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Stars hang on to top Blues, force decisive Game 7

ST. LOUIS -- In the arduous quest to claim Lord Stanley’s Cup, now and then a team needs one player to step up and steal a win that will keep the journey going another day.

On Monday night against the St. Louis Blues, the Dallas Stars outlasted their division rivals 3-2 to stave off elimination and force Game 7 back in Texas on Wednesday. The outstanding performance that got them there didn’t come from superstar forward Jamie Benn or stingy defenseman John Klinberg. It came from goaltender Kari Lehtonen, who has been as often under siege in these playoffs for his inconsistency between the pipes as he has been celebrated for standing on his head at all the right moments.

“He gave us a heck of a game,” head coach Lindy Ruff said. “Our goalies have been good in the playoffs. Tonight he stood tall for us. That’s what happens in the playoffs, goalies have to win you games sometimes.” 

Coming off a 4-1 loss in Game 5 where St. Louis had all the puck luck and their goaltender Brian Elliott denied the Stars at every turn, the script was flipped in Game 6. It was the Stars jumping out to a big early lead, chasing Elliott after he allowed three goals on seven shots (and two in just 24 seconds) in the first 16:49 of the game. 

Lehtonen knows what’s it’s like to be forced out of a contest in this series. He was pulled in Game 2, a 4-3 overtime loss for the Stars, but was still the team's go-to choice in Games 5 and 6, when so much was on the line.

“It was one of those games,” Lehtonen said Monday. “We got three goals early and it changes the game a little bit. We knew they were going to take more risks. We didn’t have to score anymore so we tried to play a more defensive game maybe. We didn’t get much going on after the first period but that was enough tonight.”

Indeed, after Mattias Janmark, Vernon Fiddler and Jason Spezza lit the lamp in rapid succession, and Jake Allen replaced Elliott in net for St. Louis, it was all Blues right up to the last buzzer. The home team outshot the visitors 37-14, with Dallas managing just seven shots total in the final two periods.

“We were ready to play,” Benn said. “I think it probably wasn’t our best game, but I liked how we got off to a good start. (But then) we kind of sat back after that and they gave it to us. The shot (totals) were pretty bad, but Kari was unbelievable and we found a way to win.”

Benn staunchly defended Lehtonen and the team’s confidence in him after he started Game 4 coming off the team's 6-1 blowout in Game 3 (Antti Niemi started that contest and Lehtonen replaced him in the second period). Dallas won Game 4 in overtime.

“It’s just an impressive performance,” Benn said of Monday’s win. “(Kari)’s an unbelievable goalie, we know it, we’ve got all the confidence in him, and he played a heck of a game.”

One thing acknowledged by everyone surrounding this series is how evenly matched these two clubs are. Most nights, what separates the winner from the loser is one key contributor from whom everyone else seems to feed off. 

“I thought he showed great poise,” said Spezza of his goalie. “Those are hard plays at the end when they’re jamming on him. Those are series-changing saves. Any series you watch though, when a team gets down, the other team is (pressured). Everybody talks about not wanting to do that the next time you’re in that position but the reality is, they come (at you). They came, they had a great second period and we hunkered down.”

St. Louis responded with scores from Alex Steen and Patrik Berglund in the second and third period, but the early hole was insurmountable with Lehtonen playing lights-out.

“I really liked our response, I really liked our heart,” Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock said. “I really like that we stayed on task. But I didn’t like the fact we didn’t execute all these scoring opportunities. We could have made him make more saves.”

As it was, Lehtonen’s exceptional night may have saved the Stars’ Stanley Cup hopes. True to Dallas’ laid-back form, he took the victory in stride.

“It’s been a heck of a series (so far),” he said. “We’re going home anyways, so it’s nicer to go with the chance to keep playing. There is no tomorrow if we lose, so it was easy to keep fighting and made it exciting tonight.”

Hitchcock wouldn’t name his starter for Game 7 (“I want to sleep on what I’m going to do”) but whoever is trying to stop the Stars in net will be facing an ever-evolving beast. As Ruff pointed out, this is the first playoff experience many of his team's young players have ever had. And while not every loss or win is pretty, they learn from each.

“We still have to win two in a row, which we have not been able to do in this series,” Lehtonen said. “That’s something that’s our goal. It’s still alive so we just need to relax now and get ready for the next one.”

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