Jake Oettinger made 25 saves as the Dallas Stars earned a 2-1 shootout victory over the visiting St. Louis Blues on Wednesday to clinch the top Western Conference playoff seed.
Oettinger’s best save came in overtime, when he reached his stick back to stop Robert Thomas’ elevated shot toward the open side of the net.
Mason Marchment scored the regulation goal for the Stars (52-21-9, 113 points), and Jason Robertson netted the shootout winner.
Thomas scored for the Blues (43-33-6, 92 points), and Jordan Binnington made 36 saves.
The contest was the regular-season finale for both teams. Dallas earned its 12th win in 14 games, while St. Louis ended its season on a 3-1-1 run.
Marchment tied the game 1-1 at 5:11 of the third period. Esa Lindell threw a point shot into heavy traffic, and Marchment converted the carom.
The Stars controlled the first 10 minutes of the first period while outshooting the Blues 8-1. Their best opportunities were Matt Duchene’s rush up the right wing, which Binnington stopped, and Robertson’s shot from the slot, which missed wide.
The Blues gained momentum later in the period and applied pressure with their power play. However, Oettinger dove to his right to stop Scott Perunovich’s shot from the slot.
Dallas put 13 shots on goal in the second period, but Binnington stopped them all. He denied Wyatt Johnston’s blast from the right wing on a two-on-one rush, then Miro Heiskanen’s shot from the right faceoff dot.
Johnston led another two-on-one break and passed to Jamie Benn on right wing, but Benn shanked his one-time shot attempt.
Blues winger Brandon Saad had multiple scoring chances in the middle period, but Oettinger stopped his shots from the slot and right wing.
Thomas put the Blues up 1-0 with 2:41 left in the second. He took a drop pass from Zack Bolduc just inside the blue line, cut to the right circle and beat Oettinger over the goalie’s right shoulder.
The Stars stepped up their pressure in the third period. Binnington gloved Robertson’s power-play shot from the slot shot, then stopped Roope Hintz from the slot before Marchment’s tying goal.
–Field Level Media
