Backes scores OT winner, Elliott stones Blackhawks in Game 1

The last time David Backes and the St. Louis Blues met the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the captain was freight-trained to the head by defenseman Brent Seabrook and then mocked when his legs buckled by Chicago’s Duncan Keith, who uttered the now immortal phrase: “Wakey Wakey, Backey, Wakey Wakey!”

Two years later, he’s woke: Backes scored the lone goal of Game 1 between the teams in overtime, as the Blues capitalized on a brilliant 35-save performance from Brian Elliott in a 1-0 win over Chicago.

A win that Keith watched in street clothes, serving the last game of his six-game suspension.

The game-winner was scored against an exhausted and mistake-riddled Niklas Hjalmarsson and Trevor van Riemsdyk. The latter allowed Alex Steen to waltz into the slot for a good chance. The former was unable to clear the puck later in the sequence. When Backes fired from the right of Crawford, the puck bounced off of van Riemsdyk’s skate and trickled past his own goalie at 9:02 of overtime.

The Blackhawks’ defensemen were in the midst of a 55-second shift, which followed a 2:02 shift for van Riemsdyk. The Blues, however, managed a line change right before the winning goal – Backes had been on the ice for 22 seconds before he scored.

For Backes, it was only his sixth playoff goal in 30 games. He had 21 in 79 games in the regular season. After the game, he threw all the credit to his netminder.

"I got the No. 1 Star somehow. I don't know who was picking, maybe my mom, but it should have been (Elliott)," he said, via Chris Kuc.

Simply put, this was a game the Blues had to win.

Keith was missing. Corey Crawford, who faced only 18 shots, was playing his first game in weeks after battling an injury. Elliott had given them all they could ask for between the pipes, and yet the game was in overtime. Game 1 was essential, and they captured it.

Now comes the fun part: Seeing how the defending champions respond in Game 2 on Friday.

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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