Harley breaks tie late in 3rd, Stars recover to top Blues

ST. LOUIS -- Thomas Harley broke a tie with 1:07 remaining in the third period, and the Dallas Stars recovered for a 4-3 win against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Tuesday.

Harley made it 4-3 on a wrist shot from the point that caromed off Blues forward Mathieu Joseph after Wyatt Johnston won a face-off to Harley out of the right circle.

“‘Johnny’ wins the draw back, their wingers don’t really come out in the shot lanes, [I] put it through them, it [hit] off something and goes in,” Harley said. “Scoring’s nice. The universe owed me one after that third goal against. It gave it back, thank goodness.”

That sequence was set up by an icing call on Blues defenseman Tyler Tucker. He tried to pass to Alexey Toropchenko down the left side, but the puck caromed off the boards, bounced up and over Toropchenko’s stick and skipped all the way into the far end, resulting in the stoppage. Nick Bjugstad then lost the ensuing face-off to Johnston.

“We have complete momentum in the game and that icing actually, I believe it was Tucker … it hits the boards and it jumps up 5 feet,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “I think [Toropchenko] couldn’t get a stick on it. That’s a physical thing with the boards. It’s not a mental mistake. It’s not like we panicked. We actually made a real sound play. The puck hit the boards toward the end of the period, the boards are snowy, it hits snow and it’s going to pop like that, and then you need an Albert Pujols to knock it out of the air there.”

The Stars won in similar fashion against the Blues last Friday when Jason Robertson scored with 1:00 remaining in the third for a 3-2 victory in Dallas after the Blues iced the puck twice and lost the defensive-zone face-off.

“Very different,” Montgomery said. “That one (Friday) was in control of ours; we made a mistake, we didn’t support the puck. (Tonight) we had support on the puck, we knew the guy was open. That was a good hockey play.”

Matt Duchene scored twice, Harley had a goal and an assist, and Robertson had two assists for the Stars (30-14-9), who ended a three-game road losing streak in which they scored two goals. Jake Oettinger made 20 saves.

St. Louis tied the game with three straight goals in the third.

“After two periods, you’re fine with your game, especially the second because we played a solid second,” Dallas coach Glen Gulutzan said. “This goes just to show you what happens when you drop a degree. It doesn’t matter who you play or where they are in the standings. Everyone in this league is a good team and when you drop a degree, which we did. … The lesson here is we almost lost the game because of it.”

Brayden Schenn scored two goals, and Jimmy Snuggerud had two assists for the Blues (19-25-9), who lost their fifth straight (0-4-1). Jordan Binnington made 16 saves.

“It [stinks] losing,” said Schenn, the St. Louis captain. “When you battle back like that, play hard for one another and get rewarded with some goals. Again, same team, same result, losing in the last minute. It’s not fun losing, but got to keep on pushing our foot down and trying to get better. We’re finding ways to lose hockey games and we have to learn how to win them.”

Robby Fabbri cut it to 3-1 for the Blues at 3:15 of the third, scoring on a wrist shot from the slot. It was his first goal in 12 games since rejoining St. Louis by signing a one-year contract Dec. 10. He also played for the Blues from 2015-20.

“It definitely feels good to get the first one,” Fabbri said, “but it’s a lot more fun around the rink when you’re winning. I’ll definitely take more wins after this one.”

Schenn then made it 3-2 on the rush at 6:22, scoring with a wrist shot from the left circle to the far side off a cross-ice feed from Snuggerud.

Schenn tied it 3-3 at 15:50. Harley's clearing attempt around the boards hit one of the officials in the right corner before Snuggerud got to the loose puck and passed to Schenn in the left circle for a wrist shot into the upper left corner.

“It started within this room. Wanted to come out and play for the fans and play for each other and not roll over and not give up,” Fabbri said. “That’s not what we’re about in this room. It’s not like we played a terrible first two periods, so we just kept our heads down and we worried about what’s going on in this room in here.”

Duchene made it 1-0 on the power play at 3:20 of the second period. He scored in front with a redirection of Mikko Rantanen’s cross-ice pass that went through the legs of Tucker.

Duchene scored again 40 seconds later to make it 2-0 when his backhand pass into the crease intended for Jamie Benn caromed into the net off the skate of Blues defenseman Logan Mailloux.

“I got a tap-in on the first one and then the next one, I would rather that connect and get to Jamie, but obviously, you take it,” Duchene said. “There’s been some games where the puck hasn’t bounced the way it should have, and tonight, it did, so that’s kind of the way it goes if you stay with it.”

Roope Hintz pushed it to 3-0 with another power-play goal at 18:06. He finished with a one-timer in the left circle off a pass from Robertson.

NOTES: Blues forward Jake Neighbours left the game after the first period with a lower-body injury after blocking an Esa Lindell shot midway through the period, and St. Louis forward Jordan Kyrou left after the second period because of an upper-body injury. Montgomery said more tests are needed Wednesday to determine if either player’s status is beyond day to day. … St. Louis forward Dalibor Dvorsky had an assist to extend his NHL career-high point streak to four games (two goals, two assists). … Robertson has six points (three goals, three assists) in his past four games. … Johnston has 13 points (eight goals, five assists) in 13 games against St. Louis. … Rantanen has 34 points (19 goals, 15 assists) in 34 games against the Blues.