Jaroslav Halak shines with 22 saves as St. Louis Blues dominate Dallas Stars 1-0 – NHL Update
St. Louis Blues' goalie, Jaroslav Halak, made 22 saves to complete his third career shutout while T.J. Oshie scored the only goal of the game as Blues defeated Dallas Stars, 1-0, tying for the first place in the National Hockey League (NHL) standings, on
Monday, January 16, 2012, at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri, United States.
The Blues were impressive not only in terms of defence, but on the offence as well.
Although they could only score a goal, and that too in the final period, they continued hitting the puck hard towards the goalie, Kari Lehtonen, who dealt with them smartly and made 31 saves.
The first two periods of the game went scoreless.
Lehtonen, however, was outsmarted in the final period by an impressive scoring drive.
After a faceoff in his own end, defenseman, Alex Pietrangelo, got the puck and skated through the rink, aiming to reach the opponent’s zone.
He sent the puck to Oshie who meticulously passed it to David Perron, who was blocked by two defenders. After the pass, Oshie moved towards the opponent’s goalie, forcing one of the defenders to give up his position and proceeded to cover him.
Perron, who was now able to split the defenders, returned the puck to Oshie, sending the puck into the net after beating Lehtonen.
Oshie praised Perron and Alex for assisting him.
"It's a hard job driving the middle (and) driving the net. [Perron] has been showing that he can go to the hard areas this year (and) he went there. He made a great play. I was yelling for him to throw it back and fortunately it just caught the goalie sliding
across".
Lehtonen was left in the awe after the goal.
"They made a nice pass", Lehtonen said. "I kind of felt like he was going to shoot right away and tried to get over. He's a great player and he can see I'm doing that and held on to the puck and made it look pretty easy".
Blues’ coach, Ken Hitchcock, was delighted after the victory and especially for the divisional rankings, stating that a few more victories can provide his team a healthy advantage over the other teams in the league.
The New York Rangers, who are leading the NHL Eastern Conference, are still ahead of the Blues as they have played two games less than the Blues.
Both, along with Chicago Blackhawks, are however tied in terms of points (60).
The Blue are now going to face Edmonton Oilers on Thursday.
The Stars are ranked at the 10th spot in the Western Conference and have played 44 games, with 49 points to their name.
Currently on a two-game losing streak, the Stars will take on Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday.
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