Los Angeles: Radek Faksa had two points and Kari Lehtonen stopped 31 shots as the Dallas Stars beat the St. Louis Blues 2-1 in game one of their second-round NHL playoff series on Friday.
Faksa scored the eventual winner with 4:44 remaining in regulation when he tapped in a rebound after Blues goaltender Brian Elliott stopped a shot from Ales Hemsky.
“I’m very excited after every goal, maybe too excited,” Faksa said. “It’s just part of the game, enjoying every game in the NHL. Just a big excitement for me. It just feels great.”
In San Jose, Joel Ward’s tiebreaking goal at 11:49 of the third enabled the Sharks to rally for a 5-2 win over the Nashville Predators.
Ward’s fourth career game-winning goal in the playoffs enabled San Jose to take a 1-0 lead in Western Conference series against the Predators. Game two is Sunday at the SAP Center in San Jose.
Antoine Roussel also scored for Dallas, while Kevin Shattenkirk scored for the St. Louis.
“Yeah, I thought we played a good game,” Stars coach Lindy Ruff said.
“Our energy was good. I thought our energy got better as the game went on. I thought we skated well, I thought we defended well. I thought we were physical. It’s a good start to the series for us.”
Dallas lost veteran winger Patrick Eaves to an injury early in the third period. Eaves was struck with a shot by Stephen Johns from the right point and left the ice slowly. Eaves immediately headed to the Dallas dressing room for treatment.
St. Louis tied it 1-1 with 8:28 remaining when Shattenkirk scored on a one-timer from the left point that beat goaltender Kari Lehtonen.
Elliott stopped 40 for the Blues.
