Elliott stands tall for St. Louis Blues

Vladimir Tarasenko scored on a pair of impressive wrist shots, Brian Elliott made 39 saves and the St. Louis Blues beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 on Tuesday night to open a commanding 3-1 lead in their first-round play-off series.

Jaden Schwartz scored a tiebreaking powerplay goal in the third period for the second straight game as St. Louis moved to the brink of their first appearance in the Western Conference semi-finals since 2012. The Blues were eliminated in the opening round in each of the past three years.

In New York, Matt Cullen beat Henrik Lundqvist on a semi-breakaway after beating two defencemen early in the third period as Pittsburgh spoiled the return of Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh with a 3-1 win in Game 3 of their first-round series.

First round play-offs

(best of seven series

Tuesday’s matches

Tampa Bay 3 Detroit Tampa Bay lead series 3-1 Pittsburgh 3 N.Y.Rangers Pittsburgh lead series 2-1 St. Louis 4 Chicago St. Louis lead series 3-1 Anaheim 3 Nashville Nashville lead series 2-1 2 1 3 0