nhl playoffs: Radek Faksa scores tiebreaking goal on rebound for Stars victory over Blues.
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 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Friday night.
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 1-1 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-ofseven 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 playoff goal.
Along with the Western Conference’s top two teams, this is a matchup of Stars coach Lindy Ruff and St. Louis’ Ken Hitchcock, who became friends after being assistant coaches as Team Canada won gold medals in the past 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.
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