ST. LOUIS — The Dallas Stars got off to a rough start this season but they have been making a push to turn their season around over the past two weeks.
They capitalized on mistakes by the Blues in the first period on Saturday night, then seized control with power-play goals from Trevor Daley and Jason Demers in the second period and held on to beat the Blues 4-3.
"Anytime you get to play a team like St. Louis it’s a measuring stick for us," Daley said. "We see where we’re at. We’re trying to get back in this. It’s a dogfight for us. We dug ourselves a hole; we’re trying to get out of it, and beating teams like St. Louis is obviously a great feeling."
The Stars (15-14-5), who got 30 saves from Kari Lehtonen, have won five of their last six. Dallas had a four-game win streak snapped with a loss to Toronto on Tuesday.
Saturday’s win was the first for the Stars against a Central Division opponent. Dallas is now 1-7-3 in divisional play.
"We need wins, we need points. That’s what we’re looking at," Daley said. "It doesn’t matter who it’s against. We need them."
The Blues (21-11-3) have lost four straight games. They lost in Los Angeles, San Jose and Colorado during a recent three-game road trip.
"I think the mistakes are the same they’ve been for four games," St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock said. "Other than the game in San Jose, I think they’ve been the same mistakes. Can’t defend in our own zone. We’re going to have to play with the same ferocity in our zone that we do in the offensive zone."
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The Stars scored just 2:08 into the first period after Blues goalie Jake Allen misplayed a puck behind the net and Travis Moen shot it into an open net for his first goal of the season.
The Blues answered 27 seconds later when Alex Pietrangelo’s shot went through Lehtonen’s pads.
The Stars took the lead with 5:14 left in the first period after Ryan Garbutt took advantage of a turnover in the Blues defensive zone and beat Allen with a slapshot to make it 2-1.
Vladimir Tarasenko tied the score with a power-play goal, assisted by Alexander Steen and Kevin Shattenkirk, with 3:50 left in the first period. It was Tarasenko’s 21st goal of the season and gave him 50 goals and 100 points in his career.
Daley scored his eighth of the season at the 7:41 mark, assisted by Tyler Seguin and Lehtonen, when he beat Allen with a wrist shot after Tarasenko was called for hooking.
After St. Louis was called for too many men on the ice, Demers scored from the slot on a pass from Erik Cole with 47 seconds remaining in the period to put Dallas ahead 4-2.
"We had over 20 chances to score last game and didn’t make any," Dallas coach Lindy Ruff said. "Some nights you will get those bounces and those opportunities and other nights can have better opportunities that don’t go in."
The Blues cut the deficit at the 5:40 mark of the third period, when David Backes redirected a shot from Jay Bouwmeester for his ninth goal of the season, but they could not get the tying goal over the final 14 minutes.
"You never want to get behind like we did," Alex Pietrangelo said. "We’re taking a lot of penalties right now, penalties that don’t need to be taken. Those penalties that are being taken, we have to find a way to start killing penalties because it’s losing games for us where usually it’s winning games for us. So we have to get that back on track."
NOTES: St. Louis has allowed 10 power-play goals over its last six games. . Moen returned to the Stars lineup after missing five games with an upper-body injury. . Tarasenko had 21 goals in 64 games last season. . The Blues had an eight-game point streak at home and four-game win streak at home snapped with the loss. . The Blues had their fourth sellout of the season with 19,683 announced in attendance.
