Troy Brouwer tapped in his own rebound to snap a third-period tie and lift St. Louis to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in four seasons, eliminating defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago 3-2 in Game 7 of a classic Western Conference quarterfinals series Monday night. Brouwer, who played for the Blackhawks' Cup-winning team of 2010, was among the veteran additions this year to a Blues team trying to break through. The 30-year-old forward showed plenty of poise to score midway through the third period. His first shot clanked off the post, but the second effort off the backhand produced the goal that put a long-frustrated franchise over the top against the defending Stanley Cup champions. Brouwer described the go-ahead score as "the ugliest goal I've ever scored and probably the timeliest goal I've ever scored." "I just tried to stay with it, knowing the magnitude of the game, knowing how everything's been going," Brouwer added. Brouwer's goal at 8:31 was his first in 24 postseason games since 2013 and was the difference in a tense series that was either tied or a one-goal game 91 percent of the time, according to NHL.com. Chicago just missed a chance to tie it when Brent Seabrook's shot went off both posts with about 3:30 left. Coach Joel Quenneville came close to challenging the play but opted not to. It is the first time the Blues advanced past the first round since 2012, when they beat San Jose in five games but then lost four straight to Los Angeles. Jori Lehtera scored his first career playoff goal and rookie defenseman Colton Parayko also scored for the Blues, who avoided another inglorious finish. They led 2-0 early, their second two-goal cushion in two games, before the Blackhawks tied it in the second period. Marian Hossa scored his third goal of the series and Andrew Shaw got his fourth on a power play for the Blackhawks. Patrick Kane was dangerous all night but was scoreless, and was minus-3. The Blackhawks have won three of the last five Cups — but when they don't win it all, the postseason can be a short one, with three first-round eliminations the last six seasons. In Nashville, James Neal scored the winning goal late in the second period as the Predators held on to beat Anaheim 3-1 and force the first Game 7 in franchise history. Nashville had lost its previous five Game 6s when needing a win to stay alive in the playoffs, and they snapped a three-game skid to the Ducks to force this series back to Anaheim for the deciding game Wednesday night. Shea Weber had an empty-net goal with 10 seconds left off an assist by Neal. Mattias Ekholm also scored a goal, and Pekka Rinne made 26 saves for the win. Ryan Kesler scored a power-play goal for the Ducks, who now are 8-6 in Game 6s. They return to Anaheim where they lost their last Game 7 last spring in the Western Conference finals to eventual Stanley Cup champ Chicago. "For our group to come together like that with the way we played at home, we really wanted to make sure we left it all on the ice tonight because it would have been really disappointing if we lost every game at home," Predators center Ryan Johansen said.
