ST. LOUIS -- The Dallas Stars are back off the mat. After an ugly blowout loss in Game 3, they beat the St. Louis Blues 3-2 in overtime in Game 4 to even the series at 2-2.
How it happened: Stars center Cody Eakin's perfect shot in overtime on a nice feed from Patrick Sharp 2:58 into overtime ended an even game.
Kari Lehtonen stabilized the Stars' goaltending, making it all the way through the game without being pulled for the first time since Game 1. Lehtonen finished with 24 saves Thursday and made key stops throughout to keep the Stars in it. Neither of the Blues' two goals could be pinned on him.
The Blues were controlling play with an early 1-0 lead on a Vladimir Tarasenko breakaway goal and it appeared the game might be headed St. Louis’ way when Blues defenseman Joel Edmundson sent the puck right to the stick of Radek Faksa on an ill-advised breakout attempt that Faksa scored on. That proved to be an early turning point in this game -- the Stars followed it up with a power-play goal by Patrick Sharp just 1:09 later.
After that, the two teams traded scoring chances in a fairly tightly checked game that seemed to get more physical as it progressed.
The Stars' power-play goal by Sharp ended the Blues' perfect performance on the penalty kill, breaking a 0-12 slump and narrowing a large special-teams gap the Blues enjoyed.
The line of Radek Faksa, Ales Hemsky and Antoine Roussel played another solid game for the Stars.
What it means: This was a crucial game for the Stars, who were blown out in Game 2 and showed a lot of character in tightening up their game and finding a way to wrestle back home-ice advantage with this win.
Two good things happened for the Stars in this one. They got the power play going a little bit and got timely saves from their goalie. Dallas wasn’t going to survive long without any contributions from their special teams or goalie. With the way Game 3 went, some suspected the Blues might make short work of Dallas, but the Stars' pushback in Game 4 proved they will be anything but an easy out, especially if Lehtonen builds off his solid play.