A raucous crowd is expected at the American Airlines Center Wednesday as the Stars take on the St. Louis Blues to try and edge closer to the Stanley Cup Finals.
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Against the run of play St. Louis scored first, at 05:23 on the powerplay.
Jake Allen finished in his first appearance of this postseason, facing just seven more shots in the final two-plus periods.
Lehtonen was on the bench to start the second, having stopped five of eight shots. Janmark beat Brian Elliott high glove with a well placed shot but a shot that I think Elliott stops more than ¾ of the time.
This is the first time since the Blues inaugural season, 1967-68, that St. Louis has won multiple Game 7s in a post-season.
“Sometimes it’s very kind for the goalies”, Lehtonen said in the locker room afterward, “and sometimes it’s not”. Eventually in the third period, Patrick Eaves scored to help avoid the shutout, but it was certainly not enough in a 6-1 loss that ended the season in Dallas. Check back throughout the day to stay in the know.
DALLAS (AP) – Brian Elliott will start in goal for the St. Louis Blues in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals against the Dallas Stars on Wednesday night.
And then came Game 7, and the pot boiled over.
As for Lehtonen, all he can do is learn from what went wrong in Game 7 and hopefully use this experience to be better in the future, at least that’s what he’s hoping.
He was one of the few Blues who didn’t find his way onto the scoresheet, but Pietrangelo made an impression in just about every other facet of the game. Most figure the choice will be Elliott, who was pulled in the first period of Game 6 after allowing three goals on seven shots. So there’s disappointment and we’ll get over that.
HollywoodLifers, do you think Stars have got this? This means that the Blues will just have to outplay the same Stars team that they’ve been able to dominate for a solid chunk of this series, as they’ve outscored the Stars 14-5 in their three wins throughout the series. “We wouldn’t be here without him, so I don’t think we can keep questioning his play tonight”. Did he have one he wanted to take back? I should have taken him out sooner.
Fabbri is the youngest player in Blues history to score in a Game 7. It was Arvidsson’s first playoff goal. 43 seconds later Paul Stastny scored with 1:38 remaining, and the energy was gone from Dallas and gone in the building.
St. Louis, who won the series 4-3, also got a goal and an assist each from David Backes and Patrik Berglund and two assists from Jori Lehtera.
On the season, the Stars are averaging 3.2 goals and ranking 4th in power play with 22.1 percent. The damage was done. “It’s not our team”, coach Lindy Ruff said. No”, Ruff said. “But he’s worked really hard at it. “They’re where the National Hockey League is going”, Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said of the Stars. “But right now, it’s just tough”.
Hitchcock wouldn’t commit to Elliott for Game 7, however. “They’re where the game is going”.
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The Blues had several good chances in the first, but often missed the net.
