Chicago Blackhawks kickstart defence of Stanley Cup with 2-0 win over St Louis Blues

The Chicago Blackhawks kickstarted their defence of the Stanley Cup with a 2-0 win over the St Louis Blues on Monday night.

The Blackhawks had lost the first two games of their Western Conference first-round series in overtime but Jonathan Toews' first-period marker and an empty-netter from Marcus Kruger handed them a 2-0 win at United Centre.
Netminder Corey Crawford recorded a 34-save shutout as the Hawks closed the gap to 2-1 in their best-of-seven series.
Dallas Stars netminder Kari Lehtonen also recorded a shutout as he turned away 37 shots in a 3-0 win over the Anaheim Ducks.
Jamie Benn, Valeri Nichushkin and Ryan Garbutt scored a goal in each period to help the Stars to victory but the Ducks lead the series 2-1.
The Minnesota Wild also hauled themselves back into their series with a dramatic 1-0 overtime win over the Colorado Avalanche.
Semyon Varlamov turned away 45 shots for the Avalanche but was beaten by the 46th as Mikael Granlund scored the vital goal in the first extra period.
Darcy Kuemper only had to make 22 saves for his shutout as the Wild reduced the arrears to 2-1 in the first-round clash.
There were more goals in the Eastern Conference as the Pittsburgh Penguins took a 2-1 lead in their series with a 4-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Boone Jenner and Jack Johnson had the Jackets two goals up before Brooks Orpik replied but Cam Atkinson extended the lead to 3-1 early in the third.
That would not be enough to beat the Pens, though, as Brandon Sutter, Lee Stempniak and Jussi Jokinen scored three goals in as many minutes to turn the game on its head.