from Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times,

“There’s not a big difference playing against St. Louis and playing Tampa in the Final,” Niklas Hjalmarsson said after the Blues pulled out a 1-0 victory in overtime Wednesday night in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs. “It’s like a Stanley Cup Final right away. St. Louis is one of the best teams in the league. We’re up for a big task here to get back on the winning track.”

Blues captain David Backes scored at 9:04 of overtime, his shot going in off of Trevor van Riemsdyk’s skate to cap the opening thriller. It was a huge win for the Blues, who had to take advantage of Duncan Keith’s absence. The Hawks will be back at full strength Friday night for Game 2, as a well-rested Keith returns from his six-game suspension.

And despite the loss, the Hawks held their own defensively without Keith. Hjalmarsson said it was the best road game the Hawks have played in “a long, long time.” So nobody in the Hawks room was too down after the loss. They outshot the Blues 35-18, holding them without a single shot on goal for more than 23 minutes in the third period and overtime. Other than a brilliant 35-save effort by Blues goalie Brian Elliott and an 0-for-5 night on the power play, the Hawks couldn’t complain about much.

“I thought we played pretty well,” said van Riemsdyk, who called the game-winner a “tough break.”

“It’s a tough game to come in and play, the first game of the playoffs in their building,” Jonathan Toews said. “I think we did a lot of good things. Unfortunately we didn’t get the result we wanted. We know it’s only going to get tougher, so we know we have to raise our game the next one. But I think for the most part it’s an effort we can build on. We’re not going to overreact in any way. We’ll be excited about being excited to play the next one.”

It was the fifth straight season that the Hawks went to overtime in their playoff opener.

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