In Edmonton, the Dallas Stars nailed down the the third seed in the Western Conference when they came back from a 0-1 deficit to defeat the St Louis Blues, 2-1, in a shootout.
Anton Khudobin made 22 saves to get the win for Dallas.
The Calgary Flames are up next for the Stars.
“We watched [the Flames] play the last couple of games and they’re playing very, very well right now,” Dallas coach Rick Bowness said. “They’re getting the goaltending, they’re getting timely goals. They played [the Winnipeg Jets], a team that was beat up with some key injuries, but they’re a very confident team right now and they’ve got some very dangerous players and they’ve got some great defensemen back there that play big minutes. We know we have a very, very tough opponent coming into this.”
Robert Thomas scored the Blues’ only goal.
St Louis gets the Vancouver Canucks in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
“Vancouver has a lot of young guys who are really good players, a lot of speed,” St. Louis head coach Craig Berube said. “They’re a dangerous team offensively, they really come at you with speed. We’re going to have to do a good job of checking, doing the right things. They also have a good power play. We took too many penalties (six), so it’s important we have to stay out of the penalty box.”\
Joe Pavelski got the game even and forced the extra session and skills competition.
“We were creating a little momentum in the (offensive) zone,” Pavelski said. “You know time’s winding down and we get it up top and we needed to get some pucks to the net, so that was the thought. When I get that chance to shoot it, there was a good screen (from Jamie Benn) and it doesn’t go in if there isn’t a good screen there.”
[WATCH: All Stars vs. Blues highlights]
Jake Allen made 37 saves in the loss.
“I don’t think we’re playing well in the third, that’s one thing,” Berube said. “Didn’t make one play tonight, didn’t in the other two games, either. We’re almost trying to win with a one-goal lead. We’re not trying to get the next goal, not playing aggressive. When you give the puck back to the other team, chances are they’re going to get a goal.”
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