Mattias Janmark has likewise been Quite Good in most of his opportunities, and his skating was extremely good tonight, drawing the penalty that led to the aforementioned power play goal. Just 69 seconds later, with Backes in the box, the Stars scored their first power-play goal of this series to take a 2-1 lead. This game will go a long way toward deciding if the Stars are up to the challenge against a Blues team that’s starting to find another gear.
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“I just told him it’s a gutless shot at the end of the game”, Reaves said.
The Lightning limited the Islanders to just eight shots the last two periods in Game 2 after dropping the series opener 5-3. “They’re obviously a quick team, make plays, skate well”.
“It nearly looks like it goes on the outside of the net and in, that’s how close it was”, Elliott said.
The game ended as Ruff wanted, but it did not start out that way.
“He’s one of the most complete players in the league”, coach Ken Hitchcock said. Tarasenko hit the post on another breakaway attempt, and Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen was able to stop a shot from Troy Brouwer on another two-on-one break. “You had the feeling that not extending the lead in the first period might come back to bite this team and it did”.
Kris Russell and Jason Demers almost ate another minus to start the third period on a wacky-also-terrifying play that saw a “here for decoration” Russell get toe-dragged into oblivion by Steen; it became clear at that point that the Stars had no interest in any fan’s long-term health, blood pressure, or hair loss.
Faksa, who had the deciding goal in the Stars’ Game 1 victory, tied it on an unassisted goal off a giveaway by fellow rookie Joel Edmundson. His breakout pass was picked off by Stars center Radek Faksa, who scored his third of the playoffs to tie the game. Just like that the momentum swung in favor of the Stars.
In other games Tuesday, Brian Boyle scored at 2:48 of overtime to lift the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 5-4 victory over the New York Islanders for a 2-1 lead in their second-round series.
One of the negatives was going 0-for-4 on the power play, leaving the Stars 0-for-11 with a man advantage in the series.
This seems like a must-win game for the home team, as the Blues are promised to go back to St. Louis.
“The message was stay positive, get back at it. We know we’re a good team, we finished where we did because of the way we played throughout the year, and we believed in each other”. “Not a lot of difference”.
It’s getting the puck in deep and unleashing a forecheck the Stars couldn’t handle in Game 3. Mistakes happen. A veteran player for us and a veteran player for them made the same mistake earlier in the game, or in their case, later in the game and they still played. The end result, a series tied at two games apiece, only reinforces the notion that the Stars and Blues are in many ways opposite sides of the same coin.
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“That’s what we were looking for”, said Blues captain David Backes, who scored his fourth and fifth goals of the playoffs. “We’re excited to be going home”.
