Schedule and 2002 Results
Regular Season Records: St. Louis 43-27-8-4=98pts, Chicago 41-27-13-1=96pts
Game 1 on Thursday, 18 April: Chicago wins at St. Louis, 2-goals-1
Game 2 on Saturday, 20 April: Chicago loses at St. Louis, 2-goals-nil
Game 3 on Sunday, 21 April: St. Louis wins at Chicago, 4-goals-nil
Game 4 on Tuesday, 23 April: St. Louis wins at Chicago, 1-goal-nil
Game 5 on Thursday, 25 April: Chicago loses at St. Louis, 5-goals-3

SERIES NOTES: Post Game 5 and series assessment: With the Game 5 win, St. Louis is now 8-5 (7-2 at home) in best-of-7 Preliminary-round Game 5 play. Those eight wins and seven home wins are NHL highs for that category. Chicago falls to 3-6 (0-5 on the road) in Game 5 of best-of-7 Preliminary-round action, and the 0-5 road mark ties that of the San Jose Sharks for the worst such NHL record in that category. St. Louis now owns a 19-26 best-of-7 series record overall, and a 10-6 best-of-7 Preliminary-round series record. Those ten Prelim-round series wins are an NHL high, although Detroit as of 26 April 2002 has nine such wins and leads series 852 by a 3-games-2 margin. Chicago now has a 26-37 best-of-7 series record, and a 5-7 best-of-7 Preliminary-round series record. The LWWWW series win by St. Louis is the fourth in best-of-7 NHL Preliminary round play, the 24th in best-of-7 NHL play overall, and the 38th in MLB, NBA, or NHL best-of-7 series. St. Louis becomes the first NHL team to win by three consecutive shutouts after a Game 1 loss. By scoring no goals at home during this series, the 2002 Chicago Blackhawks tied a futility record set in the 1943 NHL Finals by Boston, and since tied by the same Chicago Blackhawks in the 1960 Semifinals, by the Ottawa Senators in the 2001 Preliminary round, and by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2001 Semifinals. Post Game 4 assessment: Since the MLB Baltimore Orioles accomplished the feat in the 1966 World Series for the first time, St. Louis becomes only the second NHL or MLB team to shut out an opponent in Games 2-4 of a best-of-7 playoff series. With its Game 4 victory in Chicago, St. Louis boosts its best-of-7 Prelim-round Game 4 record to 7-9 (4-6 on the road), while that for Chicago falls to 6-6 (3-3 at home). When leading a best-of-7 series 3-games-1, St. Louis has a 5-0 series record; when trailing a best-of-7 series 3-games-1, Chicago has an 0-7 series mark. Post Game 3 assessment: In best-of-7 playoff series, St. Louis through its Game 3 shutout becomes the first-ever NHL team to lose Game 1, but rebound with shutout wins in Games 2 and 3. St. Louis improves its best-of-7 Prelim-round Game 3 record to 9-7 (6-4 on the road), while Chicago sees its best-of-7 Prelim-round Game 3 record to 8-4 (4-2 at home). The St. Louis Blues have a franchise series record of 0-4 when leading a best-of-7 series LWW; the Chicago Blackhawks have a franchise series record of 1-2 when trailing a best-of-7 WLL. Post Game 2 assessment: With its win, the St. Louis Blues improve their best-of-7 Preliminary-round Game 2 record to 8-8 (6-4 at home), while the similar Chicago record falls to 4-8 (1-5 on the road). Historically speaking, Chicago has a 5-5 series record upon opening a series WL, while St. Louis has a 1-7 record upon opening a series LW. Post Game 1 assessment: Game 1 provided a first-rate example of how predictions based on previous team performance can easily go awry. Entering Game 1, the St. Louis Blues had amassed a best-of-7 Preliminary-round Game 1 record of 12-3 (8-1 on home ice), with those 12 wins an NHL high. By contrast, the Chicago Blackhawks entered Game 1 with a best-of-7 Preliminary-round Game 1 record of 2-9 (0-5 on road ice), with those 9 total losses and 5 road losses tied for NHL highs (broken tonight by Boston, which now has 10 total, and tied by the New York Islanders, which now have 5 road losses too). Given such a contrast in team records, those looking only at team records for predictive aid would have been shocked by the Chicago win: "How could an .800 team lose to an .000 team!" By contrast, the historical victory probability data featuring all past League and multi-League results afforded Chicago a much-better chance at victory tonight (much better than either .000 (from 0-5) or .182 (from 2-9), certainly). From 1939-2001, NHL teams winning Game 1 of a best-of-7 series by a one-goal margin have posted a 111-60 (.649) series record. Pre-series assessment: In the 2001-02 regular season, St. Louis finished with 2 more points than Chicago. From 1939 through 2001, when NHL best-of-7 opponents were separated by 2 regular-season points, the better regular-season team has gone on to post a 9-8 (.529) best-of-7 series record in that series against that opponent.