Dallas Stars Score Late to Win Game 1 Over St. Louis Blues

Kari Lehtonen of the Dallas Stars blocks a shot on goal against the St. Louis Blues in Gam
AFP
Mary Chastain

The Dallas Stars enjoy a 1-0 series lead after they defeated the St. Louis Blues on Friday night.

Blues goalie Brian Elliott kept his team in the game since those in front of him skated slow and and dragged their feet on the ice as if they had sea legs. The Stars had plenty of time to rest while the Blues just came off a brutal seven game series against defending champions Chicago Blackhawks.

But Elliott could only do so much as the Stars outshot the Blues 42-32. Antoine Roussel gave the Stars a 1-0 lead after a teammate’s stick tripped up Elliott.

The Blues showed a little more life, but Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen would not give up any goals. It also helped that the Stars refused to allow Blues star Vladimir Tarasenko to touch the puck.

“Well, obviously he’s one guy that we’ve got the radar on, that we know when he’s out there we want to make sure we don’t give him much ice,” said Stars coach Lindy Ruff. “I thought for the most part we didn’t make any mistakes that allowed any big rush plays when he was out there, and we closed fast on him inside the zone.”

The Blues finally got on the board in the third period. Kevin Shattenkirk put the puck in the net over Lehtonen’s shoulder on a one timer.

The arena went quiet.

The team erupted, but it was not enough as the the Stars refused to die in their own building. They faced rushes from the Minnesota Wild in the first round. The Stars received their game winning goal from none other than Radek Faksa, who won them Game 1 against the Wild.

He pushed the puck under Elliott after a scrum in front of the net pulled him to far to the right. Elliott could not reach his leg far enough left.

“It was a good breakout by us,” praised Faksa. “It was a nice pass by Alex Goligoski. We had pretty much a 3-on-2 … [Hemsky] took it to the net and I picked up the rebound. It’s a great play by Alex and [Hemsky].”

The Stars did lose forward Patrick eaves after a shot from teammate Stephen Johns hit him.

He needed help off the ice, but the Stars did not have an update on the injury after the game.

They will play Game 2 on Sunday at 3 p.m. Eastern.

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