“The thing that impressed me more than anything was the way we played in the overtime Outstanding”, coach Ken Hitchcock said. Even while playing five-on-five, the Blues were able to limit the Stars to just three goals in the three games played, and were able to score five themselves (plus-2 5v5 goal differential), while limiting the Stars best defensemen (Johnny Oduya, John Klingberg, Jason Demers and Alex Goligoski) to only an even plus/minus combined. I think a little paint chip from my mask went in there. In any case, we’re talking about the fourth line here: 8 minutes or less of game time.
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But, fortunately for St. Louis, they got their intermission, hanging on in the final minutes of regulation. “Jaromir Jagr, in all his wisdom at 44, said, ‘Who cares who scores?’ That’s the way we feel in this room. This series is tied back up”.
Burns and the rest of the Sharks had struggled to get shots on net before that with Nashville blocking five shots by Burns before he finally got one to Rinne off a deflection by Pavelski. And we answered the bell in Game 7.
Orpik will miss Game 3 on Monday, Game 4 on Wednesday and Game 5 on Saturday.
“What we needed was an intermission”, Hitchcock said. “It’s a natural tendency”.
Radek Faksa’s late goal gave the Dallas Stars the early advantage in their National Hockey League playoffs second round clash with the St Louis Blues. You don’t want to get caught, so you put a safety net up and it’s been like that ever since I started coaching.
The two have become good friends since being assistant coaches as Team Canada won gold medals in the last two Winter Olympics.
The first two games in Dallas showed that the Stars are going to get their opportunities.
What do the Blues needs to do to win? “It’s controlling the puck, it’s forechecking them, not allowing them to have that time and space to build up their speed”.
“Take the officials out of the equation”, Ruff said. The power play was anemic, missing the net-front presence of Eaves and the quick trigger of Tyler Seguin.
Dallas forced overtime by erasing a two-goal deficit in the third period, when the Stars outshot St. Louis 13-2. At 17:41 of the first period, he leg-whipped St. Louis forward Jori Lehtera in the neutral zone and was called for tripping.
They held on to take a 1-0 lead into the second intermission but found themselves level at 1-1 after Tomas Hertl scored for the Sharks 2:37 into the third.
Ruff may have had a legitimate gripe, but that doesn’t excuse a blatant interference away from the puck on Roussel – an easy call for officials to make. He might have wished to be less accurate.
Game 3 goes Tuesday night in St. Louis.
The Dallas Stars owned the NHL’s second-best home record during the regular season and look to continue that dominance when they host the St. Louis Blues on Sunday afternoon in Game 2 of their second-round playoff series.
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“We were confident”, Stars captain Jamie Benn said. But the Stars were 0 for 4 with the extra man, and are now 1 for 20 on power plays at home this postseason.
