Blackhawks 0 - 3 Blues
Final
  for this game

Blues blank Blackhawks

Nov 9, 2011 - 4:46 AM St. Louis, MO (Sports Network) - Jaroslav Halak made 29 saves to earn his first shutout of the season as the St. Louis Blues took a 3-0 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks.

Halak's 17th career shutout made a winner of head coach Ken Hitchcock in his season debut with the Blues. Hitchcock took over the reins on Sunday after the team fired Davis Payne following a 6-7-0 start.

"When the coaching change happens so fast, you have to look in the mirror and ask yourself if that's the best that you have. Everybody dug in tonight, everybody did their best," Halak said.

Vladimir Sobotka, Chris Stewart and T.J. Oshie lit the lamp for St. Louis, which won for the second time in three games.

Corey Crawford allowed the three goals on 20 shots in Chicago's third straight loss.

"We changed the lines as we went along because we didn't like the way things were going," said Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville.

The Blues got the only offense they would need 8:15 into the first period when Sobotka streaked down the left side of the offensive zone, caught a pass in front of the net and muscled the puck past Crawford's left pad.

St. Louis added to its lead early in the second while on the power play. The Blues passed the puck around at the blue line before Oshie raced to the left half boards and sent a pass to the slot that Stewart redirected towards the net and past Crawford.

Chicago then had plenty of chances to get on the board as the Blues were shorthanded three times in the remainder of the second and once more in the third, but the Blackhawks could not get the puck past Halak.

Oshie's hard wrister from the top of the left circle squeezed in between the glove and left pad of Crawford with 6:06 left in regulation to cap the scoring.

Game Notes

Prior to the game, St. Louis held a ceremony honoring former Blues players Pavol Demitra and Igor Korolev. Both were killed in the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash that resulted in the deaths of 44 people on September 7...St. Louis went 67-55-15 under Payne...Hitchcock had not coached since being fired midway through the 2009-10 season by Columbus...The Blues improved to 4-1-0 at home this year while the Blackhawks fell to 3-3-1 on the road...Oshie has a 10-game point streak against Chicago.






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