“I said, ‘It’s time for us to man up, ‘ and we did”, coach Lindy Ruff said.
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Entering Game 6 of their second-round playoff matchup with the Dallas Stars on Monday, the St. Louis Blues find themselves in a situation similar to the one they were in during the first round against the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks.
“It was a bit of an ugly game”. It felt like we were going out for a pre-game skate, then, all of the sudden, we’re playing. “You had the feeling that not extending the lead in the first period might come back to bite this team and it did”. “They’ve got home-ice advantage again, and we’ve got our work cut out for us”. The official stats only say the Blues had four giveaways (though Dallas had 11 takeaways).
The game did not start all that well for Dallas as the Blues’ Vladimir Tarasenko scored a breakaway goal midway through the first period.
Then a very unusual thing happened.
“Oh, that was great”.
By the time the Blues straightened out, Sharp had guided home Benn’s pass (or missed shot) for a second Dallas goal – on the power play, no less, where the Stars had been 0-for-12 – and five minutes later, Jay Bouwmeester made another pass nearly as bad as Edmundson’s, again right onto Faksa’s stick.
If you had only watched the first period of the Dallas Stars and St. Louis Blues game five matchup on Saturday, you probably would have been convinced that the Stars would grab their third win and be one win from closing out the series.
Third PeriodBoth sides fought hard for the breakthrough in the third, but neither net-minder blinked as both Lehtonen and Elliott made saves to keep their sides in it. Lehtonen making one more than Elliott as the Blues outshot the Stars 8-7 on the period.
Benn drew a chorus of boos from the sell-out crowd at Scottrade Center several times during the night, but continued showing off his stellar puck-handling skills while trying to reignite the possession game Dallas prefers to play.
The Blues are at their best with relentless forechecking and physical play counteracting a faster opponent.
“If you want to get wins you’ve got to get good efforts from the goalies, and from the players”, said the big Finn.
Dmitrij Jaskin’s first career playoff goal in his first postseason game this year put the Blues ahead for good at 2-1 in the second period, and St. Louis protected a 3-1 lead in the third for a second straight road victory in the series. “And we’re going to need more desperation next game”.
Does that mean the momentum shifts back in Dallas’ favor? They don’t have to be tight because it’s not a must-win game for them. One more loss and the West’s No. 1 seed is out.
“We put it behind us”.
“I know it was ugly for a lot of the guys and the team in general for Game 3”, Sharp said.
“The message was stay positive, get back at it”.
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The Stars got even about 5 minutes later when Alex Goligoski had a shot into an open net on assists from Vernon Fiddler and Jason Spezza.
