Stars fend off Blues to force Game 7
DALLAS 3 ST. LOUIS 2 (Series tied 3-3)
ST. LOUIS — This time it was Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen’s turn to shine.
Lehtonen made 35 saves to bring the series home to Dallas for Game 7 with a 3-2 victory over St. Louis on Monday night.
Brian Elliott, a standout throughout the post-season, was pulled in the first period.
“We can just flip the script and say how well Elliott played, and just change the name to Lehtonen now,” Stars coach Lindy Ruff said.
Rookie Mattias Janmark ignited a three-goal first period and Lehtonen made key saves the rest of the way, the biggest on Jaden Schwartz with about 20 seconds left.
“I just try to stay as relaxed as I can and just follow the puck and not try to play it any other way than I’ve done last 59 and a half minutes,” Lehtonen said. “It’s easy to say but today it worked.”
Vernon Fiddler and Jason Spezza also scored for Dallas, which reclaimed home ice for the deciding game.
“We still have to win two in a row, which we have not been able to do in this series,” Lehtonen said. “It’s still alive, so we just need to relax now and get ready for the next one.”
Alexander Steen and Patrik Berglund scored for St. Louis.
Home ice has meant little, given the road team has won three in a row and four of six in the series.
“We’ve won twice in their building already,” Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. “I don’t think it matters where you play a Game 7. I know one thing: We’re going to come after them, big-time.”
Elliott entered with a 1.92 goals-against average in the series, but was replaced with the Stars leading 3-0 on just seven shots at 16:49 of the first.
Teammates accepted responsibility for the deficit.
“I just think we weren’t ready to play somehow,” Berglund said. “We were sloppy and obviously they took advantage of it.”
Hitchcock wouldn’t commit to Elliott for Game 7, however.
“I want to sleep on what I’m going to do,” Hitchcock said. “I’ll let you know on game day.”
Jake Allen finished in his first appearance of this post-season, facing just seven more shots in the final two-plus periods.
St. Louis will be seeking its first trip to the Western Conference final since 2001 and Dallas, which finished first overall in the West, previously made it that far in 2008.
“We were playing for our lives,” Spezza said. “We were assertive. We didn’t want to go home today.”
The Stars were ahead 3-0 after the first, their first two- and three-goal leads of the series. That early show of strength muzzled another standing room crowd of 19,808 at the Scottrade Center with the first two goals coming in a span of 20 seconds.
Janmark blocked Colton Parayko’s dump-in from just inside the blue line and skated in alone on Elliott, scoring on a high shot. Fiddler made it 2-0 on a deflection at 5:13 not long after Elliott couldn’t clear the puck.
Elliott was pulled after the Stars made it three goals on seven shots, with Spezza scoring on a power play from the slot at 16:49.
Predators 4, Sharks 3 (OT)
NASHVILLE — Viktor Arvidsson scored 2:03 into overtime, and the Nashville Predators forced a deciding seventh game for their second straight series by beating the San Jose Sharks 4-3 on Monday night.
Arvidsson jumped the puck between three Sharks and skated up the left side before throwing a backhander past goaltender Martin Jones.
No road team has won yet in this second-round series, and the franchise that had never forced a Game 7 until this post-season will play in its second straight with a berth in the Western Conference finals on the line. The Predators and Sharks get the next two days off before meeting again on Thursday night in San Jose.
Colin Wilson, Ryan Johansen and Roman Josi also scored for Nashville, which now has won consecutive overtime games on home ice.
Logan Couture scored a powerplay goal in the third for San Jose, and Chris Tierney had two goals in the first period. Jones finished with 28 saves, giving the Sharks a chance to reach overtime after Nashville outshot San Jose 27-10 after the first period.
Nashville coach Peter Laviolette had just moved Arvidsson to the top line with Johansen and Filip Forsberg for this game, and the Swede responded by scoring his first goal this post-season.