Pat Maroon scored the tiebreaking goal with 1:38 left in the third period, sending the St. Louis Blues to a 4-3 victory over the Dallas Stars in Game 3 of their Western Conference Second Round series, which they now lead 2-1.
The forward collected a loose puck behind the net and scored under the arm of Dallas goalie Ben Bishop, who made 30 saves for the hosts.
Jaden Schwartz and Tyler Bozak each had a goal and an assist, Alex Pietrangelo also scored, and Jordan Binnington made 28 saves for the visitors, who are 4-0 on the road in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Binnington tied the NHL record for fewest games played (39) to earn his 30th NHL victory (regular season and playoffs). He joins Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen, who set the record with the Anaheim Ducks on Halloween in 2014.
The goaltender also became the first NHL rookie goalie to win his first four road playoff games since Cam Ward did so with the Carolina Hurricanes in their Stanley Cup winning 2005/06 season.
Schwartz‘s goal was his sixth of the playoffs, tying him with Mark Stone of the Vegas Golden Knights and San Jose’s Tomas Hertl and Logan Couture for the NHL lead. He scored 11 goals during the entire regular season.
Pietrangelo scored on a one-timer from the left boards to put St. Louis 3-2 ahead at 14:24, but Tyler Seguin took a cross-ice pass from rookie Miro Heiskanen and found the back of the open net to tie it 3-3 at 15:52 of the third. Then came Maroon‘s winner and heartbreak for the home team and their fans.
Stars head coach Jim Montgomery said, “It was a great playoff game. It was back and forth, both teams were giving what they had”, he went on to say he thought the Blues “did a better job possessing pucks in the offensive zone.”
Alexander Radulov and Andrew Cogliano also scored for Dallas.
The hosts had the chance to send the game to overtime late on when, with 44 seconds left, Blues defenseman Colton Parayko was penalized for delay of game and Dallas pulled Bishop for a 6-on-4 advantage. They had three shots blocked and didn’t get a single one on target.
Teams that win Game 3 of a best-of-7 NHL playoff series that was tied 1-1 have a series record of 213-103, including 1-3 in the 2019 first round.
Up Next:
Blues v Stars – Wednesday, May 1 (9:30pm – NBCSN)
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