Tarasenko scores two goals for Blues in Game 1 win against Stars

ST. LOUIS -- Vladimir Tarasenko scored twice for the St. Louis Blues in a 3-2 win against the Dallas Stars in Game 1 of the Western Conference Second Round at Enterprise Center on Thursday.

Jordan Binnington made 16 of his 27 saves in the third period for St. Louis. Jamie Benn scored on the power play with 2:17 remaining to get Dallas to within 3-2.
"I'm happy with the outcome," Binnington said. "I think both teams were feeling each other out in the first couple periods, and the third period was pretty tight and they were coming hard. We have to regroup and focus for Game 2 now."
WATCH: [Stars vs. Blues Game 1 highlights | Complete series coverage]
Game 2 of the best-of-7 series is at St. Louis on Saturday.
The Stars had the first five shots on goal, but Robby Fabbri scored on the Blues' first of the game to make it 1-0 at 5:57 of the first period. He beat goalie Ben Bishop through the five-hole with a wrist shot from the right face-off circle after an outlet pass from Ivan Barbashev.
"Yeah, puck's rolling," said Bishop, who made 17 saves. "I don't think he's trying to go five-hole. Kind of fans on it, and it goes five-hole. … Kind of an unfortunate break, but it happens sometimes."
Jason Spezza tied it 1-1 with a one-timer from the left circle off a cross-ice pass from John Klingberg at 10:25 of the second.
Tarasenko made it 2-1 at 18:03 of the second with the first power-play goal allowed by the Stars in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He scored with a wrist shot from just inside the left circle off a quick cross-ice pass from Brayden Schenn.
"That was a massive one to give us some confidence," Blues center Ryan O'Reilly said. "Our first power play we had there wasn't great. We needed to get back to shooting the puck to generate some momentum, and obviously it was a big play. Everyone was involved on it, and it gave us some big confidence for sure."

The Dallas penalty kill went 15-for-15 in six games in the first round against the Nashville Predators and denied St. Louis on its first opportunity.
Tarasenko scored with a power move from the right side around defenseman Miro Heiskanen to make it 3-1 at 3:51 of the third. Tarasenko had another cutting power move in the second he didn't score on.
"I obviously scored (in the third)," Tarasenko said. "Cut the middle. It's nice, but guys know you do this a lot, so you just try to take the puck wide, take it to the net, use the body, and good thing it works at the right time."
It was Tarasenko's seventh multigoal game in the NHL playoffs, first since April 28, 2017, against the Predators.
The Stars nearly tied it at the final horn, but Benn fanned on a puck thrown into the crease.
"We stuck with it," Benn said. "I thought our third was not bad. We gave up that one early, but it's going to happen. ... They're a good team. Tarasenko made a great move, and you've got to give credit to them."

Dallas outshot St. Louis 17-6 in the third.
"I just think that's desperation," Stars coach Jim Montgomery said. "And we had two power plays. That helps."

They said it

"I thought we created some chances and had some good energy when we got out there. Probably could have scored another one somewhere along the way there in the third, but just trying to create momentum when we get out there." -- Stars forward Jason Spezza on the fourth line
"There's no space in the playoffs, so we need to find a way to go into the hard areas to score the goals, hang out down low with the puck, and don't make the turnovers." -- Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko
"It's tough. They're always looking for chances to create offense, and I thought we did a decent job at defending against them and tight to them. We still could do a lot better. We still have to limit our turnovers against them and not really feed that transition part of their game."-- Blues center Ryan O'Reilly on the Stars' top line of Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and Alexander Radulov

Need to know

Spezza's goal was his first since Feb. 24 ... Tarasenko tied Bernie Federko for second in Blues history in multigoal playoff games, behind Brett Hull's 13. ... Fabbri's goal was his first since Nov. 23. He missed 50 regular-season games. It was his fourth game in the playoffs.

What's next

Game 2 of Western Conference Second Round at Enterprise Center on Saturday (3 p.m. ET; NBC, TVAS, SN)