DALLAS (KNTU) The St. Louis Blues scored the first goal, but the Dallas Stars answered by rattling off four straight goals to beat St. Louis 4-2 and tie their Western Conference Semifinals series at 2-2 on Wednesday, May 1, at American Airlines Center.
Finding themselves down 1-0 just five minutes into the game, the Stars were staring at the possibility of heading back to St. Louis for Game 5 trailing the series 3-1. The team that scored the game’s first goal had won every previous game in the series.
When asked about the desperation his team must have felt at the time, Stars Head Coach Jim Montgomery said, “You know, (in) human nature – it’s easier to have desperation or to have more desire or passion when you’re behind.”
“They were desperate,” Blues Head Coach Craig Berube said. “And we didn’t match that desperation in the first two periods.”
The desperation appeared to translate into passion, which appeared to translate into superior play for the Stars.
But it wasn’t just desperation and passion that contributed to the Stars’ win. Montgomery changed the line combinations he used in Dallas’ Game 3 loss. He moved rookie Roope Hintz onto the first line with Jamie Benn and Alexander Radulov, and star forward Tyler Seguin onto a line with Jason Dickinson and mid-season acquisition Mats Zuccarello. His team responded.
The changed lines accounted for three of the Stars’ four goals.
Dickinson scored his third playoff goal midway through the first period, beating Blues goalie Jordan Binnington with a quick, point-blank, backhand shot. Then with a less than a minute to go in the period, Stars veteran forward Jason Spezza scored with just five seconds left on the team’s first power play of the night to put the Stars ahead 2-1 at the first intermission. Dallas never looked back.
The Stars dominated the second period, scoring two unanswered goals during the frame and outshooting St. Louis 14-9. Defenseman John Klingberg scored nearly midway through the period while playing with the Seguin, Zuccarello, and Dickinson line. Hintz scored with less than three minutes left on a shot that was beautifully assisted by Benn and Radulov.
The period had a contentious end when Binnington was hit with two penalties after the final whistle for roughing Benn and slashing Stars goalie Ben Bishop on his way off the ice. Berube maintained that his team didn’t lose their composure. “It’s playoffs,” he said. “Both teams are heated. It’s emotional. Things happen.”
Benn was hit with a two-minute unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
“Just a bunch of grown men being donkeys out there,” Benn said of the post-period antics.
The Stars started out the third period on a power play and mostly held their ground throughout the frame. St. Louis forward Robert Thomas scored with a little more than six minutes left, but it proved to be too little, too late for the Blues.
The Stars are now 3-0 in playoff games in which they have scored at least four goals.
UP NEXT:
Dallas and St. Louis continue the series with Game 5 on Friday at Enterprise Center in St. Louis. Puck drop is scheduled for 8:30 p.m.
