Stars At Blues: T.J. Oshie's 14th Goal Propels St. Louis To 1-0 Victory And A Tie For First In The NHL
The St. Louis Blues defeated the Dallas Stars 1-0 on Monday to move into a tie with the New York Rangers and Chicago Blackhawks for first place in the NHL.
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You have to give Kari Lehtonen credit. Stopping 31 of 32 shots on goal is a tall order for any goaltender, especially one who was dealing with a tenacious attack. All it took is one goal – a beauty by T.J. Oshie on an assist from David Perron, to break a 0-0 tie that was held for over 50 minutes. Oshie absolutely had Lehtonen fooled on his move as he plowed into the net, drawing the goaltender out to his right side and tapping the puck in the other before falling over the Dallas netminder.
The Blues’ winning goal was T.J. Oshie’s 14th of the year, but even more interesting is that Alex Pietrangelo’s secondary assist on the goal has extended his point streak to seven games. They also built on their already league-best home record, which now stands at an absurd 19-3-3. They proved tonight that Scottrade Center is not a place that the opposition should enter into lightly.
The Blues haven’t held any part of 1st place in the league since the 2000-2001 season, and certainly haven’t played hockey this solid since the lockout disrupted things in 2004-2005. They are technically in second as the Rangers have played two less games than they have, and the Chicago Blackhawks also have 60 points. The Detroit Red Wings and Vancouver Canucks each have 59, and six of the top ten spots in the NHL are held by Western Conference teams. In proof that the Central Division is the strongest in the NHL, four out of five of the teams are in the top ten in the league.
No rest for the weary, as the Blues’ homestand continues Thursday night as the also injury-depleted Edmonton Oilers come back. The last time the Oilers were in St. Louis, the Blues mounted a three goal, 3rd period comeback to stun Edmonton. Here’s hoping that won’t be necessary again.
After playing over 50 scoreless minutes on Monday against the Dallas Stars, Blues forward T.J. Oshie beat Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen to give St. Louis a 1-0 victory at the Scottrade Center. Oshie's goal was all St. Louis goalie Jaroslav Halak needed. Halak turned back all 22 of Dallas' shots en route to the shutout. The win improves St. Louis to 27-12-6 and moves the team up to 60 points. Dallas falls to 27-12-6.
St. Louis out-shot Dallas by 10 (32-22), and also held an edge in faceoff wins (36-22) and hits (23-19). The game was characterized by a rash of penalties, with the teams combined for 28 minutes in the penalty box.
The St. Louis Blues are surging: winners of five of their last six, and currently sitting pretty in the Western Conference playoff picture. But as the 24-18-1 Dallas Stars invade the Scotttrade Center tonight, St. Louis is learning that Dallas won't go easy. The Blues and Stars are locked in a scoreless tie after two periods thus far, in a game characterized by solid goalie play and a lot of penalties.
The first periods have been indicative of the score: fairly even play in all aspects of the game. The Blues hold a slight edge in shots on net (18 to 16) and hits (16 to 15), and a big lead in faceoff victories (24 to 10). Each team has accumulated 13 penalty minutes so far.
St. Louis' Scott Nichol and Dallas' Jake Dowell drew five minute major penalties for fighting midway through the second period.
A win against a wounded Stars team would put the Blues in a three-way tie with the New York Rangers and Chicago Blackhawks for the most points in the NHL.
