That proved to be an early turning point in this game – the Stars followed it up with a power-play goal by Patrick Sharp just 1:09 later. But some critical offensive plays made all the difference, and the Stars outlasted their division rivals 3-2 in overtime to tie the series at two apiece.
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Dallas didn’t have much success with the extra man during the first three games of this series, but they managed to change that by scoring a power-play goal to take the 2-1 lead.
The Stars have their backs against the wall heading into St. Louis on Monday as they spoiled a glorious opportunity on home ice on Saturday afternoon and now they have no room for error as they are in a win or go home mode for the next two games.
Tarasenko’s goal was an exception to the rule in a tight-checking first period. I said in earlier games we played well.
“You nearly expect this series to go long, and these are the games that really start to get important”, Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk said.
“It was a good bounce”, said Tarasenko, with a small smile. This series has been one of the most exciting of the second round so far, and we could be in for three more treats like Thursday’s thriller now.
Dallas tied it at 10:58 of the first period when Goligoski scored his fourth goal of the playoffs.
“They’ve got home-ice advantage again”.
“It’s tough to score”, Stars captain Jamie Benn said.
“We’re going to have to find a way to get to him”, Stars forward Vernon Fiddler said.
The Blues will try to steal back home-ice advantage while adding to their recent special-teams prowess.
Tarasenko also had a three-point game in the first round against Chicago. The Stars had lost their first two overtime playoff contests, including the second game of this National Hockey League series.
Matt Holliday’s RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning gave the St. Louis Cardinals a 5-4 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday night.
“We hit some posts, we hit a crossbar, we missed a couple point blank”, Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. “I think the team got frustrated with some of the calls”. Killorn, Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, Jonathan Drouin are other young players who’ve made key contributions with Tampa Bay still playing without injured star Steven Stamkos and defenseman Anton Stralman. He rocketed a shot toward Lehtonen that tipped off the stick of Paul Statsny and into the net, tying the game 2-2. Brett Richie played for the first time in the postseason, and Valeri Nichushkin played in his seventh game.
Hitchcock didn’t seem eager to heap criticism on rookie defnseman Joel Edmundson after Edmundon’s critical turnover in the second period Thursday led to a big goal by the Stars’ Faksa.
Dallas has scored first in every game, but St. Louis has turned in huge responses within the opening period of the last two.
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Protecting a two-goal lead in Game 5 at Dallas on Saturday, the 31-year-old Elliott came up big when needed.
