Hofer makes 39 saves, Blues edge Stars for 3rd straight win

ST. LOUIS -- Joel Hofer made a career-high 39 saves for the St. Louis Blues in their third straight win, 2-1 against the Dallas Stars at Enterprise Center on Wednesday.

Hofer made 37 saves in his last start, a 4-1 win against the Florida Panthers on Dec. 21.

"It was a good challenge," Hofer said. "Those are the kinds of games you look forward to, especially a divisional rival. It was a lot of fun and obviously we got the win, which made it even better.

"I was seeing it well. Just trying to stop the puck, trying to make it as easy as I can. The [defensemen] did a good job and forwards especially at keeping it to the outside for the most part. Got the win, which was the most important part."

Jake Neighbours and Marco Scandella scored, and Scott Perunovich had two assists for the Blues (18-15-1), who have won five of six since Drew Bannister took over for Craig Berube as coach on Dec.12.

"I thought Joel was outstanding," Bannister said. "His play from the beginning, he was great on the [penalty kill] for us early on when we had to make those two kills, but made some key saves for us and in the third, too, with some difficult saves in tight. Not a lot of rebounds. He did a good job of controlling his rebounds here tonight, but he was outstanding right from the beginning to the end."

Jason Robertson scored, and Scott Wedgewood made 28 saves for the Stars (20-9-4), who had their three-game winning streak and six-game point streak (5-0-1) end.

"You know, a 2-0 hole, that was the game," Stars coach Peter DeBoer said. "We were chasing it all night.

"We did some good things. You have to give their goalie some credit. You get in a 2-0 hole on the road in any building in this league and you’re going to have some trouble."

Neighbours gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead at 18:08 of the first period. He scored short side with a one-timer from above the right circle with Brandon Saad screening Wedgewood.

"Jake's a goal-scorer," Perunovich said. "No matter where he's at on the ice, I'm going to try and get it to him. He can score from anywhere, as he's shown. He gets open, makes a nice play to the top, gets open and then he does the rest, and 'Saader's' unbelievable screen, too."

Scandella made it 2-0 at 10:53 of the second period from the left circle after the Blues cycled the puck.

"I feel like Scotty's playing really well right now just creating space out there and moving his feet, so I'm kind of reading off him," Scandella said. "[Kasperi Kapanen] on the goal made a nice play to open me up."

After the Stars killed off a full 5-on-3 power play, Robertson scored at 18:31 of the second to cut it to 2-1. He was sprung by Roope Hintz after Justin Faulk turned the puck over trying to backhand it into the offensive zone near the blue line.

"We just got a very big kill," Robertson said. "I got on the ice and I was kind of fresh. I was trying to get open and they found me and I was able to score.

"Our PK was excellent. [Wedgewood] made some big saves. It’s unfortunate we weren’t able to tie it up."

The Blues had eight shots on the power play before Robertson scored.

"We do a good job," Wedgewood said. "I felt like I had some good reads, and I knew what they wanted to do. When it’s 5-on-3, it’s obviously give it your all. These guys know what they’re going to get from it is a little bit of old school, a little bit of a road hockey goalie. We scrambled there in the crease. You’re on your stomach. That brought me back to the road hockey days of playing with my brothers."

Dallas outshot St. Louis 15-5 in the third, but Hofer was able to prevent it from tying the game.

"He was unbelievable," Scandella said of Hofer. "Huge stops. Very confident out there, never looked like he was panicking. Hopefully we can get more of that."

NOTES: The Blues are 15-1-0 when scoring first and 15-2-1 when holding the opposition to three or fewer goals. ... The Stars' only two losses their past six games have come against St. Louis. Dallas lost 4-3 in overtime here on Dec. 16. ... Hintz has four points (one goal, three assists) in a four-game point streak.