Dallas Stars Get First Division Win Against St. Louis Blues

The Dallas Stars beat the St. Louis Blues in St. Louis tonight by a score of 4-3. Dallas now boasts an above .500 record of (15-14-5), while the Blues are (21-11-3) on the season and are losers of four straight. The Stars will return to Dallas for a three game home stand starting on Monday.

Recap 

The game started with two goals in the first two and a half minutes of the first period. Blues goalie Jake Allen misplayed the puck behind his goal and Stars forward Travis Moen easily shot the puck into the wide open net to put Dallas up 1-0. That lead was short-lived as Alex Pietrangelo converted just 27 seconds later to tie the game at one all. Dallas’ Ryan Garbutt then scored a slap shot goal off of another defensive giveaway by the Blues to put them up 2-1 with about five minutes remaining in the period. That lead was also short-lived as St. Louis scored a power play goal when Vernon Fiddler was in the box for slashing. The first period ended with the teams tied at two, and the Blues having the advantage in shots 11-9.

Trevor Daley scored his eighth goal of the season on the Stars’ first power play of the game to give Dallas the lead 3-2 shortly into the second period. The physicality of the game really started to pick up in the middle frame as both teams threw their bodies around in an attempt to gain the advantage. Despite the additional aggressiveness of the game, however, the Stars were able to come out on top as Jason Demers scored with the man advantage to give Dallas their first two-goal lead of the game late in the period. They took that 4-2 lead into the second intermission.

The third period consisted of lots of icings and dump-ins by the Stars, but despite their supreme defensive play early on David Backes managed to tip in a shot from the point to cut the Dallas lead to one with 14:20 remaining. Shortly after the goal Antoine Roussel went off for high sticking, but the Stars were able to come out unscathed. Jamie Benn stole the puck in the offensive zone while on that penalty kill and he moved the puck to Fiddler in the slot, but Blues’ goalie Jake Allen was there with the pad. The third period got more interesting when the Blues pulled Allen in favor of the extra attacker, but they were unable to convert and Dallas beat them 4-3 in regulation.

Thoughts and Observations

Most Important Shift

Almost anyone who knows hockey will tell you that the most important shifts of a hockey game are the ones right after a goal is scored. The Dallas Stars had issues with said shifts at the start of the game, giving up tying goals twice in the first period to go into the intermission tied at two. The second period proved to be much better for Dallas as they curbed this trend and increased their lead to two going into the last twenty. The Stars played exceptionally better after the Blues’ third goal of the game in the third period and managed to prevent a comeback and earn the full two points.

Special Teams

Dallas was able to convert on their first power play opportunity of the game and managed to have some grade-A chances on their second man advantage of the game as well. The Stars’ third and fourth power plays of the game didn’t yield as great of chances, but Demers’ goal late in the frame proved that even an abysmal looking power play has a chance to result in a goal. Overall Dallas went 2-5 with the Blues in the box, while only giving up one goal against on the penalty kill.

Goaltending

At the end of the day hockey games have a lot to do with the performance of goalies, and tonight was no different. Kari Lehtonen out-played Jake Allen and made key saves to keep the confidence and momentum in favor of the Stars. He stopped multiple shots from point-blank and was aided by the defense to reduce the influence of his rebounds. Ultimately, when Lehtonen makes those key saves the Stars are a much more difficult team to play against.

Leadership

All down the Stars line-up were examples of guys taking it upon themselves to make the necessary plays to preserve the lead. Antoine Roussel made a block against Blues’ Captain David Backes late in the game and Jamie Benn defended Cody Eakin in the dying seconds of regulation as Backes took cheap shots at his head. Overall they played a collective team game and everyone bought into the system to get the win and it’s a game that the Stars can look back on as an example moving forward.

Thanks for reading! Be sure to check back for the preview and post game analysis on Monday as the Stars take on the New York Rangers at the American Airlines Center.