Stars Lose To Blues
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DALLAS — One night after clinching a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs for a fourth consecutive season, the St. Louis Blues delivered an impressive comeback win against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on Friday.
Left winger Jaden Schwartz scored a hat trick and goalie Brian Elliott stopped 27 of 32 shots as the Blues defeated the Stars 7-5, pulling into a tie with Nashville for first place in the Central Division.
“Nobody had any control of anything,” Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. “We were under siege. They were under siege. I was impressed that we didn’t roll over in the third period.”
Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo scored the eventual game-winner with 10:03 remaining, beating Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen far post with a wrist shot from the slot, chasing the goalie from the game.
Seven different Blues finished with multiple points — left winger Patrik Berglund (two goals), defensemen Jay Bouwmeester and Kevin Shattenkirk plus right winger T.J. Oshie (two assists) and a goal and an
assist each from Pietrangelo and fellow defenseman Zbynek Michalek.
Dallas got three points from left winger and captain Jamie Benn (two goals, assist) and center Tyler Seguin (goal, two assists). Left wingers Travis Moen and Antoine Roussel also scored.
“We didn’t play smart hockey once again. It’s the same old story,” Benn said. “You give a good team like that a chance to get back in it, and they’re going to get back in it.”
St. Louis opened the scoring when Berglund redirected a one-timer from center David Backes with 2:11 remaining in the first.
Dallas tied it with 11 seconds left in the first when Moen scored on a penalty shot, awarded after Michalek took him down in front of the Blues net.
“Travis (Moen) gave us life,” Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. “He’s a guy you wouldn’t expect to score on the penalty shot, and he scored a beautiful goal.”
The Blues struck twice in the opening 32 seconds of the second period. Berglund’s second of the game, also off a deflection, came 15 seconds in when he redirected a wrist shot by Shattenkirk from the left point. Seventeen seconds later, Schwartz collected his own rebound and beat Lehtonen with a backhand at the far post.
Dallas pulled one back six seconds later when Benn beat Elliott with a wrist shot from the slot under his blocker 38 seconds into the second. After the Schwartz goal, Seguin won a faceoff at center ice and Benn quickly converted to make it 3-2.
The Moen goal and the three early in the second are the four fastest combined goals in NHL history per the Elias Sports Bureau.
Seguin tied it at 3 with 9:59 remaining in the second with his 36th of the season, which deflected first off Elliott’s stick and then off Shattenkirk before resting in the back of the net.
Benn’s second of the game with 5:20 remaining in the second gave Dallas its first lead. Benn tipped in a pass from Seguin for his 30th of the season.
Roussel scored his 13th on a wraparound with 4:37 remaining in the second to give Dallas a 5-3 lead heading to the second intermission.
Schwartz added a second of the period 26 seconds before the second intermission, scoring on a wrist shot from the left circle that went under Lehtonen’s glove to make it 5-4.
“That late goal in the second period was huge. That gave us a chance,” Michalek said.
St. Louis tied it at 5 when Michalek scored his fourth of the season 4:44 into the third. Michalek’s wrist shot from the right circle deflected off both skates of Dallas defenseman Jason Demers before crossing the line.
Schwartz added an empty-net goal with 22 seconds remaining to ice the victory.
“We just had some timely goals, big plays by some good players. This is a huge two points for us,” Schwartz said.
Lehtonen stopped 13 of 19 shots before departing. Dallas backup goalie Jhonas Enroth, who came on at 12:12 of the third period for Lehtonen, stopped the only shot he faced.
