Panarin, Chicago Blackhawks make it 7 straight wins
Note to the rest of the NHL: Don't make Artemi Panarin angry.
St. Louis - and Scottie Upshall, in particular - found that out the hard way Wednesday night at Scottrade Center as the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Blues 2-1 in overtime for their seventh straight victory.
Panarin scored 25 seconds into OT on a wrist shot that beat a screened Jake Allen, and he also got into an old-school, knockdown-dragout fight with Upshall with 5:53 left in the game.
Panarin got five or six shots in during a brawl that lasted about 20 seconds.
"I was thinking the other day how he would do if he got in a fight," Patrick Kane told reporters afterward. "He did amazing. He's a tough kid."
"He threw 'em pretty good there," said Corey Crawford.
The Hawks are 10-3-1 and have opened up a 4-point lead over St. Louis (7-4-3) in the Central Division.
Crawford and Allen both were sensational in net, with Crawford making 27 saves while winning his sixth straight. The only goal he allowed came with 2:11 left in regulation when Alex Pietrangelo's blast from just inside the blue line got under Crawford's pads and slid into the net.
The Hawks challenged, arguing that Jori Lehtera interfered with Crawford, but the goal held up after video review.
Crawford has allowed just 6 goals in his last six games and has a .970 save percentage over that time.
"Crow's been outstanding," coach Joel Quenneville said. "Instrumental in most of these games and again tonight a couple big saves."
The biggest came when he flat stoned Vladimir Tarasenko with 9:39 to go in the game and St. Louis on the power play. Paul Stastny, from just outside the crease, had backhanded a pass to a wide-open Tarasenko just five feet away, but a lunging Crawford made a sensational kick save with his left pad.
"I just kind of saw their guy go to the backhand for a pass back to him," Crawford told NBCSN's Pierre McGuire. "Instead of shooting it right away, he kind of wound up … and gave me enough time to get over there."
It wasn't all good news for the Hawks as center Artem Anisimov suffered an upper-body injury in the second period. After completing a shift, the 6-foot-4 Russian left the ice with 5:29 to go, went to the locker room and did not return.
Asked if Anisimov left because of a possible concussion, Quenneville said: "We don't like talking about injuries, but I'm not going to say what it was. I don't think that was part of it."
Anisimov, who is day to day, had his 11-game point streak snapped.
The Hawks took a 1-0 lead 82 seconds into the second period on Marian Hossa's seventh goal of the season. The play began when Panarin stopped on a dime along the boards, spun and threw the puck back to defenseman Gustav Forsling, who had just jumped on the ice.
Forsling fired a shot at Allen, and Hossa was there to clean up the rebound.
The Hawks next host Washington (8-3-1) on Friday and Montreal (11-1-1) on Sunday before embarking on a seven-game road trip.