STL@DAL: Parayko blasts puck home to pad lead

DALLAS --The St. Louis Blues extended their lead in the Central Division with a 5-1 win against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on Friday.

Colton Parayko had a goal and two assists, and Jake Allen made 18 saves for the Blues (35-17-10), who have won three in a row. They lead the Colorado Avalanche by three points and the Stars by four. The Avalanche defeated the Anaheim Ducks 1-0 on Friday.
"Obviously these are big games, these are the fun ones," Parayko said. "We knew what was at stake here. It was a big game. They came into our building and beat us 3-2 in overtime Feb. 8], so we wanted to make sure we got off to a good start and gave ourselves a good chance to win."
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Jaden Schwartz and Jordan Kyrou each had a goal and an assist for the Blues, whose shutout streak ended at 178:38 dating to the third period against the Nashville Predators on Sunday. Jordan Binnington made a combined 31 saves in a 1-0 win against the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday and a 3-0 win against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.
"We've been playing really good hockey in the last five or six games," Kyrou said.

STL@DAL: Kyrou shows off speed, rips puck by Bishop

Jamie Oleksiak scored for the Stars (35-20-6), who had a six-game point streak end (5-0-1). Ben Bishop made nine saves on 13 shots in 24:45 before being replaced by Anton Khudobin, who made nine saves in relief.
"We're a lot better of a team than we showed tonight, and we know that," Stars coach Rick Bowness said. "We had a bad night and it's the whole room. We're not going to point our fingers at one or two guys. It's the whole room and the coaches."
Alexander Steen scored on a second effort for a 1-0 lead at 5:48 of the first period after his first shot was blocked by Oleksiak.
David Perron scored on a rebound in front at 17:18 to give the Blues a 2-0 lead.
"It was a good win," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "We knew what was on the line."
St. Louis did not allow a shot on goal for 10:39 in the first period and outshot Dallas 10-6.
"I think it's a good learning point that we have work to do," Stars forward Jamie Benn said. "There's a lot of areas of our game that we need to keep getting better at. They're the best. Right now, we're not as good as them, so we have work to do."
Kyrou extended the lead to 3-0 at 2:24 of the second period, and Schwartz scored on a wrist shot from the slot at 4:45 to make it 4-0. It was Kyrou's first goal in 17 games.
"I thought he was good," Berube said. "He made a nice play on the first goal, for sure. And then, scoring that second goal. He's hanging onto the puck and battling for it.
"It's good to see him have a good game in this type of atmosphere tonight."
The Blues did not allow a shot on goal for a span of 10:06 in the second period.
"It was a tough game from top to bottom," Stars forward Blake Comeau said. "We didn't execute, and I felt like we were just throwing it all over the ice and were kind of spread out. When you play a team like St. Louis that is very structured and plays a hard and physical game, that's not going to work.
"We can't get too down on ourselves but we have to figure out what we did wrong and correct it."
Parayko scored on a one-timer at 2:27 of the third period to make it 5-0. Four of his seven goals this season have come against the Stars.
"The way the guys in front of me and [Binnington] have played the last four games has been pretty remarkable," Allen said. "Scoring chances created, back-checking and blocked shots. It's great to see."
Oleksiak scored from the point at 16:27 for the 5-1 final.

STL@DAL: O'Reilly, Schwartz team up to increase lead

They said it

"It's another game. I don't think we really had anything to prove. We don't really have that mantra in here. Every game's important for us. I think we just want to continue our good play." -- Blues goalie Jake Allen
"We've been building some kind of rivalry against this team and they come in on a back to back and we couldn't answer. It's disappointing, but we'll use it as a wake-up call and let's move on. We're not going to win every game, but the effort has to be there every game. I don't think that's a problem, but we were out of sync today." -- Stars defenseman John Klingberg

Need to know

St. Louis went 4-for-4 on the penalty kill and is 12-for-12 in the past four games. … Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo (illness) and forward Tyler Bozak (lower body) did not play. … Oleksiak has goals in back-to-back games for the first time in his NHL career (305 games). … Blues forwards Ryan O'Reilly and Robert Thomas each had two assists.

What's next

Blues:At the Minnesota Wild on Sunday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV)
Stars:Host the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday (3 p.m. ET; ESPN+, TVAS, FS-SW, NBCSCH, NHL.TV)

Blues ride balanced attack in 5-1 win against Stars