Predators, Stars even National Hockey League playoff series with overtime victories

St. Louis is coming off a 4-1 road victory in Game 5 on Saturday behind a goal and an assist from rookie forward Robby Fabbri, who has been one of the keys to the series so far.

Although the Blues have matched up well with Dallas this season, Stars coach Lindy Ruff’s team won’t be dispatched easily. “If we can do more of the same, I think we’ll be on the right side of things after Game 6”.

“Everything is from feel, how I feel when I get up in the morning or think it through tonight when I get rid of you folks”, Hitchcock told reporters. “I thought Jamie Benn was great again, and I thought some young guys played really well”.

The Dallas Stars are now down 3-2 in the Western Conference semifinals and are one game away from elimination from the playoffs and a long offseason.

Eakin scored his first goal of the playoffs off a pass from Patrick Sharp, beating goalie Brian Elliott. “It just opened up”. Dallas has a ton of offensive weapons but the absence of Tyler Seguin has certainly been felt and he is likely out for the remainder of this series and could be even longer if the Stars somehow play their way out of this one.

“Any time you get a chance to clinch, it’s huge”, Elliott said. “That’s how close it was”. “We pride ourselves with playing a simple game to start with, getting pucks behind them, getting in on the forecheck, trying to create offense from behind their goal line”.

A big reason for that was the strong play of Blues goalie Brian Elliott, who finished with 27 saves.

The Stars survived several odd-man rushes before and after Tarasenko’s goal and ended the period trailing, 1-0.

But the Blues will be just as motivated after surrendering the series lead. All he did was measure up the Stars goaltender, Kari Lehtonen, and fire it by him about halfway through the first period.

Does that mean the momentum shifts back in Dallas’ favor?

While Dallas’ top defensive unit of Alex Goligoski and John Klinberg struggling is the most jarring, the other four defensemen are visibly lacking confidence right now and turning the puck over at critical moments.

The Penguins got a power-play goal of their own, their first of the series, from Chris Kunitz but couldn’t overcome the Capitals’ desperation and Holtby’s brilliance.

St. Louis’ Vladimir Tarasenko will try to stay in the groove after totaling two goals and three assists in the two home games. There was a flurry here or there and the Finnish netminder came up with the answer each time, but it wasn’t the kind of pressure Blues fans had become accustomed to when the Note is on their game.

“He’s been a big part of our team”, said linemate Jason Spezza. “Not a lot of difference”. Both teams just looked slow and sloppy. “We can throw everything we have at them next game. Every game seems to be bigger and bigger”, he said. “We had to get it turned around the other way”.

Backes knows what to expect on Saturday. We want to see how you’re enjoying the game on KSDK.

The Stars finally got some goaltending.