Blues Overwhelm Stars
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ST. LOUIS — Goalie Brian Elliott has had a limited amount of chances so far this season for the St. Louis Blues, but he certainly is trying to make the most of them.
Elliott, making only his fifth start in the Blues’ 23 games as he splits the goalie duties with Jaroslav Halak, stopped 33 of 34 Dallas shots on Saturday night and the Blues got goals from six different players in a 6-1 victory over the Stars.
Elliott raised his record to 4-0-1 when he has started in goal. In his five November games, he has allowed only six goals on 119 shots.
The only goal he allowed Saturday night came on a bouncing shot by defenseman Brenden Dillon from just inside the blue line at 10:53 of the first period that pulled Dallas into a 1-1 tie.
That tie lasted for only nine seconds, however, as the Blues won the ensuing faceoff and right winger Vladimir Tarasenko skated in and flipped the puck past Kari Lehtonen.
The Blues, who also got a goal from left winger Vladimir Sobotka just 1:39 into the
game, built the 2-1 lead despite being outshot 12-4 in the first period.
The Blues increased the lead to 3-1 on center David Backes’ 10th goal of the year 6:56 into the second period. He skated in on a two-on-one and kept the puck, beating Lehtonen for the unassisted goal.
A power-play goal by center Derek Roy, who deflected a shot by Alexander Steen, 50 seconds into the third period made it 4-1 for the Blues.
Chris Stewart scored the fifth goal for the Blues, on only 18 shots, at 5:39 of the third period. Dallas pulled Lentonen after that goal and sent in Dan Ellis for the remainder of the game. Ellis allowed St. Louis’ final goal when T.J. Oshie deflected a shot by Alex Pietrangelo at 11:02.
The win was the 621st for St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock in the NHL, moving him past Bryan Murray and into sole possession of eighth place for career victories. He is now 27 wins shy of Ron Wilson, who ranks seventh all time with 648 wins.
Hitchcock won 277 of those games as the coach of the Stars between 1996 and 2002, where he won the Stanley Cup in 1999.
