Blues rally, cap series

ST. LOUIS -- For Brent Johnson, the end of his long shutout streak was no big deal.

He allowed three goals in the second period, but wore an ear-to-ear grin after the St. Louis Blues overcame a two-goal deficit to advance to the second round of the NHL playoffs with a 5-3 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 5 on Thursday night.

"It's such a great feeling with these guys in this room," Johnson said. "They never say die and they play with so much heart and so much emotion.

"Nothing really anyone could do about us coming at them. It was just a sea of white."

Johnson, in his first season as the starter, blanked the Blackhawks in Games 2, 3 and 4 and is one of only five goalies in NHL history with three shutouts in a playoff series. After 3 hours, 26 minutes and 45 seconds without allowing a goal, he gave up the three, the last two on consecutive shots, as the Blackhawks took a 3-1 lead.

"It's not always us not being good enough," Blackhawks coach Brian Sutter said. "You knew they weren't dead down 3-1."

Sure enough, the Blues rallied to tie it at the end of the second period.

"In here, they were saying 'Come on Johnny, shut the door,"' Johnson said. "We're going to get these back for you, and by God, they did."

Jamal Mayers' second goal of the playoffs at 6:23 of the third was the difference as the Blackhawks' first playoff appearance in five years was a short one.

"We finally found a way to solve Johnson, and get some goals, and I didn't find a way to stop the puck," Blackhawks goalie Steve Passmore said. "If it wasn't for me, we would be going back to Chicago and playing again, that's the bottom line."

Mayers, who scored a career-best nine goals in 77 regular-season games, snapped the tie by whipping a turnaround shot from the right circle that went between Passmore's pads. Ray Ferraro set up the goal by kicking the puck to Mayers from behind the net.

Mayers thought he surprised Passmore.

"Anytime you put the puck at the net, there's a chance," Mayers said. "Certainly, I didn't pick the corner or anything. They're not all going to be pretty."

Keith Tkachuk made it a two-goal lead, scoring on a break-in with 4:04 to go.

Scott Mellanby got his third goal of the series for the Blues. Scott Young and Chris Pronger also scored for the Western Conference's fourth seed.

Steve Thomas ended Johnson's shutout streak at 4:34 of the second period, the Blackhawks' first goal in the series since Alexander Karpovtsev's game-winner with 3:10 to go in a 2-1 Game 1 victory. Kyle Calder and Steve Sullivan also scored for the Blackhawks, the fifth seed in the Western Conference, who totaled five goals in five games in the best-of-seven series.

Johnson, who finished with 32 saves, was the first goalie to post three shutouts in a series since 1945, although Patrick Lalime of Ottawa matched him with his third straight shutout over the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday. Johnson's shutout streak ended well shy of the playoff record of 4:08:32 by Normie Smith of Detroit in 1936.

Mellanby gave the Blues the lead on their fifth power-play goal of the series with 16 seconds to go in the first period. Al MacInnis hit Pavol Demitra with a long pass from the point, and Demitra slipped it to Mellanby in front.

After breaking through with their first goal since Game 1, the Blackhawks took the lead on successive shots. Calder tipped the puck just beyond Johnson's outstretched glove after Phil Housley's shot was stopped short of the goal to put Chicago ahead with its first power-play goal in 17 chances at 12:43 of the second. Only 20 seconds later, Sullivan was open in front of the net for a one-timer from Igor Korolev and a 3-1 lead.

Coach Joel Quenneville called a timeout, and the Blues rallied to tie it. Young scored his second goal of the playoffs at 14:21 off a sprawling feed from Cory Stillman -- the third goal of a suddenly wide-open game in three shots. Pronger tied it with another late-period goal, retrieving the puck after an errant slap shot by MacInnis and beating Passmore from the left circle with 2.2 seconds to go.

Notes: MacInnis has 26 points in the playoffs at home, tying him for third on the franchise list with Sutter, who played for the Blues from 1976-88. MacInnis has 155 points in 169 playoff games. ... Blues F Eric Boguinecki replaced the injured Dallas Drake, who likely sustained a concussion in Game 4. Boguinecki was the AHL player of the year for the Blues' Worcester, Mass., affiliate. ... The Blackhawks scratched RW Aaron Downey, who played in the first four games and was scoreless with a minus-1 rating. Bob Probert played for the second straight game and D Lyle Odelein returned from a one-game suspension for high-sticking Mayers in Game 3.