Shooting Stars rely on defense to defeat St. Louis, take Game One

DALLAS, TX – The top two teams in the Western Conference met in Dallas to open their second round, semi-final series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Defense played a huge role in determining the victor, but that is was the Stars who came away with the decision in Game One is a surprise. Dallas overcame stellar goaltending from St. Louis goaltender Brian Elliott to register a 2-1 victory.

Despite making 40 saves for the Blues, Elliott could not stop Radek Faksa with the tie-breaking goal with 4:44 left in the game. Elliott denied an Alex Hemsky shot, but Faksa was there to tap in the rebound.

For Dallas, skating with a defensive-minded team was thought to be a challenge, but the Stars delivered when their high-octane offense, tops in the league, had difficulty lighting the lamp. The highest-scoring regular season team, relied on Kari Lehtonen and his 31 saves to preserve the winning outcome.

It wasn’t until midway through the middle frame that Dallas drew first blood. Antoine Rousssel registered his second goal of the playoffs when he deposited Radek Faksa’s rebound at 9:36. The goal broke a tightly-held, back-and-forth game to that point. It stayed that way for nearly the next 19 game minutes.

That’s when St. Louis defenseman Kevin Shattenirk accepted a pass from Colton Parayko and tied the game with his one-time slap shot from the left point, beating Lehtonen with just more than half the period remaining.