Blues at Stars
The St. Louis Blues finally ended a string of three consecutive exits in the first round of the postseason by dethroning the reigning Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks in a riveting seven-game series. The reward for the Blues - a second-round matchup against the top-seeded Dallas Stars beginning with Friday night.'s Game 1.
"I don't know if it's a milestone. It's a hump," St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock told reporters after the franchise's first Game 7 win since 1999. Dallas had an easier road than the Blues in the opening series, beating the Minnesota Wild in six games to advance to the second round for the first time since 2008. The Stars finished two points in front of St. Louis for the Central Division title and No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, but the Blues won four of the five regular-season meetings - with three of the victories coming after regulation. "The games we played them this year were extremely close, so I think at the end, you end up clashing with a team that you fought the hardest with," Dallas coach Lindy Ruff told reporters.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBCSN, CBC, TVA
ABOUT THE BLUES: Vladimir Tarasenko, who scored four times against Chicago after leading St. Louis in goals (40) and points (74) during the regular season, has torched Dallas for eight tallies and five assists in 14 career matchups. Jaden Schwartz was limited to 33 games due to injury, but he has come alive in the playoffs with three goals and four assists during a six-game point streak while rookie Robby Fabbri recorded a goal and an assist against Chicago, setting up former Blackhawk Troy Brouwer's game-winning goal in the series clincher. "I thought Robby was one of our best players in the series," Hitchcock told reporters. "He's really emerged as a top offensive player."
ABOUT THE STARS: Captain Jamie Benn finished second in scoring this season after leading the NHL in 2014-15 and hasn't slowed down in the playoffs, netting four goals to go along with six assists while notching at least point in every game against Minnesota. With Tyler Seguin sidelined after re-aggravating an Achilles injury, Jason Spezza continued to pick up the slack following his 33-goal campaign, tallying four times against the Wild and capping his series with a four-point performance. Ruff played both of his goaltenders against Minnesota, but Kari Lehtonen has superior career numbers against this Blues, including a 1-0-1 record with two goals allowed this season.
OVERTIME
1. Blues G Brian Elliott, who has supplanted Jake Allen, was 1-1-0 with three goals allowed versus Dallas this campaign.
2. Benn registered two goals and five points in five games versus the Blues in the regular season.
3. Hitchcock coached Dallas for seven seasons, guiding the club to the Stanley Cup championship in 1998-99.