Weight lifts Blues to 1-1 tie in series

ST. LOUIS -- After a difficult year made worse by a serious injury, Doug Weight is finally starting to feel like he fits in.

The St. Louis Blues center sneaked home a rebound 2:53 into the game and Scott Mellanby scored in the third period as the Blues beat the Chicago Blackhawks 2-0 on Saturday to even the first-round playoff series at 1.

Brent Johnson, who struggled at times during his first year as a No. 1 goalie, stopped 26 shots, including 12 in the second period, for his first playoff shutout.

"We had some scoring chances," Blackhawks coach Brian Sutter said. "We knew we weren't going to get a lot."

The Blues felt they weren't aggressive enough in crashing the net during a 2-1 loss in Game 1. They did a better job of pushing through checks this time, throwing sticks, bodies and pucks at Chicago goalie Jocelyn Thibault.

"We had the perfect response," St. Louis coach Joel Quenneville said. After Game 1, Quenneville had lamented his team's inability to take advantage of the rebounds Thibault was leaving in front.

"Maybe we got our sticks on a few more (rebounds)," Mellanby said. "That's the playoffs -- trying to get to the net and create traffic."

Weight's goal came on a power play. Thibault stopped Cory Stillman's shot, but Weight beat Chicago's Steve Thomas to the puck and nudged it under Thibault's leg.

"In the playoffs against any goaltender, you need to get some ugly goals," Weight said. "You have to get traffic in front of the net. You have to jam it in there."

Blackhawks forward Mark Bell said the Blues were successful in crowding the front.

"They went the net more than they did in the first game. It paid off for them," he said.

Weight never really found his stride during his first regular season in St. Louis after being traded in July from Edmonton, where he had 25 goals and 90 points a year earlier.

"I think it's something that really hurt me early in the year -- I didn't show enough confidence in my own ability," Weight said.

Weight had 49 points this season, and his points pace was down even before sustaining a devastating injury Feb. 28 in Calgary when he was checked hard into the boards by Bob Boughner.

Weight missed 20 games with severe muscle damage around his pelvis and a sprained knee, returning for the last two games of the regular season.

The goal was his first since the injury.

Mellanby scored midway through the third period. Thibault made a pad save on Keith Tkachuk's shot and stopped Mellanby's first shot off the rebound, again with the pad. But Mellanby lifted a second rebound over the sprawling goaltender.

Johnson, who was 34-20-4 during the season but criticized for his modest .902 save percentage, survived a shaky start. In the opening minutes, he nearly allowed an easy goal when the puck was stolen as he tried to clear it along the right boards. A shot at the partially open net sailed just wide.

Johnson's confidence seemed to grow as the game wore on. He was particularly strong in the second period, when the Blackhawks outshot the Blues 12-5.

Chicago's best chances came midway through that period on Steve Sullivan's deflection from just outside the crease, which Johnson stopped with his chest; and early in the third, when Johnson reached up to knock down Lyle Odelein's point-blank slap shot.

But most of Chicago's shots were relatively easy for Johnson to see, relatively simple to handle.

"It just seemed like they couldn't get anything going through the neutral zone," Johnson said.

Chicago center Kyle Calder agreed.

"We didn't make enough plays," he said. "They were stopping us at the red line. They were coming out after us."

Notes: Game 3 is Sunday night in Chicago. The lack of an off day before the next game is nothing new for a Blackhawks-Blues playoff series. They've played nine sets of back-to-back playoff games previously, with the Blackhawks holding a 12-6 advantage -- 7-2 in the first games and 4-5 in the second games. ... Defenseman Boris Mironov was a healthy scratch for the Blackhawks. He played just 5:41 of Game 1 after missing 17 of the last 18 games with shoulder and groin injuries. ... In 23 previous playoff series where they lost the opener, the Blues are 2-21.