The Blues put out the Blackhawks

Seven in Ottawa leave Chicago's five in the dark

Won the game, lost the flame

The Chicago Blackhawks won their game. It didn't matter. This was a virtual match: each team played its own game, and whichever scored more went through. The Blackhawks scored five against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Up in Ottawa, the St. Louis Blues scored seven.

So Chicago, 31st of 32 last season, has gone dark on qualification night for a fourth straight Gauntlet, after falling to the Avalanche, the Canucks and the Wild in the three before it. The Blues went out in the round of 16 last season. Now they burn on as one of 23 flames still lit.

Seven goals in Ottawa

Pius Suter opened the scoring against the Ottawa Senators with a short-handed snap shot at 14:28 of the 1st. Jake Neighbours made it 2-0 in the 2nd. Claude Giroux pulled one back at 17:52, and 0:33 later Mason McTavish answered with a backhand that held up as the winner. In the 3rd the Blues scored four more: a Suter slap shot, a second goal from Neighbours, McTavish on the power play, and the defenseman Adam Jiricek 0:59 after that. Joel Hofer made 16 saves on 18 shots.

Chicago's five fell short

At the United Center, Teuvo Teravainen scored 0:28 into the game. Roman Kantserov scored twice, once on the power play, but Nick Robertson and Sidney Crosby's second goal tied it 3-3 at 9:17 of the 3rd. Teravainen won it at 15:42 with a wrist shot, Tyler Bertuzzi tipped in an empty-netter at 19:50, and Spencer Knight made 24 saves. It still left Chicago two goals short.