Radek Faksa scored the tiebreaking goal on a rebound with 4:44 to play and had an assist on the other Dallas goal to help the Stars open the second round of the Western Conference playoffs with a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Friday night.
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In the first period St. Louis scored three times on five shots, and the aggressive forwards outmuscled Dallas’ smaller defenders on two of the three goals.
Once again, in overtime, St. Louis Blues captain David Backes was front and center.
That’s the time that elapsed between a controversial penalty against Antoine Roussel and David Backes’ overtime goal on the ensuring power play that gave the Blues a 4-3 win.
Vladimir Tarasenko took a slap shot that defenseman Alex Goligoski blocked, but the Blues kept charging and Backes scored on the rebound of Alexander Steen’s shot. After playing one of the most inconsistent games of the entire playoffs for Game 1, it was good to see the Blues come out with a win.
After pulling his starting goalie, Kari Lehtonen, after one period in Game 2 in favor of Antti Niemi, Ruff wouldn’t say who his starter would be for Game 3.
In Game 1 the Stars won a run-and-gun game, even if the score was only 2-1. “I think it”s a natural tendency that players get into that they don”t want to get caught, they think in terms of protecting rather than attacking. The start of the game is not what we wanted.
It was only after third-period goals by Mattias Janmark and Jamie Benn, the latter with 2:36 left, sent the game into overtime that the Blues were able to get their heads on straight again.
The series is tied at one game apiece, with Game 3 scheduled for today in Pittsburgh.
Lehtonen gave up goals to Patrik Berglund and Joel Edmundson on the Blues’ first two shots, and Troy Brouwer, who had the game-winner to eliminate Chicago in the first round, scored on the power play at 18:40, the fifth shot on the Dallas net.
Coach Ken Hitchcock reinserted the physical Ryan Reaves into the lineup, and he set the tone early and often, with five hits in the first two periods.
“We did everything we wanted to do, we played a heck of a period and then we played the score, and that’s the wrong thing you can do against Dallas; they’re too good”. In all, the Blues out-hit the Stars 42-23 after registering just 26 hits in an uninspiring Game 1 for St. Louis. Dallas has one of the best power plays in the league and with their high-scoring offense, giving them any extra chances is asking for trouble. Pietrangelo played 10:30 of even-strength ice time against Benn and the Blues controlled 69 percent of the shot attempts.
“We just stuck with it found a way to win”, said Backes.
Ward’s fourth career game-winning goal in the playoffs enabled San Jose to take a 1-0 lead in Western Conference series against the Predators.
So, despite everything, the Blues won the game and tie up the series. But in the playoffs, when everything is on the line, sitting back and allowing the other team to keep chipping away at you is a recipe for failure and these players have to know that.
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St. Louis doubled that lead when Brouwer scored a power-play goal off a rebound 1:20 before the first intermission.
