The St. Louis Blues claimed the top spot in the western conference with their 1-0 shutout of the Dallas Stars at home on Monday as Jaroslav Halak made 22 saves and T.J. Oshie scored with 9:34 remaining.
Oshie came bursting into the offensive zone, passed to Perron, drove the net and got the pass back from Perron, then deked Lehtonen in front and slipped it past him on the back hand.
Kari Lehtonen came into Monday’s game with a 7-1-0 record and .944 save percentage against the Blues, but his 31 saves were not enough to overcome injuries to the Stars’ top two centers.
Jamie Benn, who was Dallas’ only All-Star selection, is out at least through the All-Star break. Mike Ribero is also projected to be out through the All-Star break after injuring his knee against Edmonton on Jan. 7.
Dallas’ best chance of the game came on an Eric Nystrom breakaway as the Loui Eriksson hooking penalty expired, Nystrom tried to beat Halak five hole, but he squeezed his pads together, shutting down Nystrom ‘s bid for a 14th goal.
Nystrom almost scored in the final seconds of the second period when Daley wheeled around the back of the net, centered to Nystrom, who stood all alone in front of Halak, but was unable to punch it home as he got a couple good whacks at the puck.
Toby Peterson saved a goal for Dallas as a Blues’ point shot bounced right in front to Peterson, who juggled the puck between his skates and finally out of danger just four minutes into the third period.
Dallas won’t have any time to sulk as they fly back to Dallas to face the Detroit Red Wings at the American Airlines Center at 7:30 p.m.
The Stars were 0-of-3 on the power play and are ranked 27th in the league, converting only 13.9 percent off their opportunities. The Blues also struggled on the power play, going 0-of-4 as their power play is just a shade above 14 percent.
With injuries to Benn and Ribero, the Stars line combinations were different than they had been all season. They looked like this: Morrow-Wandell-Dvorak, Burish-Ott-Eriksson, Ryder-Fiddler-Nystrom, Dowell-Peterson-Wathier
Comments