F Patrick Eaves returned for the Stars from a leg injury, and hit the crossbar with about two minutes left with a chance to extend the lead to two. He thought he had.
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The first Stars goalie, Kari Lehtonen, gave up three points. Made him believe again. The veteran was partly at fault for his team’s capitulation at the Scottrade Center as they lost 3-2 and were forced into game 7.
Three times in the seven-game series against the St. Louis Blues, Ruff made mid-game goalie changes. After Stars defenseman Alex Goligoski was sent to the penalty box for hooking, Blues center Robby Fabbri cashed in and found the back of the net for the first goal of the game. Today I wasn’t able to do that, of course I feel bad about that, LEHOTONEN said and that’s it, The stars never recovered from the nightmare The St Louis Blues have plenty of reasons to celebrate.
Sharks need home to be sweet: All during the regular season, the Sharks faced questions about why they could be so dominant on the road but struggle to win at home.
St. Louis had a chance to knock Dallas out on home ice in Game 6, but fell, 3-2, to force the do-or-die game.
Eighteen skaters a side, there wasn’t a lot of difference between the Stars and Blues, but between the pipes it was no contest.
Lehtonen is not a bad goaltender.
Coach Ken Hitchcock’s Blues were only two points behind Dallas in the regular-season standings for the top seed. “Sometimes you can play your whole career and not play in the conference final so, it’s pretty impressive”. “It hardens you, makes you better”, he said of Lehtonen’s checkered past. Less than 8 minutes into the third period, Alexander Steen cut the lead to 2, scoring on a rebound of a Robert Bortuzzo shot. No”, Ruff said. “But he’s worked really hard at it. “Some nights it’s just not their night”. Game 6 might be the best performance Lehtonen has ever laid on the ice as a professional – his pièce de résistance. Vladimir Tarasenko scored for the Blues in the 3rd period. But replay showed that Tarasenko was just offside before the puck got in the zone, and officials wiped off the goal. Berglund has four. Backes has six. Big reprieve? Um, no. After Kari Lehtonen gave up three goals on eight shots in the first period (plus another one that did not count) he was replaced by Antti Niemi who promptly gave up a goal early in the second period to help put the game out of reach.
Remember those four seconds?
That’s kind of how it was going.
What do you think about the Blues heading into Game 7?
Unlike Ruff, the Blues coach had only one moment’s pause. The Stars took Games 1, 4 and 6 in this series, while the Blues won Games 2, 3 and 5.
Elliott ended up stopping 31 of 32 against him.
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Troy Brouwer, about to play in a remarkable eighth straight Game 7 in the playoffs, won the Blues’ first-round series against the Blackhawks with a third-period goal in Game 7. “It was my first crack at a Game 7 and hopefully there are going to be more opportunities like that to play at a high intensity level like this”.
