Brian Elliott didn’t let this third-period lead get away, and St. Louis is going home with a chance to close out a second-round series against Dallas.
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Game 5 is Saturday night in San Jose.
Elliott made 27 saves, including several in a raucous, up-and-down first period, when the Stars created a number of quality chances. “We can throw everything we have at them next game”. “We’re always going game by game you’ve got to invest knowing it could go long”.
It was reminiscent of his Game 7 overtime victor in the first round against Chicago, when Brouwer basically sliced, diced and julienned the puck before finally managing to get it over the red line – a goal, Brouwer said, he would have quit hockey if he had missed.
Blues coach Ken Hitchcock suggested he’d tap into his depth for some fresh legs with the potential to play three games in five days and the choice of Jaskin paid off. Now it’s going 100 miles per hour and you’re trying to keep up. “It’s hard to be alert that early in the day physically from a body contact standpoint”.
Lehtonen, though was ideal from that point on, stopping 24 of 26 St. Louis shots, including some great glove work in the third period.
Dallas has the lead in the game for the first time, 2-1.
The Stars got a little speed built up and that was all they needed.
“I think if you look at the opportunities we had, we’ve got to cash in”, said head coach Lindy Ruff. “We just weren’t able to put it in”.
Jaskin’s go-ahead goal came after a long sequence in Dallas’ defensive end. “It’s just got to go in”.
No, a Stars loss Thursday night wouldn’t have ended their most successful season (in terms of points) since the 2005-06 campaign. A flurry of shots at the end of the period for St. Louis failed to garner an equalizer either, and for the second time this series, the teams headed for overtime.
The Stars got even about 5 minutes later when Alex Goligoski had a shot into an open net on assists from Vernon Fiddler and Jason Spezza.
Dmitrij Jaskin’s first career playoff goal 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.
The Dallas stars pulled off one of the clutchest OT wins in franchise history.
The Blues meanwhile are in the driver’s seat and have be excited with the prospect of advancing to the Western Conference final in front of their home fans on Monday. 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.
Ovechkin was a force all over the ice with the Capitals on the brink of elimination and yet another early playoff exit.
The teams have split four matchups in Dallas this season, and Lehtonen has yielded one goal on 54 shots in the two wins.
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The Penguins got a power-play goal of their own, their first of the series, from Chris Kunitz but couldn’t overcome the Capitals’ desperation and Holtby’s brilliance. While Benn has been consistent throughout the playoffs, Patrick Sharp recorded his first two points of the series on Thursday with his club’s first power-play goal versus the Blues before assisting on Cody Eakin’s overtime tally.
