On Thursday, April 25, the St. Louis Blues beat the Dallas Stars 3-2 to take game one of the second round series. The Blues started out the scoring when forward Robby Fabbri scored his first goal of the playoffs giving them a 1-0 lead early in the game. In the second period, forward Jason Spezza tied it up for the Stars with just under half of the period to go. With two minutes left in the second period Blues’ forward Vladimir Tarasenko capitalized on a powerplay, giving St. Louis a lead they would not relinquish. Tarasenko scored his second of the game in the third period, icing the game for the Blues. The Stars struck back with under three minutes to play when forward Jamie Benn scored on a power play. The Blues locked down their defense for the remainder of the period, and the Stars fell in game one.
On Saturday, April 27, the Dallas Stars evened up the series 1-1 with a 4-2 win over the Blues. In the first period, forward Roope Hintz scored his third goal of the playoffs and put the Stars up 1-0. With under seven minutes to go, forward Miro Heiskanen scored for the Stars to extend the lead to 2-0. In quick succession, the teams traded goals, with Blues defenseman Colton Parayko scoring first, and Stars forward Mattias Janmark scoring on the ensuing faceoff, making the score 3-1 in favor of Dallas going into intermission.
In the second period, neither team could break through the others’ defense. Following the scoreless second period and ensuing intermission, two minutes into the third period forward Jaden Schwartz cut the Stars lead to 3-2 as he scored his fifth goal of the playoffs for the St. Louis Blues. With three seconds to play in the game Hintz scored his second goal of the game with an empty netter. The Stars went on to win 4-2. For Dallas, goaltender Ben Bishop made 32 saves on 34 shots, while St. Louis goaltender Jordan Binnington stopped 31 of 34 shots. The series is tied at one as they head to Dallas for game three.
Sharks up 1-0 in Series
On Friday, April 26, the San Jose Sharks beat the Colorado Avalanche 5-2 to take game one of the seven game series. The Avalanche came out strong, as two minutes into the game forward Gabriel Bourque scored to give them a 1-0 lead. With five minutes to play in the first period Sharks’ forward Gustav Nyquist tied the game up at one. Forward Colin Wilson put the Avalanche back on top when he scored on the powerplay. The Sharks scored three unanswered goals in the second, forwards Joe Thornton and Kevin Labanc, along with defenseman Brent Burns picking up tallies, giving San Jose a 4-2 lead going into the third period. Forward Timo Meier iced the victory for San Jose, scoring an empty net goal with under two minutes left in the game. The Sharks took game one 5-2 and lead the series 1-0.
