SB Nation St. Louis - Dallas Stars At St. Louis Blues: Blues Take Down Stars, 5-3https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/49009/stl-fave.png2011-12-26T21:16:02-06:00http://stlouis.sbnation.com/rss/stream/24262232011-12-26T21:16:02-06:002011-12-26T21:16:02-06:00Dallas Stars At St. Louis Blues Final Score: Wide Open Third Period Sees Blues Win 5-3
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<p>That was certainly not the third period the Blues or their fans expected, but they came out of it generally unscathed. After opening the period with a beauty of a tap-in by Evgeny Grachev for his first <span class="caps">NHL</span> goal, the team’s focus slowly fell apart as the period progressed.</p>
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<p>A little over a minute later, Eric Nystrom scored past a screened Jaroslav Halak. Roman Polak should be getting a fruit basket from Nystrom after the game:</p>
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<p>The 4-2 lead seemed fairly safe for a while, though the Blues were playing sloppier and sloppier as the period progressed. Jamie Benn snagged the puck from Patrik Berglund as he was attempting to carry it into the Dallas zone. Benn found Ryder, who promptly flicked it past Halak to cut the lead to just one goal.</p>
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<p>The Stars tried to mix it up a bit with the Blues, <a target="new" href="http://youtu.be/6Ag-_Zrn0bY">as this scrum between Barret Jackman and Steve Ott (complete with Kevin Shattenkirk and Brendan Morrow matching minors!) showed</a>, but it wasn’t enough. The Blues were able to keep the Stars off of the scoreboard for the rest of the night, and David Perron unselfishly passed the puck to Chris Stewart for the empty net goal, Stewart’s second of the evening:</p>
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<p>The Blues now have 46 points on the season, and are two points behind the Chicago Blackhawks for the top seed in the Western Conference if Chicago loses to the Blue Jackets tonight. Tomorrow the test gets tougher, as they fly to Detroit to re-introduce the Wings to a losing streak. It’s their first of two games at Detroit, with the other being the nearly-customary New Year’s Eve matchup. St. Louis has taken the first two games at home, and will need to take these two in order to secure a large lead over the perennial Western Conference favorites.</p>
<p>As an aside, please check out my friend <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/spectr17" target="_blank">Spectr17's YouTube channel</a> - he's been gracious enough to create these videos for us over at the <a href="http://www.stlouisgametime.com" target="_blank">St. Louis Game Time</a> game day threads.</p>
https://stlouis.sbnation.com/st-louis-blues/2011/12/26/2662974/dallas-stars-at-st-louis-blues-final-score-wide-open-third-periodLaura Astorian2011-12-26T20:17:06-06:002011-12-26T20:17:06-06:00Dallas Stars At St. Louis Blues: Blues Up 3-1 After Cracknell, Arnott Release Goals
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<p>It always seems that when Adam Cracknell gets called up, he does something of note. A large hit, a solid play – it becomes clear why he’s the Rivermen’s captain. Tonight Cracknell released a monster of a tie breaking goal to put the Blues up 2-1. Granted, Richard Bachman should’ve stopped this shot, much as <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePZBAU6AG9I&feature=youtu.be" target="new">Jaroslav Halak should have stopped Mike Ribero’s goal</a>. Shoulda, coulda, woulda – excuses don’t matter, especially when they’re coming from the goaltender you just scored on:</p>
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<p>The Blues kept up the shot domination in the second, with 16 more shots on goal. One of those last minute shots came on the power play, with Phillip Larsen off for high-sticking Alex Steen. Jason Arnott blasted it past Bachman with one teeny second left:</p>
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<p>The Blues go into the 3rd period absolutely in control of the game. It’s up to them if they can maintain the lead.</p>
https://stlouis.sbnation.com/st-louis-blues/2011/12/26/2662881/dallas-stars-at-st-louis-blues-blues-up-3-1-after-cracknell-arnottLaura Astorian2011-12-26T19:19:51-06:002011-12-26T19:19:51-06:00Dallas Stars At St. Louis Blues: Blues Lead 1-0 On Chris Stewart Power Play Goal
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<p>Two things that don’t tend to happen nearly as often as they should converged tonight: the Blues converted on the power play, and Chris Stewart scored a goal. Stewart, who many expected to break at least 30 goals this season, has had an absurdly slow start. This goal was only his sixth of the season, but considering the angle that he shot it at, I think it’s pretty good evidence of the fact that he might’ve shaken off the funk:</p>
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<p>The Blues’ve outshot the Stars nine to five (what a way to make a livin’), but that really doesn’t show the fact that the Blues’ve dominated puck possession throughout the first period. Everyone seems to be back on the same page after a few shaky games in Colorado and Phoenix where they didn’t look as dominant as usual. They seem to be back to their usual defensively tight ways.</p>
https://stlouis.sbnation.com/st-louis-blues/2011/12/26/2662789/dallas-stars-at-st-louis-blues-blues-lead-1-0-on-chris-stewart-powerLaura Astorian2011-12-26T13:39:07-06:002011-12-26T13:39:07-06:00Dallas Stars At St. Louis Blues: T.J. Oshie Out For Versus Televised Game
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<p>The Dallas Stars are playing strong hockey thanks to young call-up Richard Bachman. Will the Blues make the rookie look like an all-star tonight, or will the power play finally get some juice?</p> <p><i>Note: this is a nationally televised game on Versus tonight with an early 6:30 start time.</i></p>
<p>T.J. Oshie's wrist injury's a blow for more than just him. He's had issues with it for the pst few games, and <a href="http://stlouis.sbnation.com/2011/12/26/2661917/2011-blues-schedule" target="_blank">now he'll be sat for tonight and Tuesday's tilt against the Detroit Red Wings</a>. That's unfortunate for the team on many levels: he's part of a top line who, with Alex Steen and David Backes, have combined for an impressive 34 goals. He's out there on the power play - though God knows it literally cannot get any worse as it's still last in the league. And, this might be the biggest blow of all, he's the most easily recognizable guy on the team to the Versus crew aside from goaltender Jaroslav Halak. That might be a bigger problem tomorrow night against Detroit than it is tonight versus the Dallas Stars, but still, whoever the color guy is for tonight's broadcast is going to have to work overtime to think of fun facts about the other players on the team.</p>
<p>Don't worry - I'm sure they'll talk about Ryan Reaves' dad again, so there's always that.</p>
<p>The Dallas Stars enter tonight's game three spots behind the fourth place Blues, though just three points separate the two teams. Many expected that once starting goaltender Kari Lehtonen went down, that the Stars'd plummet to earth. They showed signs of that until Richard Bachman was placed in net over the struggling Andrew Raycroft. All of a sudden, Dallas finds itself in a back-and-forth with the San Jose Sharks for the top spot in the Pacific Division. Both teams are in action tonight, and both are tied with 41 points.</p>
<p>The Blues, for whatever reason, have issues with the Dallas Stars. Unlike the Colorado Avalanche - who the Blues can't beat at home - their troubles with the Stars are home and away. They've lost five in a row against Dallas, though that was with Lehtonen in net. Bachman has never faced the Blues, and the team might be able to exploit that. Of course, Jaroslav Halak, tonight's starter, has never beaten the Stars, so the exploitation could go both ways.</p>
<p>The Blues are 13-3-1 at home so far this year, so Dallas will be coming into one of the toughest barns in the NHL. Factor that into the fact that the Blues have turned into one of the smartest and stingiest teams in the NHL - their goals per game is second to only the Boston Bruins and they lead the league in the fewest number of shots allowed per game - and the Stars might have problems continuing their win streak against the Blues.</p>
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https://stlouis.sbnation.com/2011/12/26/2662152/dallas-stars-at-st-louis-blues-t-j-oshie-out-for-versus-televised-gameLaura Astorian