Some thoughts though – the first period was super-close, and if Dallas had scored that crossbar goal, it’s quite possible the score would’ve been 2-2 after 1.
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Until Thursday night, that is. Not even three minutes in, Cody Eakin ended the game by sneaking one over Elliott’s right shoulder and under the crossbar.
Patrick Sharp set up the victor and also scored for the Stars, coming off a 6-1 loss in Game 3.
With the momentum and now playing at home for Game 3, the Blues dominated their rivals in a 6-1 thrashing to give the Blues the first series lead. “They had momentum for a lot of it, but we stuck with it, got some great saves, and towards the third we started getting some momentum, getting our feet going and maybe stuck to it a little longer than they did and were able to carry it into overtime”.
Tarasenko stopped looking for the breakaways, St. Louis’ defensemen eased off of the stretch passes that they had seen success with in the opening frame, and Dallas stacked the ice on the defensive side of the red line while looking for their chance to strike. They’re having fun and they just announced that this series is going deep when it looked like it might be a quick one. Heading into the second period, the St. Louis Blues had the 1-0 lead. When things break down, they break down in a big way, as was on full display in Game 3 – and those moments stick in the memory. It was picked off by Radek Faksa, who managed to beat Brian Elliott through the wickets. They’ve played the Stars about as well as any team has all season, and that’s been the case all series long. Just 16 seconds later, David Backes was called for tripping to put the Stars on the power play. “We’re happy with what happened two nights ago, but I don’t think we’re expecting that to come naturally to us”. More importantly, they tied this second-round, best-of-seven series at 2-2.
You can point back to Goligoski but there’s no way in the world anyone, including Lindy Ruff, would ever consider taking him out of a game. Of course you knew they wouldn’t do that, and of course that meant you were incredibly anxious despite getting an unexpected lead.
For the second time, the game is tied. Now they have given the Stars a level of belief though heading home and the Blues will have to perform even better than the game they scored six goals to come out victorious. It was probably a good penalty to take, but it turned out to be a costly one, as 4-on-3s tend to be.
Can Stars take a stand against Blues tonight? Unfortunately, Goose couldn’t quite split the difference on the 4-on-3 kill, as he got caught a bit too far from Stastny in front of Kari.
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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. Having two strong goaltenders for the Stars to rely on has not crippled the organization this season, it has given them a sense of security.
