Game 3 Preview: Why we need to win this game

After a devastating loss in St. Louis on Friday, the Blues are in Chicago trying to regain the series lead in Game 3. The puck will drop at 2:00 p.m. on NBC (National Blackhawks Channel).

Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

​Why is this game important? First off, that's a stupid question. Every playoff game is. I was telling people this before Friday's game— no matter what the final score is, we are going to need to win at least one in Chicago if we want to win this series. Even if we were going into CHI leading 2-0, we couldn't let them tie the series heading back into St. Louis.

If we are worried about a "curse", we tend to lose playoff series after going up 2-0, so this might be a good thing (?). 

Vladimir Tarasenko has scored 11 goals in his 15 postseason games. It would have been 12 if his second goal wasn't called back on Friday.

Steve Ott skated during warmups on Friday, but I think he was out there to talk trash and get back into the groove of things. Here are the projected lines for today's game:

Forwards
Schwartz- Lehtera- Tarasenko
Fabbri- Stastny- Brouwer
Berglund- Steen- Backes
Upshall- Brodziak- Reaves

Defense
Bouwmeester- Pietrangelo
Edmundson- Shattenkirk
Gunnarsson- Parayko

Goalie
Elliott

Let's Go Blues

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P.J. Cox
​@pjcoxx