Blues get last swing against Stars

In a series that had dozens of momentum shifts and huge moments, the end might have seemed a little anti-climactic.

The St. Louis Blues and Dallas Stars were separated by two points at the end of the 82-game NHL regular season so it came as no surprise the two heavyweights battled toe-to-toe throughout the series.

Both were also in relatively new territory though as the Blues have been a strong regular season team in recent seasons, but have found it difficult to escape the opening round of the post season. The Stars won the Central Division this season, but are still somewhat young, having failed to qualify for the post in most of the past several seasons, including the 2014-15 campaign.

After dropping the series opener, the Blues stormed back with wins in the next two games, but the Stars evened the series with a 3-2 overtime win at the Scottrade Center on May 5. Blues picked up a 4-1 win at the American Airlines Center two days later and owned a shot at wrapping it up on home ice. However, the Stars responded with a 3-2 win at Scottrade May 9 forcing the seventh and deciding game.

Early on, the Stars appeared to be in control on home ice in the finale, but the Blues hit the board first and exploded for three in the final three minutes of the period — the first ultimately disallowed on coach’s challenge which turned into an offside call. The final goal came on a tipped floater from the blue line by Patrik Berglund just four seconds from the buzzer.

That  spelled the end for goaltender Kari Lehtonen who was looking to shrug off a reputation of a goaltender who doesn’t answer the bell in big games. Clearly that rep is only amplified with this performance. Goaltending was the story on both sides of the ice as both Lehtonen and Antii Niemi struggled in goal for the Stars while Brian Elliott was nothing short of sensational between the pipes for the Blues, turning in a 31 save effort, including a few that robbed the Stars of excellent changes to pull closer and perhaps change the flow of momentum.

It didn’t work.

The Blues piled on another pair in the third and both teams added one more in the final period — Patrick Eaves shattering the shutout bid of Elliott with his third of the post season and Vladimir Tarasenko finishing it off with an empty netter, his seventh of the playoffs and the sixth different player to hit the mesh for the Blues in the game.

Just two weeks earlier, the Blues entered another game seven, looking to shake off a tag of being a team that can’t back up a strong regular season finish with a solid showing in the post season. Knocking off the defending Stanley Cup champions likely saved head coach Ken Hitchcock’s job and finally got the team from under that pile of pressure.

Now, a few weeks later, the Blues are battling for the Clarence Campbell Bowl as Western Conference champs and a shot at the Stanley Cup. Standing between them is another team with a reputation of collapsing in the post season — the San Jose Sharks. Both of these teams have pushed past the pressure with solid defense and goaltenders  coming up with the big save at the right time.

They can’t both lose this round — one of them is going to battle for the Stanley Cup and it says here, that team is the Blues.