Chris Stewart and veteran Jason Arnott netted power-play goals as the St. Louis Blues used a rare surge with the man advantage to skate to a 5-3 home triumph over the Dallas Stars on Monday.
Adam Cracknell netted his first goal of the season and Evgeny Grachev's first career NHL tally stood up as the winner for St. Louis, which improved to 7-1-1 in its last nine games overall and 14-3-1 at Scottrade Center.
Entering the day with the NHL's 30th-ranked power play (10.3 percent), St. Louis converted on its first two opportunities with the man advantage.
Stewart skated up the wing and wristed a sharp-angle shot which squeezed under rookie Richard Bachman's arm and inside the right post at 8:24 of the first period.
After Mike Ribeiro leveled the contest at 4:22 of the second period with a sharp-angle shot, Cracknell regained the lead just 1:47 later. Cracknell took advantage of a turnover and wristed a shot from the right faceoff circle which handcuffed Bachman.
Arnott doubled the advantage by blasting a shot from beyond the left faceoff circle which sailed past Bachman with 1.1 seconds left in the middle session.
Michael Ryder scored for the fifth straight game and Eric Nystrom netted his career-high 12th goal of the season for Dallas, but Stewart capped the scoring with an empty-net tally.
Dallas | St. Louis | |
Eric Nystrom 1 | Points | Chris Stewart 2 |
Eric Nystrom 1 | Goals | Chris Stewart 2 |
Jamie Benn 1 | Assists | David Backes 2 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | Chris Stewart 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Andrew Raycroft .917 | Save Percentage | Jaroslav Halak .870 |
Richard Bachman 22 | Saves | Jaroslav Halak 20 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Dallas | 23 | 3 | 0-2 | 0-2 | 11 | 25 |
St. Louis | 38 | 5 | 2-2 | 2-2 | 11 | 26 |