DALLAS -- Radek Faksa scored the tiebreaking goal on a rebound with 4:44 to play and had an assist on the other Dallas goal to help the Stars open the second round of the Western Conference playoffs with a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Friday night.
Like Antoine Roussel did on his second-period goal on which Faksa had an assist, Faksa started the rush that led to his winner.
Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk tied it at 1 with 8:28 left in the third period with a shot from the top of the left circle after Dallas failed to clear the puck out of the zone.
Game 2 is today in the best-of-seven series matching the Western Conference's top two teams from the regular season.
After Faksa pushed the puck up the ice, Ales Hemsky had the initial shot stopped but not secured by Brian Elliott. Faksa was there to score his second goal of the playoffs.
Along with the Western Conference's top two teams, this is a matchup of Stars coach Lindy Ruff and St. Louis' Ken Hitchcock, coaches who became friends after being assistant coaches as Team Canada won gold medals in the last two Winter Olympics.
Hitchcock was coach of the Stars when the franchise won its only Stanley Cup in 1999, complete with a disputed clinching goal in triple overtime of Game 6 against Ruff's Buffalo Sabres. They also went head-to-head in the 2006 playoffs, when the Sabres beat Hitchcock's Philadelphia Flyers.
Kari Lehtonen stopped 31 shots, withstanding a final surge when the Blues pulled Elliott out of the net and had an extra skater the final 1:40.
Elliott, who has played all eight playoffs games for the Blues, had 40 saves.
Dallas took its initial lead midway through the second period when Roussel started a rush down the right side and then had a cross-ice pass John Klingberg before Faksa's wrist shot from the om the left slot. Roussel was there to knock in the rebound.
It was Roussel's second goal of the playoffs, the first one that he got a stick on the puck.
Roussel scored from behind the net in Game 2 of the first-round series against Minnesota. A puck ricocheted off a teammate's skate and then hit Roussel's, popping over the net and into the back of the goalie's head before falling to the ice. The strange goal was initially waived off before being overturned following a lengthy review.
Sharks 5, Predators 2
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Joel Ward scored the tiebreaking goal against his former team with 8:11 remaining in regulation to help the San Jose Sharks rally past the Nashville Predators 5-2 on Friday night in Game 1 of their second-round series.
Ward also set up Tomas Hertl's power-play goal that tied the game earlier in the period before scoring one of his own to help San Jose win its first playoff game when trailing after two periods since 2011.
Logan Couture added a power-play goal and an empty-netter, before Tommy Wingels sealed it with another empty-net goal as the Sharks showed some rust after having six days off since beating Los Angeles in five games in the first round. Martin Jones made 29 saves
Mike Fisher and Ryan Johansen scored for the Predators, who had only one day off after beating Anaheim in Game 7 of the first round. Pekka Rinne made 33 saves.
Sports on 05/01/2016