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ST. LOUIS -- Kevin Shattenkirk proved Saturday night that sometimes a pass can be just as effective as a shot. Shattenkirk's pass from the blue line found Patrik Berglund's stick and he was able to redirect it into the net with 1:54 left in the game to break a 3-3 tie and give the St. Louis Blues a 4-3 win over the Dallas Stars.
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"As I looked up, there really was no lane for me to shoot and I saw him (Berglund) coming around the net," Shattenkirk said. "I was hoping he would go for the tip. He made a tremendous play. All I had to do was put it on his stick and he did most of the work.
"He's one of our best forwards at putting himself in those positions. He seems to find those little lanes for shot-passes."
Berglund had the same vision as Shattenkirk as the play developed.
"I know he (Shattenkirk) is very good with finding shot passes and stuff like that, so I went to the other side and lost my guy," Berglund said. "Just a great place by Shatty. It worked out. I knew I was going to tip it. It's a big goal. Shatty put some heat on the puck I just put my stick down and hoped for the best."
The win allowed the Blues to improve to 12-5-2 following a loss this season and overcome a late goal by the Stars' John Klingberg, which tied the game at the end of the second period.
"We've been a pretty good third-period team when we're tied and that's something we have to focus on," Shattenkirk said
"We came in here in between periods and regrouped. We were able to stick with it. We have to know sometimes it's going to take until the last two minutes to score goals."
Paul Stastny scored two of the first three goals for the Blues and assisted on the third, a power-play goal by Vladimir Tarasenko, his 20th of the season. Stastny's second goal also came on the power play as the Blues took advantage of the Stars' penalty-kill unit, which ranks last in the league in killing penalties in road games. They have given up 22 goals in 69 shorthanded situations on the road this season.
The Stars also got goals from Lauri Korpikoski, just 2:20 into the game, and from Patrick Eaves on a power play just 35 seconds into the second period.
After Stastny's second goal gave the Blues the 3-2 lead, the Stars pulled starting goalie Kari Lehtonen and replaced him with Antti Niemi. The Blues' first three goals came on just 15 shots on goal.
"I'm going to be honest, this one sucks," Klingberg said. "I think we really deserved to win today. We had a good start of the game. They got some energy going there. Coming back in the game too for us was huge to get some energy going. I think we owned the third period. We played a really good third period with a couple of really good chances where we were really close to scoring. This is a tough one for sure and we really needed the two points."
Backup goalie Carter Hutton stopped 11 shots by the Stars in the third period, when the Blues also had to kill off a minor penalty to Jaden Schwartz.
"I think we had our opportunities in the third period," said Stars coach Lindy Ruff. "We had a couple really good opportunities early. You don't score, you're not going to win the game."
Watching the Blues get the winning goal the way they did made it that much harder on the Stars, who are 0-2-1 in their last three games.
"It's a frustrating game to lose," said Jason Spezza. "I think we did a lot of things that could have got us a win tonight. They score on a deflection that's pretty hard to do and it goes in the net for them after we have two point bankers to take the lead ourselves, so it's a frustrating one."
NOTES: Blues G Jake Allen had the night off, one day after his girlfriend gave birth to the couple's first child, a daughter. ... RW Nail Yakupov was in the Blues lineup for the first time in seven games, replacing RW Dmitrij Jaskin, who was a healthy scratch. ... Dallas was without LW Jamie Benn, out with an injured foot/ankle. He has 12 goals and 17 assists in 30 career games against the Blues. ... The Stars' three-game trip continues Monday night in Los Angeles against the Kings while the Blues conclude a season-high six-game homestand Tuesday night against Boston. The Blues then play 11 of their next 16 games on the road.
