The teams have come off two games in which they have mirrored the play of each other, the Stars getting the bulk of the chances in Game 5 and losing at home, the Blues getting the bulk of the chances in Game 6 and losing at home. Lehtonen played a major role in the Stars winning 50 regular season games, clinching the top seed in the Western Conference, and securing home ice advantage in the playoffs.
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Elliott did not allow Dallas’ lone goal until more than five minutes had elapsed in the third period. Tarasenko did add an empty-net goal late in the third period for his seventh goal of the playoffs, but in the first period he had his second disallowed goal of the postseason thanks an offside review.
St. Louis Blues goalie Brian Elliott (1) blocks a shot during the first period of Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Western Conference semifinals against the Dallas Stars Wednesday, May 11, 2016, in Dallas. St. Louis awaits the victor of Thursday’s Nashville Predators-San Jose Sharks Game 7 to find out their opponent in a series that’s set to begin in Sunday.
“I have the benefit of the match at home”, Stars coach Lindy Ruff said.
Elliott stole games earlier in the series, but this time it was Stars’ goalie Kari Lehtonen coming up big.
Brouwer is playing in his NHL-record eighth consecutive playoff series to go seven games. That kept the Stars in the game at 1-0.
“Once Game 6 was in its closing moments, ticket prices for Game 7 jumped 17 percent”, said Leyden. Jason Spezza also scored his first goal of the series on Monday for Dallas, which is a plus considering he had scored 33 times during the regular season and four in their first-round win over Minnesota. And they’ll see 20-year-old rookie Robby Fabbri, who has ten points in the playoffs, including the goal that kicked off the rout in Game 7 on Wednesday night.
“It’s something that makes us hungrier as a team because we know he deserves better and we’re going to play a much better game in front of him”. Antti Niemi took over in the second period, when Backes and Brouwer scored, but stopped the other eight shots he faced.
Dallas avoided elimination with a 3-2 win at St. Louis on Monday.
Elliott was pulled after the Stars made it three goals on seven shots, with Spezza scoring on a power play from the slot at 16:49.
“Today he stood tall for us”, Ruff said of Lehtonen.
Though “the Queen of Country Pop” has yet to appear at a Stars game, she’s clearly thrilled with her role in their success, tweeting: “Heard @dallasstars have awesome taste in pregame music”. Everything was extremely frustrating, but now everything resets as the two teams travel back to American Airlines Center, where the Blues have won two games following losses in this series. If his team lost, the Blues’ season would have ended. “That seems to just get called back on us”. No”, Ruff said. “But he’s worked really hard at it. “It’s still alive, so we just need to relax now and get ready for the next one”.
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The Blues did score once in each period, through Alexander Steen and Patrik Berglund, but could not come up with the tying goal.
