Season series: The Dallas Stars have won two of three games against the St. Louis Blues, with the two victories coming in St. Louis. Jamie Benn's first NHL hat trick fueled a 4-1 victory against the Blues on Feb. 17. Jason Spezza had three assists.
Blues team scope: Jake Allen will start in goal for St. Louis; it will be his first appearance since March 1 against the Vancouver Canucks. The Blues come into Dallas after losing 3-1 on home ice to the Minnesota Wild to finish a 2-1-0 homestand. St. Louis peppered Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk with 42 shots but has scored one goal on 93 shots in the past seven-plus periods. The Blues begin a six-game road trip that spans 10 days. "It's going to be a lot of games in not a lot of nights," goalie Brian Elliott said. "Every team is pretty much there and knocking on the doorstep for the [Stanley Cup Playoffs]." The Blues defeated the Stars 4-3 in overtime on Oct. 28 at American Airlines Center on Vladimir Tarasenko's third goal of the game.
Stars team scope: Dallas had an optional skate Saturday after completing a 4-1-0 trip culminated by a 4-2 victory at the Washington Capitals on Friday. Defenseman John Klingberg, who has missed the past two games with an upper-body injury, could return to the lineup. The Stars have gone 5-1-0 in their past six games to climb within six points of the Winnipeg Jets, who hold the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. "You obviously take a peek at the standings and the scores after each game to see were you ate getting help and where you are not getting help," center Vernon Fiddler said on the Stars' website. "We just have to stay focused on what we can control." Goalie Kari Lehtonen is 8-1-2 in his past 11 games and is expected to get the start for the Stars, who begin a four-game homestand.
While a tough upcoming slate could slow them down, the Dallas Stars' recent play indicates an unwillingness to bow out of the Western Conference playoff race.
Following a successful road swing, the Stars return home to face three of the NHL's best clubs beginning Sunday against the St. Louis Blues.
Dallas (32-27-10) has leaned on its potent offense to win five of its last six and remains within six points of Winnipeg, which holds the second wild card in the West.
Including a 4-2 win over Washington on Friday that closed a 4-1-0 trip, the Stars have averaged 3.5 goals since March 3, bettering their previous mark of 3.08 that was still the best in the conference.
Vernon Fiddler leads the team with five goals in that stretch, while Tyler Seguin has scored three times in four games since returning from a knee injury.
"You obviously take a peek at the standings and the scores after each game to see where you are getting help and where you are not getting help," Fiddler told the Stars' official website. "We just have to stay focused on what we can control."
Continuing the postseason push, however, will be difficult considering the Stars play 10 of their next 13 games against teams presently in the playoff picture.
"If we can just keep winning games, we can control a little bit of our destiny," Fiddler said. "Obviously, we need a little bit of luck on our side."
Dallas' defense has also enjoyed a slight improvement of late and Kari Lehtonen has shored up his play in net with a 2.00 goals-against average in his last three starts.
His .906 save percentage in that span, however, is only a marginal improvement from his .905 season mark and his overall GAA of 2.92 sits in the bottom 10 of the league.
Lehtonen stopped 27 shots in a 4-1 win over the Blues on Feb. 17 and also won 4-3 in St. Louis on Dec. 27. He was unable to slow Vladimir Tarasenko in the Blues' only trip to Dallas this season. Tarasenko netted his first of two career hat tricks and added an assist in a 4-3 overtime win Oct. 28.
St. Louis (43-20-5) fell 3-1 to Minnesota on Saturday to snap a three-game winning streak. David Backes notched his 23rd goal, but Brian Elliot allowed three goals on only 19 shots for his second loss in seven starts. The Blues lost despite piling up 42 shots to match their fourth-highest total this season.
"We didn't get the job done. That's the bottom line," Backes told the Blues' official website. "They played hard long enough, the goalie played well long enough, but we didn't get the job done. It's two points that we squandered away. We had a pretty good effort, but we don't get a job done.
"Whether he saw too many of them, or we shot them in his chest, whatever it is, we've got to score more goals on 42 shots."
Jake Allen could be in net for the close of this back-to-back. Allen gave up nine goals in his last two starts after posting five wins and a 1.18 GAA in his previous five.
St. Louis trails co-conference leaders Nashville and Anaheim by two points with two games in hand on each.
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Pretty lively 1st, I don't feel particularly good or bad about it. We were definitely scrambling around in our own end on a couple of occasions where it looked like we were leaving it up to the Stars to convert on a pretty good chance and just hoping Allen stands tall.
This game kind of reinforces the idea Hitch is trying to find chemistry for other lines when he went back to the basic units once the 3rd period rolled around and it was still 0-0.
I would rather him still keep screwing around with lines and going back to the base in the 3rd, because there has to be some kind of plan if the standard lines aren't available in the playoffs.
Beating Dallas was nice, considering we have had trouble beating them whenever Lehtonen is in net.
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