Tarasenko, Blues sweep home-and-home against Stars

ST. LOUIS -- Vladimir Tarasenko scored twice for the St. Louis Blues in a 4-1 win against the Dallas Stars at Enterprise Center on Friday.

Ivan Barbashev had a goal and an assist, and Charlie Lindgren made 26 saves for the Blues (17-8-5), who are 5-0-1 in their past six games and 8-0-1 in their past nine at home. St. Louis swept the home-and-home against Dallas, having won 4-1 on Tuesday.
"Winning is fun," Tarasenko said. "I think it's enough to say it's fun. The atmosphere, the mood, the confidence, it's great to keep winning. We have a tough trip coming up (beginning at the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday), so looking forward to [the] next game."
Lindgren became the first goalie to win his first five games for the Blues (four starts). Ryan Miller was 4-0-0 from March 2-8, 2014.
"A pretty cool thing," Lindgren said. "It's an individual award, but again, cliché, but it's a team award as well. The guys are battling hard for me. It isn't just about me, it's about the team. Very excited about it, but let's keep it going."

Jason Robertson scored, and Braden Holtby made 30 saves for the Stars (13-12-2), who have lost five in a row.
"Every night, it should be fun to go out there and work your tail off and compete," Dallas captain Jamie Benn said. "I'd say we're too good of a team to be doing this again and have a losing streak like this."
Logan Brown gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead at 3:35 of the second period when he collected a loose puck near the right post and put it through Holtby's pads.
Tarasenko made it 2-0 with 11 seconds remaining in the period with a wrist shot from the high slot after Pavel Buchnevich (two assists) slid the puck to him while falling down. Barbashev also got an assist on the play. The all-Russian line combined for six points (three goals, three assists).
"They all get together a lot," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "They like each other a lot. Good chemistry together."
Buchnevich was awarded a penalty shot after Alexander Radulov hooked him on a shorthanded breakaway at 6:16 of the third period, but he hit the right post trying to curl a backhand around Holtby.
Robertson cut it to 2-1 at the left side of the net when he scored on the rebound of a John Klingberg point shot at 12:11.
Tarasenko extended the lead to 3-1 on the power play at 15:37, scoring from the right face-off circle with a wrist shot high to the short side.
"It's the same script as last game," Stars coach Rick Bowness said. "We're right in there, we're one shot away and then we take a penalty at the wrong time of the game and the penalty killers [have] got to come up with that job. It's the same script. But regardless of that, our power play had three opportunities to get us that goal to get us in the game, and they got outworked. Our power play got outworked, simple as that."

Barbashev scored into an empty net at 17:17 for the 4-1 final.
Lindgren improved his goals-against average to 1.22 and save percentage to .958.
"It's been quite the ride so far," Lindgren said. "One thing I want to make sure is there's no complacency here. I'm very thankful about another win tonight, excellent effort by the guys and wake up tomorrow wanting more."
NOTES: Dallas defenseman Miro Heiskanen did not travel to St. Louis because of an illness not related to COVID-19. … Klingberg had an assist and played 24:32 in his 500th NHL game, all with the Stars. ... Buchnevich has scored 24 points (nine goals, 15 assists) in the past 20 games and has scored 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in eight games against Dallas. ... Barbashev played his 300th NHL game, all with St. Louis. ... Tarasenko has scored nine points (four goals, five assists) in the past six games and 29 points (19 goals, 10 assists) in 31 games against Dallas. ... The Blues were 3-for-3 on the penalty kill and are 16-for-16 over the past seven games.