Saturday, April 30, 2016
Stars 2, Blues 1
DALLAS
Radek Faksa scored the tiebreaking goal on a rebound with 4:44 to play and had an assist on the other Dallas goal to help the Stars open the second round of the Western Conference playoffs with a victory over the Blues. Like Antoine Roussel did on his second-period goal on which Faksa had an assist, Faksa started the rush that led to his winner. Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk tied it at 1 with 8:28 left in the third period with a shot from the top of the left circle after Dallas failed to clear the puck out of the zone. Game 2 is Sunday in the best-of-seven series matching the Western Conference’s top two teams from the regular season. After Faksa pushed the puck up the ice, Ales Hemsky had the initial shot stopped but not secured by Brian Elliott. Faksa was there to score his second goal of the playoffs. Along with the Western Conference’s top two teams, this is a matchup of Stars coach Lindy Ruff and St. Louis’ Ken Hitchcock, coaches who became friends after being assistant coaches as Team Canada won gold medals in the last two Winter Olympics. Hitchcock was coach of the Stars when the franchise won its only Stanley Cup in 1999, complete with a disputed clinching goal in triple overtime of Game 6 against Ruff’s Buffalo Sabres. They also went head-to-head in the 2006 playoffs, when the Sabres beat Hitchcock’s Philadelphia Flyers. Kari Lehtonen stopped 31 shots, withstanding a final surge when the Blues pulled Elliott out of the net and had an extra skater the final 1:40. Elliott, who has played all eight playoffs games for the Blues, had 40 saves.
Associated Press