Preview: The St. Louis Blues (29-26-6) earned their 4th win in a row last night and now face the Dallas Stars (38-19-2) who hold down the 2nd spot on the Central Division. Meanwhile the Blues are 1 point out of a wild card spot. The forward and defensive lineup remains the same…Joel Hofer gets the start in net for the Blues, Jake Oettinger starts for Dallas. The Blues playing the 2nd game of the back-to-back while the Stars played Friday night
5 goals in the first period…Dallas on top after 1…
Well...13 seconds in and Radek Faksa takes penalty…and with 17 seconds left on the PP, a shot off the rush beats Hofer far to the stick side…first shot of the game…1-0 less than two minutes into the game…not a good start.
The Blues counter quickly less than two minutes later…Zack Bolduc grabs a rebound off an Oskar Sundqvist shot and we are tied at 1, less than 4 minutes into the period. Philip Broberg with the 2nd assist.
Five minutes in…Blues with six shots to two for the Stars.
Dallas on their 4th shot, score again… beating Hofer high to the glove side…2-1 with 6:32 left in the period.
Blues with 11 shots with five minutes left in the period…outplaying the Stars…but down by one goal.
With 2:37 left Dylan Holloway gets slashed and the Blues to the powerplay. "Hollywood" Holloway fires a shot from inside the blueline over the stick side with Jake Neighbours screening…Brayden Schenn with the set up pass and we are tied at 2 late in period 1.
Pavel Buchnevich takes a hooking penalty with 46 seconds left…and Dallas scores with one second left in the period…a shot fired over Hofer.
Period ends with Dallas leading 3 to 2…Blues with 14 shots to nine for Dallas.
Each team with a goal in period 2…
Jordan Binnington takes over at the start of the 2nd period. But not a difference as Dallas makes it 4-2, 1:06 into the period, on a give and go where Binnington has no chance. First shot against Binnington.
The fourth line doing the dirty work…Nathan Walker knocks one out of midair after Alexi Toropchenko made a power move down the slot to the net and the puck pops for Walker to finish it. 4-3 with 12 minutes to go in the 2nd.
Sundqvist gets high sticked and the Blues back to the powerplay with 11:54 left in the period. Blues have pressure and two shots but no scoring…and then right after the PP ended, Walker has a breakaway and Oettinger barely makes the save.
Blues leading the shot race 29 to 13 halfway through the game. Blues have been the better team…but down by 1.
With 2:03 left in the period Robert Thomas is tripped up and the Blues are back on the powerplay…let’s tie this one up before the end of the period…but unable to capitalize.
4-3 Dallas going into the 3rd period…Blues lead the shots 33 to 16 and in hits 17 to seven.
Dallas piles on in the 3rd…
Kyrou takes a tripping penalty with 11:37 left…Stars are 2-for-2 on the PP…need a kill…and they are now 3-for-3 with the man advantage…as they pass the puck to the open man and Binnington with no chance as it’s an elevated shot over his extended pad…10:40 remaining. 5-3 Dallas.
10 minutes left and the Blues still with the shot edge 37 to 19.
Dallas back to the powerplay as Kyrou takes down a breaking Stars player and they make it 6-3 as Wyatt Johnston gets a hat trick seconds into the PP. 6-3…and that is now 4 powerplay goals for the Stars.
5:52 left and Binnington to the bench for the extra attacker…However the Blue are unable to get one past Oettinger despite 42 shots on goal…21 shots for the Stars. 6-3 the final and the Blues fail to take advantage of the opportunity to move into a wild card position.