Wyatt Johnston scored the lone goal and goaltender Jake Oettinger collected the shutout as the Dallas Stars kept alive their hopes for a Central Division regular-season title with a 1-0 home victory over the St. Louis Blues on Thursday.
Oettinger made 25 saves to record his fifth shutout of the season and seventh of his career.
Dallas (47-21-14, 108 points) finished the regular season with six consecutive victories, including both halves of a home-and-home series with the Blues to round it out.
The Stars, who are looking to win a division title for the first time since the 2015-16 campaign, are atop the division. However, they must await the result of the Colorado Avalanche’s season finale on Friday against the Nashville Predators to learn their fate, not to mention their opponent in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Colorado, which beat the visiting Winnipeg Jets on Thursday, is one point behind the Stars. The Avalanche (50-24-7, 107 points) must beat the Predators to win the division, as Dallas owns the tiebreaker if the teams finish level on points.
Jordan Binnington stopped 33 shots for the Blues (37-38-7, 81 points), who failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since the 2017-18 season.
In a tepid affair, Johnston finally broke a scoreless deadlock 3:45 into the third period with his 24th goal of the campaign and third in two outings. The rookie’s shot attempt off the rush was blocked but bounded to Evgenii Dadonov, and when his attempt rang off the post, it ricocheted right back to Johnston, who made no mistake burying the rebound.
Johnston, a 19-year-old rookie, has netted four goals in three games this season against the Blues.
The Blues fell short with a late push to equalize the clash.
–Field Level Media
