Duncan Keith and the Chicago Blackhawks did their part to spoil the St. Louis’ playoff chances.

The star defenseman scored a power-play goal with 8.5 seconds left and the Blackhawks beat St. Louis 4-3 on Wednesday night.

Alex DeBrincat had a goal and an assist Harrison Smith Jersey Big , Andreas Martinsen and Blake Hillman also scored, and Jean-Francois Berube made 30 saves. The Blackhawks beat the Blues for the first time in three meetings this season.

”We’re trying to win the game,” Keith said. ”At the end of the day, it’s a bigger game for them but I thought we did a good job of matching their intensity and for us it’s fun to play in a game like that. … There was something on the line so it was a little easier to get the fire going little bit.”

Vladimir Tarasenko and Brayden Schenn each had a goal and an assist for the Blues. They have lost four straight to fall a point behind idle Colorado for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

Robert Bortuzzo also scored for the Blues, and Jake Allen made 22 saves in his 14th straight start.

”We played terrible in the third from myself out,” Allen said. ”It’s unacceptable especially at home against a team that really has nothing to play for except beat us.”

Hillman scored a short-handed goal, his first in the NHL, midway through the second to cut the Blues’ lead to 3-2. He is the fifth Blackhawk to score their first career goal this season.

”It’s probably the hardest one-timer I’ve ever taken in my life,” said Hillman, who was playing in his second NHL game. ”I closed my eyes and it went through a couple of bodies and luckily Allen didn’t see it.”

DeBrincat tied it at 3 at 8:30 of the third with an unassisted goal, before Keith found the net for the first time in 22 games.

”It’s been awhile since he scored obviously, but we did some good things as the game progressed and drew the penalty and got a break,” Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said.

Bortuzzo opened the scoring at 4:16 of the first period with his fourth goal of the season.

Martinsen tied it for Chicago at 8:57 with his first goal of the season, firing a wrist shot that trickled between Allen’s legs after the Blues failed to clear the puck twice.

Schenn regained the lead for the Blues just 47 seconds into the second period, putting home a rebound from Vince Dunn’s shot from the high slot. Schenn’s 27th goal is a career high.

Tarasenko made it 3-1 at 5:44 of the second. St. Louis took advantage of a Chicago defensive line change and Schenn sprung Tarasenko for a breakaway.

FANCY STICK WORK

Just 52 seconds into the game, Jaden Schwartz had a wrap-around attempt into a wide-open net, but Keith got his stick on the goal line to block the puck until Berube could get his glove down. The play was reviewed and it was determined that the puck did not cross the line.

”I just tried to do what I could there to get everything I could Authentic Kareem Hunt Jersey , all the pressure on my stick, because I knew he had some momentum coming around there and was trying to wrap it around, the lane wasn’t there,” Keith said. ”A little luck too in that regard, but Berube ended up getting over there and taking the pressure off.”

NOTES: Blues D Alex Pietrangelo played in his 615th career game, one shy of Bob Plager for second-most by a defenseman in franchise history. … The Blackhawks will honor Hall of Famer Stan Mikita before Friday night’s home game against the Blues. Mikita’s grandsons will take the ice on his behalf during the national anthem and highlights of Mikita’s career will be played. … Blues prospect G Ville Husso (San Antonio) was named to the 2017-2018 AHL All-Rookie team. … Blackhawks prospect D Adam Clendening was selected as the CCM/AHL Player of the Week after scoring two goals and five assists for the week ending April 2.

UP NEXT

The teams will meet again Friday night in Chicago.
Adam Vinatieri's weekend preparations have already kicked into full force.

He's working with wet footballs, determining his best footgear and getting ready for another potentially big day in messy weather. It's become a trademark of the NFL's best clutch kicker.

After 22-plus seasons in the NFL, Vinatieri has figured out how to thrive in pretty much every element: rain, wind, sleet, snow, ice and mud.

So it would be fitting if Vinatieri breaks Morten Andersen's career record for field goals in a rainy, windy Washington this weekend.

"They're fun in their own way," Vinatieri said. "I would prefer decent weather and clean games, if you will, but it's fun sliding around out there and doing that stuff. It makes your job a little more difficult, but whatever the weather is Womens Andrew Luck Jersey , we'll be ready to go."

Bet on it.

Vinatieri doesn't spend much time worrying about forecasts because the South Dakota native has produced some of his best work in the worst of times.

Nobody will forget the two kicks he made in the Snow Bowl , or "Tuck Rule" game, to help New England beat Oakland in a divisional-round playoff following the 2001 season. It helped the Patriots capture their first Super Bowl.

Last year, the oldest player in the league made a seemingly impossible extra point to force overtime in a December blizzard in Buffalo and helped keep the Colts within striking distance just 13 days later in monsoon-like weather in Baltimore.

Last week, in the controlled environment of Lucas Oil Stadium, the 45-year-old kicker calmly made 3 of 4 field goals to move within striking distance of Andersen's career mark (565). Vinatieri is at 562. He's also 47 points away from breaking Andersen's career scoring record.

"Records are fun to talk about," said Andersen, who scored 2,544 points in 25 NFL seasons. "Do they define you as a player? I don't think so. But they can motivate you. I think Adam is more like me, he's in the now and he wants to win, but he's earned the right to celebrate it."

Technically, Vinatieri already has more field goals than Andersen, who finished with 583 including playoff games. Vinatieri is the NFL's postseason record holder for scoring (234) and field goals (56); he has 618 counting the postseason, including two Super Bowl winners in the final minute.

But his favorite kicks don't even show up in the league's official count.

"Obviously, none of the playoff ones count in these, but the most memorable are those when it's the playoffs and games are on the line and seasons are holding by a string," Vinatieri said. "So yeah Authentic Ezekiel Elliott Jersey , I would say the Super Bowl, those two, and the one in the Snow Bowl game. Those are probably my top three if I had to rank them."

Along the way, Vinatieri has been surrounded by some of the biggest and best names in football history.

He's played for two Super Bowl-winning, Hall of Fame coaches in Bill Parcells and Tony Dungy, and a third, Bill Belichick, who seems like a shoo-in to make it when his career ends.

He's played with two of the league's greatest quarterbacks, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, and a third, Andrew Luck, who just might join the list one day.

He's won four Super Bowl rings, was the only unanimous selection on the Super Bowl 50 Golden Team, and has participated in a league-record 225 victories.

And he still remembers asking Andersen, one of only two full-time kickers in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, about the secret to his long, successful career. Whatever Andersen told him certainly stuck with Vinatieri Womens DeSean Jackson Jersey , who has been around longer than a growing number of teammates remember.

"I'm the second oldest guy in the locker room and my first year of playing football was his second year in the league," said right guard Matt Slauson, who turned 32 in February. "So he's not only had one incredible career, he's essentially had two incredible careers with two different teams. It's amazing."

Strangely, though, if Vinatieri does break the field goals record this weekend or this month, he's likely to do it with two unfamiliar names assisting: long snapper Luke Rhodes and punter/holder Rigoberto Sanchez. Both are in their second seasons with the Colts. Rhodes was 4 years old when Vinatieri was a rookie in 1996, while Sanchez was 2.

"You grow up watching him and then especially for me, I wasn't even in this position two years ago," Rhodes said. "I'm lucky and blessed to be where I am and pretty excited when the day comes he gets to break the record."

But neither has a choreographed script for a celebration. They'd rather let Vinatieri handle that part on his own 鈥?especially if it comes in a muddy mess this weekend.

"For me, it's more about an accumulation of a lot of years of work," Vinatieri said. "Can I remember every kick? No. But you add them all together, and I won't reminisce on any of that stuff until long after it's all done and over, if it happens. I will appreciate all the guys that came before me and set those records so high, and to be able to play long enough to get close to them is pretty special."
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