Community Picks: St. Louis Blues 0% vs Chicago Blackhawks 0%

A mistake from the league's points leader led to a rare late collapse from the Chicago Blackhawks, costing them home-ice advantage. Now the St. Louis Blues can all but bury the reigning Stanley Cup champions on the road. With the Blackhawks frustrated following another wild third period - this time not in their favor - the Blues will try to grab a commanding lead in Tuesday night's Game 4 of a Western Conference quarterfinal series that has been tight since the opening faceoff. Continue to Article

April 18, 2016 5:52:pm EST

Those NHL coach’s challenges for blown offside calls on scoring plays?  Kill them. End them. As soon as possible. Sometimes it takes a while before one sees the error of their ways, and such is the case with NHL rules changes. It took the Brett Hull incident in 1999 … um, we mean “a desire to regain some of the time and spontaneity lost to review” to end that insipid video review process for skates in the crease. It took a decade before the NHL did something to reduce those inane exhibitions of anti-hockey known as shootouts by applying 3-on-3 overtime as the antidote. [ Join a Yahoo Daily Fantasy Hockey contest today ] But in the case of the offside coach’s challenge, it’s only taken one season to see what a mistake it’s been. It’s a mistake to overturn goals on offside plays that hardly affect their outcome, or when a dozen other missed calls on a play aren’t subject for review. It’s a mistake to scrutinize human error on plays that last a millisecond; and it’s a mistake to delete dynamic scoring plays from memory at a time when goal scoring is so tenuous that we’re talking about shrinking goalies and widening nets. Let’s take it back to the start: For the first time, the NHL decided to allow coach’s challenges for the 2015-16 season, with NHL bench bosses anteing up a timeout in exchange for the chance to confirm or deny the legality of a goal. Reviewing goalie interference was an obvious move, given how much is missed by the naked eye on plays that directly affect a goal from being scored. (Save that emphasis for later.) Reviewing blown offside calls probably wouldn’t have been considered were it not for a 2013 game in which Matt Duchene scored a goal for the Colorado Avalanche that was a country mile offside. Continue to Article

April 18, 2016 11:25:am EST

The St. Louis Blues kept pushing and pushing until a costly play by Patrick Kane provided an opening. Jaden Schwartz scored at 13:32 of the third period with Kane in the penalty box for high-sticking, and the Blues beat the Blackhawks 3-2 on Sunday for a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series. Patrik Berglund and rookie Colton Parayko also scored as St. Louis rallied after a difficult 3-2 loss in Game 2 that included two key coach's challenges that went against the Blues - one of them wiping out a tiebreaking goal for Vladimir Tarasenko. Continue to Article

April 17, 2016 7:23:pm EST