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.
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“That’s just puck luck, sometimes you get it, sometimes you don’t”, Dallas coach Lindy Ruff said. “I thought in the third period we were a little bit inconsistent with our puck management, but had all the chances at the start and didn’t extend the 1-0 lead”. “I just think they made some big saves”, said Blues center Paul Stastny, who scored the tying goal. In addition, even if he hadn’t been as much of a difference-maker as he ultimately was on Saturday, it was a good opportunity to keep Jaskin fresh and fit to play in a game against a more skillful future opponent such as the San Jose Sharks or Pittsburgh Penguins. Patrick Sharp fed Eakin with a pass, and the center sniped the puck past Elliott for his first goal of the playoffs and the game-winner. For the first time all series, they scored the first goal of the game.
Now, after Eakin’s top-shelf beauty won Game 4 just 2:58 into extra time, the Stars are back in the catbird seat, as they used to say in these parts. “It just opened up”. All he did was measure up the Stars goaltender, Kari Lehtonen, and fire it by him about halfway through the first period. Elliott denied Eakin’s slap shot at close range and then turned away his attempt to score off the rebound.
The Blues had Dallas reeling in the first period and after yet another neutral zone breakdown by Dallas, it led to a breakaway for Vladimir Tarasenko who scored five-hole at 10:17 to put the Blues up 1-0.
“They were much better than we were in the first period”, Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock said. “We let them off the mat with those two quick goals”.
If the Blues can continue to focus on their power play – theirs is the best out of all teams remaining in the playoffs at 28.1% – the Stars will have some issues.
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.
And while the Stars appeared relaxed, it doesn’t mean the Blues should expect more of the same from them either.
Lehtonen came on in relief on Niemi in Game 3 and was extremely sharp in Game 4, turning away 24 of 26 shots.
Edmundson played sparingly the rest of the period, totaling 2:38 in four shifts. There was a flurry here or there and the Finnish netminder came up with the answer each time, but it wasn’t the kind of pressure Blues fans had become accustomed to when the Note is on their game.
Since Ruff has been getting awfully creative with his lineup decisions lately, altering his forward corps to insert wingers Curtis McKenzie, who played three regular season games with the club this season, and Brett Ritchie, who participated in eight National Hockey League contests, it figured that Hitchcock would want to emulate the decisions of his longtime “frenemy”. I thought both teams at times looked exhausted today. You see the post-game press conferences from the coaches who lost: they’re abrupt, they’re direct. You live and die every day here.
Backes knows what to expect on Saturday.
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“We’re set up to be resilient and believe in our system”, Backes said. “They’ve got home-ice advantage again, and we’ve got our work cut out for us”.
