Lehtonen is expected to be in net on Saturday afternoon as the Stars host the Central Division-rival St. Louis Blues in Game 5 of their Western Conference semifinal series. Dallas got the first power play of the game 4:38 into the third when Blues captain David Backes was called for holding. Cody Eakin snapped a shot over the shoulder of Brian Elliott just 2:58 into the extra period to turn this into a three-game series, when it should have been a three-game lead for St. Louis. I think they had a little bit of a lull (in that game) and they’re going to come firing back with everything they’ve got.
Advertisement
“I thought it was a double crossbar or something, a double post”, Jaskin said.
Cody Eakin of the Dallas Stars is congratulated by Radek Faksa.
“I don’t want to get into going after a guy – wrong time to do it”, Hitchcock said.
“You never know how teams will react to that and unfortunately we couldn’t (put them away)”.
After scoring four goals in the first-round series against the Minnesota Wild, Benn has been held to just one goal in this series, although he had two assists in Game 4. Stastny’s shot was deflected to Brouwer, who nearly missed the puck but got enough to send it into an open net. St. Louis, which has won two straight games in Dallas in the series, hosts Game 6 on Monday.
“We were embarrassed”, Dallas coach Lindy Ruff said.
And Eakin is no stranger to goal scoring. He beat Brian Elliott on a 3-on-2 break after getting a stick on Jori Lehtera’s shot in tight on the other end against Kari Lehtonen. Lehtonen first left the ice with 3:50 remaining and after briefly returning, left for a second time with 2:36 left.Stastny added an empty-net goal with 1:40 remaining to ice the win for the visitors.NOTES: The Blues scratched C Ivan Barbashev, G Jordan Binnington, D Robert Bortuzzo, D Chris Butler, D Peter Harrold, D Petteri Lindbohm, G Anders Nilsson, C Steve Ott, LW Magnus Paajarvi, RW Ty Rattie, RW Ryan Reaves and D Jordan Schmaltz. A lot of credit goes to Steen for his strong two-way play this postseason. They are facing their first series deficit of the playoffs this season while being down two key players (Tyler Seguin, Patrick Eaves), not to mention the fact that neither of their goalies have shown any signs of being able to stay consistent against a lethal Blues attack. Goalies-Dallas, Lehtonen 5-1 (26 shots-24 saves). Ruff also has used Antti Niemi extensively, and joked about the daily controversy. “We’ve learned a lot from those situations and I think especially going home here for Game 6, it’s going to be a real important game for us to try to close this out as soon as possible”. After St. Louis almost struck first in overtime, Dallas fired it down the ice to Eakin, who blasted a shot from just below the blue line right past Elliott. “Then you’ve got to regroup twice and by then you nearly have to change”.
“We’ve been good when our back’s against the wall, so we’ve got to go out here and get the next game”.
Tarasenko’s goal was an exception to the rule in a tight-checking first period. It will be a much earlier start than we’ve had this playoff year. “But that was my mistake.That was on me”. Trailing the Blues (2-1) in the series this was a vital win that can not be taken for granted. The Blues had one of the best defenses and penalty kill units.
Of Saturday’s goal, Hitchcock said: “Well … he’s on the beach, and there’s the ocean”.
Advertisement
Stastny’s first goal of the playoffs on a deflection from Tarasenko tied it on a four-on-three power play at 13:06 of the second. St. Louis took a 5-1 lead into the second intermission. The Blues raised funds from a 50-50 raffle for victims of the Fort McMurray, Alberta, wildfires.
