But to beat this Dallas team the Blues will need to limit the opposition’s transition game and get back to the forecheck that made them successful in Game 3. The Stars had lost their first two overtime playoff contests, including the second game of this National Hockey League series.
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Later in the second period, with the Blues on a 4-on-3 power play, Paul Stastny tipped in a Tarasenko shot-pass to tie the game.
Game after game, the goalie has been handled the pressure.
Elliott made two big saves on Cody Eakin, who scored the overtime goal in Dallas’ 3-2, Game 4 win, early in the third period. If you look at the shots and attempts, there were some pucks that were sitting there that we didn’t quite get to. Elliott was flawless in the third period this time, getting 12 of his 27 saves to send the Blues home with the series edge. He was 208-104-40 in parts of five seasons with the Ducks after going 201-88-40 in parts of five seasons with the Washington Capitals. “He’s flexible, he sees the ice well and he’s very underrated playing the puck”. Game 6 is Monday night.
Dallas was coming off a humiliating 6-1 loss to the Blues in Game 3, but turned that around with a valuable road victory. We just came back from St. Louis with a big win.
Ironically, the Blues have a better road record in the playoffs (3-2) than they do at home (3-3). The Stars aren’t likely to panic, realizing they dictated much of the pace in Game 5, but lacked favorable bounces.
“Each team has been able to impose their will at different times and I don’t think that’s going to change”, Stars coach Lindy Ruff said.
It was a game of missed opportunities for the Stars.
Brian Elliott didn’t let this third-period lead get away, and St. Louis is going home with a chance to close out a second-round series against Dallas.
“We think of it as one game”, Backes added. “I don’t rest on keeping every routine the same”.
Game 6 is at Scottrade Center in St. Louis on Monday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports 2). After having two, maybe even three if we’re generous, games of solid second periods, the Blues decided they could not tell what color jersey they were wearing. Just over a minute after Radek Faksa scored, the Stars’ power play found the back of the net for the first time in this playoff series, giving Dallas a 2-1 lead. It was Jaskin’s first career playoff goal and it came in his first postseason game this spring.
Get breaking news and SI’s biggest stories instantly. “Backs against the wall”.
The Dallas Stars followed up one of their worst playoffs losses in franchise history with a strong effort against the St. Louis Blues that knotted the series at 2-2.
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San Jose had more energy and used superior depth to wear down the Predators with its most complete game of the series. The St. Louis Blues did just about everything they could with the exception of putting the puck into their own net to make sure the Stars could take advantage though.
