Written by Jeremy Rutherford at St.Louis Post-Dispatcher
After their seven-game series against Chicago, the Blues claimed to be fresh entering their Western Conference semifinal matchup with the Dallas Stars Friday. They claimed as the heavier team they had a physical edge over the Stars.
In Game 1 at American Airlines Center, however, they showed neither. The heavy favorites had the heavy legs — or was it a hangover from the Blackhawks?
Dallas’ third line, which picked up goals by Antoine Roussel and Radek Faksa, was the difference in a 2-1 victory to give the Stars the opening game in the best-of-seven series. Game 2 will be Sunday at 2 p.m.
Roussel scored his in the second period, and after Kevin Shattenkirk teased Blues’ fans with a goal with 8 minutes, 28 seconds left in regulation, Faksa answered with 4:44 to play.
Blues goaltender Brian Elliott allowed two goals on 42 shots, but if not for the visiting netminder, Dallas would have eclipsed its 3.5 goal-per-game pace in the playoffs.
“We’re not going to beat anybody giving up 40 shots on goal,” Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. “We’re not going to beat anybody giving up the scoring chances we did today. So we’ve got some areas that we’ve got to clean up. We’re capable of cleaning it up.
“We’ve had a real good push in the third period, that’s kind of the formula that we need to follow and get back to our game. But we’ve got to find the energy to play our game, and we’ve got to find it quickly in the next 48 hours.”
The way Friday unfolded shouldn’t have come as a complete surprise. Though the Blues won four of the five regular-season matchups, the Stars did win the Western Conference and have speed to burn, which they put on display.
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