St. Louis Blues Advance to First Conference Finals Since 2000-01 Season
The St. Louis Blues defeated the Dallas Stars in Wednesday’s Game 7 and advanced to the Conference Finals for the first time since 2000-01.
After a tumultuous 12-day journey through the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the St. Louis Blues finally locked things up on Wednesday night and defeated the Dallas Stars, allowing them to advance to the third round against a team that will be determined Thursday.
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This is the first time that the Blues have managed to get to the Western Conference Finals since the 2000-01 season, when they defeated the San Jose Sharks and Dallas Stars in the first two rounds before dropping a series 4-1 to the Colorado Avalanche in the Conference Finals.
The Blues’ scoring started at 5:23 in the first period, as Robby Fabbri put one in right in front of Dallas’s net to get things going. After a Vladimir Tarasenko goal was disallowed at 17:13, Paul Stastny made up for the missed opportunity, knocking one in at 18:22. Patrik Berglund finished up the third period scoring with just four seconds left. That period resulted in Dallas coach Lindy Ruff replacing goalie Kari Lehtonen with Antii Niemi.
The Blues once again came out firing in the second period, as David Backes scored his sixth goal of the postseason at 3:50, followed by Troy Brouwer‘s third point of the night on a goal at 15:06. Patrick Eaves gave Dallas their only goal of the night at 5:15 in the third period, but Vladimir Tarasenko once again padded the Blues’ lead and gave them a five-goal lead with an empty-netter at 16:11.
Brian Elliott was the game’s first star, stopping 31 of 32 shots. It was an impressive comeback for the veteran netminder, who gave up three goals on seven shots in Game 6.
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The Blues will face the winner of the San Jose Sharks-Nashville Predators series, one that will be settled Thursday night in yet another Game 7. The Blues’ struggles with Dallas, against whom they were 4-1 during the regular season, showed that regular season results don’t necessarily have any meaning once the playoffs come around. For what it’s worth, though, the Blues were 4-1 against Nashville during the regular season with an 11-9 scoring differential, while they were a less impressive 1-2 against San Jose, getting outscored 9-5 by the Sharks. The Predators would be an especially interesting opponent, as they’d represent the third straight Central Division opponent (following the Stars and the Chicago Blackhawks) that the Blues have gone up against this postseason.