Toews career high 35th goal lead Blackhawks to knock off Blues

Captain Jonathan Toews scored his career-high 35th goal in regulation and also converted in the first round of the shootout as the host Chicago Blackhawks skated to a 4-3 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday. Toews wristed a shot over the right shoulder of Jake Allen to open the shootout and Cam Ward thwarted all three attempts, including utilizing a poke check to deny Vladimir Tarasenko to preserve the win. Ward finished with 37 saves in his first start since March 3.

Patrick Kane collected a goal and an assist to set a career high with 107 points and Artem Anisimov also tallied for the Blackhawks, who won four of the five meetings in the season series with the Blues. St. Louis' Tyler Bozak converted Patrick Maroon's centring feed to forge a tie at 3 with 39 seconds remaining in the third period.

Tarasenko scored his team-leading 32nd goal and David Perron also tallied for the Blues, who are 7-1-2 in their last 10 games and moved within one point of front-running Winnipeg and Nashville in the Central Division. Anisimov extended his stick to deflect Dominik Kahun's shot from the point past Allen (35 saves) and give the Blackhawks a 2-1 lead with 6:40 remaining in the second period.

Kane doubled the advantage with 8:23 remaining in the third period after accepting a lead pass from Dylan Strome and fending off Blues defenseman Colton Parayko before backhanding the puck under the crossbar. Kane's team-leading 42nd goal gave him 107 points on the season, surpassing his total during his Hart Trophy-winning campaign in 2015-16. Perron answered 46 seconds later with a wrist shot from the right circle.

Kane skated into the right circle before deftly backhanding a centring feed for Toews, who shovelled the puck past Allen to open the scoring with 3:34 remaining in the first period. Toews' 35th goal eclipsed his previous career-high mark set during the 2008-09 season. Brayden Schenn chipped the puck in the neutral zone to Tarasenko, who skated in on a 2-on-1 rush and beat Ward under the crossbar as St. Louis levelled the contest at 1 just 26 seconds into the second period.

(With inputs from agencies.)