Blues top Stars in Central Division showdown

DALLAS -- Alex Pietrangelo scored 2:11 into overtime to give the St. Louis Blues a 5-4 win against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on Saturday.
Pietrangelo scored on a wrist shot from the slot that deflected off the right arm of Stars goalie Antti Niemi.

"I think we were all thinking, 'We've got to change [lines],'" Pietrangelo said. "We were out there for a while, the three of us [Patrik Berglund, Paul Stastny and me]. [Robby Fabbri] went off and just the lane opened up. I saw low blocker, think it hit his pad and went in."
Kevin Shattenkirk scored twice, and Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and an assist for the Blues (41-20-9), who won their sixth straight. Troy Brouwer scored, Stastny had three assists, Fabbri and Jaden Schwartz each had two assists, and Jake Allen made 34 saves.
"We're getting something out of everyone, I think," Shattenkirk said. "It's a different game, each guy's stepping up, and I think we're doing a great job of everyone just sticking with it and rolling with the punches. We're playing a great team game right now. This is the time of the year when the intensity starts to ramp up and I think we're doing a great job of handling it."

St. Louis went 4-0-0 this week with wins against the Minnesota Wild, Chicago Blackhawks, Anaheim Ducks and Stars. St. Louis tied Dallas for first place in the Central Division, three points ahead of the Blackhawks, who hold a game in hand on each.
"It's a great week, played great, scored a lot of goals and had a lot of threats to score too," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. "Like I said, this is a week if you'd said we were going to go 4-0, I think everybody wouldn't have been shocked, so we're really happy, happy for the guys."
Jason Spezza had two goals for Dallas (41-20-9). Cody Eakin and Jamie Benn scored, and Alex Goligoski, Kris Russell and Tyler Seguin each had two assists.
Benn tied it 4-4 with 1:12 remaining in the third period, redirecting Seguin's wrist shot during a 6-on-4 power play after Niemi went to the bench with 2:04 remaining. Dallas went on the power play with 3:08 remaining when Fabbri was called for holding.
"It was huge [to come back and win in overtime]," Shattenkirk said. "It's sad to say we've been doing that a lot lately, so I think we're getting used to it. It's not something we want to get comfortable with, giving away leads like that."

Brouwer scored his 14th goal 8:47 into the first period by collecting his rebound to give the Blues a 1-0 lead. Eakin tied the game 1-1 at 11:06 when he beat Allen top shelf to his short side with a backhand for his 13th. Eakin then fell down during his goal celebration in a humorous moment.
"I lost an edge there. I think I tripped over the hash mark," Eakin said.
Tarasenko scored his 33rd of the season 1:37 into the second period during a 4-on-4. Tarasenko got his rebound after his shot struck Johnny Oduya's hand and scored with a shot that deflected off Niemi's left shoulder.
Spezza tied it 2-2 at 2:38 when he scored off a rebound with Dallas on the power play, 16 seconds after he hit the crossbar with a slap shot from the right circle.
"It's disappointing to lose in overtime," Spezza said. "It was good mental resolve to stick with it and tie the game up late. It's definitely a big point, but I sure would like to have seen us get the win there in overtime."

Shattenkirk gave the Blues a 4-2 lead; his first goal was at 10:19 during a 4-on-4 when he scored off a rebound on a wraparound. His second was with 46 seconds left in the period when he beat Niemi far post with a slap shot from the left point that deflected off Stars rookie defenseman Stephen Johns.
Spezza's second goal came 6:02 into the third period off a rebound. He has scored in an NHL career-high six straight games.
"He's playing the best hockey by far all year, really skating well," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said of Spezza. "He's put himself in position a lot of times. He's scored a lot of goals. He's been in front of the net. He's been in the right place. Pucks have come to him and he's made good plays. I really like the way he's playing. Offensively, since he's been here, this is the best he's been."
Tarasenko left the ice slowly with 3:33 remaining after injuring his left hand near the Dallas goal after being slashed by Antoine Roussel but returned early in overtime.