Written by Jeremy Rutherford at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.com
On May 3, 2001, the Blues topped Dallas 4-1 to advance to the Western Conference finals.
On Saturday, they won by that same score, 4-1, over the same Stars in Game 5 of the conference semifinals.
It didn’t send the Blues on to the conference finals, but it did put them one victory away from going back for the first time in 15 years.
The Blues took a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series and will have a chance to clinch Monday night at Scottrade Center. Game 6 is set for 7 p.m.
“That’s what you play for,” Blues goalie Brian Elliott said. “It’s three games down. It’s one more. That’s what it comes down to, getting the fourth.”
The Blues moved closer to clinching the series Saturday by winning for the fourth time in six road games this postseason.
The victory came on the heels of Dallas’ 3-2 overtime win in St. Louis in Game 5, evening the series at two games apiece. With less than 36 hours to recover, the Blues picked up the first goal Saturday from Robby Fabbri, and then fought off a Stars surge.
Long-forgotten forward Dmitrij Jaskin and Troy Brouwer both scored second-period goals to break a 1-1 tie, and Elliott finished with 27 saves to limit the NHL’s No. 1 offense to just one goal for the second time in this series.
“We had a tough loss the other night,” Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk said. “It was a quick turnaround and we knew we weren’t going to be able to dwell on it. Just a great job. We didn’t have our legs in the first, but we were able to take this game over and really establish our game.”
Blues coach Ken Hitchcock made some drastic changes to his forward combinations for the start of Game 5. He broke up the “STL” line, putting Patrik Berglund on left wing with Jori Lehtera and Vladimir Tarasenko. Jaden Schwartz was moved to a line with Alexander Steen and David Backes.
To continue reading this article, click here.
