Tarasenko-led Blues look for 2-0 lead over Stars

The key differences between the St. Louis Blues and Dallas Stars in the first clash of their second-round playoff series were very simple to find.

St. Louis benefited from two goals by its biggest gun, Vladimir Tarasenko, in Thursday's 3-2 game compared to the one netted by Stars standout Jamie Benn. For that, credit Blues goalie Jordan Binnington for being just a bit better than Dallas netminder Ben Bishop.

It's expected the Stanley Cup series between the Central Division rivals will be a close affair, as shown in the opener, and expect more of the same when the clubs resume it Saturday afternoon in St. Louis.

"It's going to be a chess match for the whole series," Benn told NHL.com. "We had our pushes, they had theirs. Going to go back and forth all series and it's only going to get harder from here."

Tarasenko was definitely the offensive star of the show with his pair of goals, including a third-period highlight-reel tally that held up as the game winner. Meanwhile, Binnington made 16 of his 27 saves in the final frame en route to setting a Blues' record for most wins (five) in a postseason by a rookie goaltender.

Even though they lost, the Stars were neck-and-neck all game, and know it.

"I thought we were in place for the second shots, I thought we had traffic in front of Binnington. I didn't think it was an easy night for him," Stars coach Jim Montgomery said. "So there was a lot of our game that I like, and there are areas we need to get better at. The physicality and intensity of the game probably wasn't what we were doing against Nashville (in the first round), and those are areas we need to get better."

The Blues certainly don't expect it to be a quick series.

"It's just the first game. We have a lot of hockey to play," Tarasenko said. "I don't think it's right to talk about your moments in the game. It's just Game 1 and we have a win. It's the most exciting thing ... and we need to move it to the next one."

Tarasenko's game-winning goal was a thing of beauty. He grabbed the puck in the neutral zone before zooming past Miro Heiskanen, cutting to the net and lifting a shot over Bishop.

"It's amazing how he can make something out of nothing," Blues forward Ryan O'Reilly said. "He's just one of the few people in the game that can turn it on and make those amazing plays."

And the Blues are well aware they must prevent the Dallas standouts from providing those kind of moments for their team. The trio of Benn, Tyler Seguin and Alexander Radulov only lit the lamp late in the game, although they combined for eight shots on goal and a couple of other close calls.

"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," O'Reilly said. "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."

--Field Level Media