Dallas @ St Louis 1-6 - 11/23

Once the St. Louis Blues caught up to the Dallas Stars' speed, they were able to put the game in cruise control Saturday. In the end, the Stars' road winning streak ran into a major speed bump. The Stars came into their game against the Blues winners of six in a row away from home, but one of their new Central Division rivals and top teams in the Western Conference had other ideas. The Blues got goals from six scorers, with T.J. Oshie leading the way with a goal and an assist in a 6-1 victory at Scottrade Center.

"I thought we struggled at the start of the game to catch up to the speed," said Blues coach Ken Hitchcock, who got his 621st career victory to move past Bryan Murray into eighth place on the all-time list. "As much as you talk about the speed of Dallas, I thought we struggled to get up to tempo in the first period. They were on us pretty hard, and I thought as the game wore on, we got more and more up to the tempo of the game and started to counterattack and get some scoring opportunities because of it."

Vladimir Sobotka, Vladimir Tarasenko, David Backes, Derek Roy and Chris Stewart also scored for the Blues, who got two assists from Alex Pietrangelo. Brenden Morrow had an assist against his former club to give him a point against all 30 NHL teams. St. Louis improved to 10-1-2 on home ice, 8-1-1 in their past 10 games overall and 11-2-1 in their past 14.

"We started trading chances there for a little bit, and that's not our game," Oshie said. "We got a hold of it pretty quick and it seemed like they had some trouble with our reloads and our tracking and our forecheck. That's what all our offense came off of. When we can go at them in waves with four lines, not just three but four, I think that's when we're at our best. Tonight, having six different scorers shows that."

Blues goalie Brian Elliott remained unbeaten in regulation, improving to 4-0-1 making 34 saves as St. Louis continued its franchise-best start. The Blues are 16-3-3 and have beaten the Stars in six of the past seven meetings. Elliott, who has a 1.79 goals-against average and .932 save percentage, and Jaroslav Halak have formed one of top duos in the NHL. It's reminiscent of the Jennings Trophy season they had in 2011-12.

"You always want to get in there and fight for the guys and be a part of it," Elliott said. "I think that's what our strength is as a tandem. We can push each other. … I think Jaro's playing well and I want to play well so we can just keep moving this train forward."

Brenden Dillon scored for the Stars and Kari Lehtonen stopped 13 shots before being pulled early in the third period in favor of Dan Ellis. Dallas (11-9-2) dropped its fourth straight in St. Louis.

"I felt I had a bad night," said Lehtonen, who came into the game 8-3-0 with a 1.62 GAA and .946 save percentage against the Blues. "They stayed patient and got a couple of opportunities and scored. There's going to be a bad game at some point and it came tonight. I just have to forget about this one."

Outshot 12-4 in the first period, the Blues scored on half of theirs to take a 2-1 lead. Sobotka's power move around Stars defenseman Sergei Gonchar, and a shove from behind by Dallas forward Jamie Benn, pushed Lehtonen deep into his net, but the puck crossed the goal line 1:39 into the game. It was the 100th career point for Sobotka, which includes 30 goals.

"We're a momentum team," Oshie said. "When nothing's going our way, I think we play really well. When we get off to a good start like that, we seem to feed off it and keep going."

The Stars tied it when Dillon's shot from the middle of the ice inside the blue line bounced past Elliott, who seemed to be screened by Pietrangelo, at 10:53. Tarasenko gave the Blues the lead nine seconds later when he powered his way past Cody Eakin and snapped a shot through Lehtonen. Vladimir Sobotka and Rich Peverley had a fight at 11:27 in the first just moments after the Blues had gone 2-1 up. at 12:09 of the same period Ryan Reaves checked Nichuskin into the Blues bench. Brenden Dillon took exception to it and a second fight ensued to give an explosive start to the game. The Stars entered the Blues' zone with speed in the second period but mishandled the puck; the play turned into a 2-on-1 for Backes and Jaden Schwartz. Backes kept the puck and wristed a shot from the slot past Lehtonen to give the Blues a 3-1 lead at 6:56. It was Backes' 10th goal in 22 games after scoring six in 48 last season. Roy, who played part of last season for the Stars, deflected a Steen shot past Lehtonen 50 seconds into the third period for a power-play goal and his sixth point in six games, to give the Blues a 4-1 lead. It was Steen's first point in four games after briefly holding the NHL lead in goals and points last week. Stewart's shot from the left dot, assisted by Morrow, gave the Blues a 5-1 lead 5:39 into the third period and chased Lehtonen. Oshie's eighth point in six games came on a deflection of Pietrangelo's right-point shot past Ellis 11:02 into the third period, making it 6-1. On the heels of a 3-2 shootout victory Thursday against the Boston Bruins, the Blues kept to their winning ways instead of going through a let down.

 

"I guess that's a good learning experience for us after an emotional win coming back trying to play the same way," Pietrangelo said. "I thought we did that tonight. It's a good answer, a good learning lesson obviously."