's goal at 18:38 of the third period.

Save of the game

Allen's save on Patrick Kane at 14:56 of the second period.

Highlight of the game

Berglund's goal at 3:31 of overtime.

They said it

"I could care less if it's a 9-8 game or a 1-0 game as long as we're getting wins, and I think that's the mentality we have right now. We have to put as many as we can together here. Even if we can grab a point out of a game somehow, it moves us up instead of staying put." -- Blues goalie Jake Allen
"He's had a really good year for us. Not too many guys are going to say in their first year they're gonna get three hat tricks in a season, pretty impressive." -- Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville on DeBrincat

Need to know

Pietrangelo, who had two goals and an assist on Saturday, became the second Blues defenseman to have three or more points in consecutive games. Rob Ramage (1987-88) was the other. Pietrangelo has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in his past five games. ... Dunn became the fourth rookie defenseman in Blues history to get four points in a game, the first since Rik Wilson on Jan. 16, 1982 (0-4-4 against the Blackhawks). ... Blackhawks forward Matthew Highmore left in the second period. Quenneville said they'll know more on Monday.

What's next

Blues: Host the Boston Bruins on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TVAS, NHL.TV)
Blackhawks: Host the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday (8:30 p.m. ET; NBCSCH, ALT, NHL.TV)