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Blues take over Central Division lead, beat Blackhawks

San Jose Sharks v St Louis Blues

San Jose Sharks v St Louis Blues

NHLI via Getty Images

The St. Louis Blues leapfrogged the Nashville Predators for the Central Division lead with a 2-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday night.

The Blackhawks are third in the Central Division and six points up on the Minnesota Wild, who hold the first wild card seed.

St. Louis has now won three straight while Chicago had its four-game win streak snapped.

Kris Versteeg opened the scoring at 14:12 of the first period, but it was all St. Louis after that.

David Backes tied it 1-1 at 6:07 of the second period with his 26th of the season and Olli Jokinen netted the game winner at 15:12 of the second.

Jake Allen made 38 saves for the win while Corey Crawford stopped 31 shots in the loss.

Both teams lost defensemen in the first period.

St. Louis was without Robert Bortuzzo for the final two periods due to an upper body injury.

Kimmo Timonen was hit by Blues’ forward Ryan Reaves midway through the first and left with an undisclosed injury. The Blackhawks announced post-game that Timonen is day-to-day.

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