Stars finally win again, draw Flames as West’s No. 3 seed
EDMONTON, Alberta — Joe Pavelski tied it with 31.4 seconds left in the third period, Anton Khudobin stopped all three shots he faced in the shootout and the Dallas Stars beat the St. Louis Blues 2-1 in round-robin play Sunday to clinch the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference.
After Denis Gurianov scored the only goal of the shootout, Dallas will face the Calgary Flames in the first round of the playoffs. The Stars have some momentum going into that best-of-seven series after picking up their first win of any kind since Feb. 25.
“This game kind of re-established our game and got us back to an understanding of what it takes,” Pavelski said. “Relief ? No. Confidence a little bit, and we’ll keep moving forward.“
Defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis were the top seed, but went winless in the round robin and will next face the
Vancouver Canucks as the No. 4 seed.
Khudobin made 12 saves in regulation and overtime for the Stars, who were without top center Tyler Seguin and starting goaltender Ben Bishop.
CAPITALS 2, BRUINS 1
T.J. Oshie and Tom Wilson scored, Braden Holtby made 30 saves and Washington beat Boston in round-robin play at Toronto to clinch the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference and set up a first-round matchup against former coach Barry Trotz’s New York Islanders.
BLUE JACKETS 3 MAPLE LEAFS 0
Joonas Korpisalo stopped 33 shots and Columbus advanced to the first round of the playoffs with a win over Toronto in a decisive Game 5. Zach Werenski’s floater from the left point in the first held up as the deciding goal.