Perron's OT goal pushes Blues over Stars
DALLAS -- David Perron scored on a wraparound 1:55 into overtime to give the St. Louis Blues a 3-2 win over the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on Tuesday.
Jaden Schwartz won a puck battle on the far wall with Esa Lindell to start the sequence. Schwartz fell to the ice, but Perron gathered the puck, getting Stars goaltender Antti Niemi, who stopped 19 of 22 shots, to commit on the backhand at the near post.
Perron then skated around the back of the Dallas net and slipped the puck in for the game-winner, his eighth goal of the season.
Schwartz and Patrik Berglund also scored for the Blues (18-11-5), who snapped a two-game losing streak. Jake Allen stopped 36 of 38 shots for St. Louis, which is now 5-5 in overtime.
Dallas (14-14-6) got goals from Patrick Eaves and Jason Spezza. The Stars, who have won consecutive games only once this season, are now 1-7 in overtime.
Dallas struck first when Eaves scored his team-leading 12th goal of the season on the power play 7:04 into the game. Following a pass from Spezza, Eaves beat Allen with a wrist shot from the right circle to the short side.
The Stars were on a four-minute power play after Vladimir Tarasenko drew blood to the face of Jiri Hudler with a high stick 4:48 into the first period.
St. Louis answered at 11:15 when Schwartz scored his 12th goal of the season. The opportunistic Schwartz capitalized when an attempted pass by Paul Stastny from the slot deflected off Johnny Oduya's skate and fell at Schwartz's skates. Schwartz quickly scored at the far post to make it a 1-1 contest.
Dallas took a 2-1 lead when Spezza scored his sixth goal of the season off a rebound with 1:24 remaining before the second intermission. Allen turned away a backhand attempt from Jiri Hudler, but Spezza pounced on the rebound.
St. Louis tied it 54 seconds later when Berglund scored on a backhand from the slot with 30.1 seconds remaining in the second period. Berglund received a pass from Jay Bouwmeester and finished for his fifth goal of the season.
Oduya pushed Perron into Niemi on the goal, leading Stars coach Lindy Ruff to challenge the equalizer on those grounds. However, following an official review, the goal stood as officials determined there was no goaltender interference.
NOTES: The Blues scratched D Alex Pietrangelo (illness), RW Ty Rattie and RW Nail Yakupov. ... The Stars scratched C Cody Eakin, who is serving the second contest of a four-game suspension for charging Rangers G Henrik Lundqvist on Thursday, D Patrik Nemeth and D Jamie Oleksiak. ... Blues G Jake Allen was appearing in his 27th game of the season. ... Stars G Antti Niemi was appearing in his 18th game. ... St. Louis was starting a two-game road trip that will also take it to Tampa Bay on Thursday. ... Dallas was playing the fourth contest of a five-game homestand. ... Blues coach Ken Hitchcock coached Dallas from 1995-2002, leading the Stars to the 1999 Stanley Cup championship. ... Stars RW Adam Cracknell made his NHL debut with and played for the Blues between 2010-2014. ... The Blues and Stars were meeting for the third time this season and conclude their season series Jan. 7 in St. Louis.