Blues Eliminate the Blackhawks

For St. Louis goalie Brent Johnson, the end of his long shutout streak was no big deal.

He allowed three goals in the second period but wore an ear-to-ear grin after the Blues overcame a two-goal deficit to advance to the second round of the playoffs with a 5-3 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 5 on Thursday at St. Louis.

“It’s such a great feeling with these guys in this room,” Johnson said. “They never say die and they play with so much heart and so much emotion.”

Johnson, in his first season as a starter, blanked the Blackhawks in Games 2, 3 and 4, and he is one of only five goalies in NHL history with three shutouts in a playoff series.

After 3 hours 26 minutes 45 seconds without allowing a goal, he gave up the three, the last two on consecutive shots, as the Blackhawks took a 3-1 lead. After St. Louis rallied to tie the score, Jamal Mayers’ goal at 6:23 of the third was the difference.

Mayers, who scored a career-best nine goals in 77 regular-season games, broke the tie by whipping a turnaround shot from the right circle that went between Chicago goalie Steve Passmore’s pads. Ray Ferraro set up the goal by kicking the puck to Mayers from behind the net.

Keith Tkachuk made it a two-goal lead, scoring with 4:04 to go.

Scott Mellanby got his third goal of the series for the Blues. Scott Young and Chris Pronger also scored, and Al MacInnis had two assists for the Western Conference’s fourth-seeded team.

Boston 5, Montreal 2--Brian Rolston scored a short-handed goal in the second period to help the Bruins even the series, 2-2, at Montreal.

Boston’s Kyle McLaren was assessed a five-minute match penalty with 1:17 left in the third period when he flattened Richard Zednik, who scored both Montreal goals, with an elbow.

Zednik was motionless as he was treated on the ice for about five minutes. He was removed on a stretcher and taken to a hospital with a suspected concussion, fractured nose and broken jaw.

Rolston, who had nine short-handed goals in the regular season, picked off a soft pass at the blue line and beat Jose Theodore with a shot between the pads at 15:46 of the second period to make it 4-1.

The Bruins took a 3-0 lead on goals from P.J. Stock, Bill Guerin and Martin Lapointe. Zednik scored his first goal on a power play at 14:14 of the second.

Detroit 4, Vancouver 0--Sergei Fedorov scored two first-period goals and assisted on another as the Red Wings won their third straight game in the series after losing the first two games at home.

Just 4:02 into the game at Detroit, Fedorov put the Red Wings ahead, 1-0, with a slap shot between the circles. Then the Red Wings chased Dan Cloutier with two goals in a 1:57 span later in the period.

Detroit’s Dominik Hasek, who made 25 saves, played his third straight solid game.

Boyd Devereaux’s goal gave Detroit a 3-0 lead and sent Cloutier to the bench after stopping just six of nine shots.