Rookies Come Through in Blues’ Victory

The St. Louis Blues didn’t miss leading scorer Pavol Demitra a bit in their playoff opener, making up for his absence with youthful energy.

The Blues got two goals and an assist from third-line winger Jochen Hecht, a 13-goal scorer in the regular season, in Wednesday night’s 5-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks at St. Louis. Hecht is a 22-year-old rookie.

Fellow rookies Lubos Bartecko and Marty Reasoner, both 23, each scored his first career goal. All three said nerves were not a factor.

“It’s still hockey,” said Hecht, who had two goals in five playoff games last season. “Nothing changes. You just have more body contact in the playoffs.”

Demitra, who had 28 goals and 75 points in the regular season, sustained a concussion March 23 and isn’t expected back at least until the second round. The Blues also were without 24-goal scorer Scott Young, who has a dislocated right shoulder, but is expected back Saturday for Game 2 of the best-of-seven Western Conference series.

The NHL’s top-seeded team has plugged various players into Coach Joel Quenneville’s system all season.

“We got some production from some guys who you might have wondered how they’d respond,” Quenneville said. “Many nights somebody responded. We did what we had to do.”

Dallas 2, Edmonton 1--Roman Lyashenko, a 20-year-old rookie forward who earned his keep by playing the defense-first system Coach Ken Hitchcock demands, scored the tiebreaking goal with 8:29 left in the series opener at Dallas.

The Oilers tied the score seven minutes into the final period when Roman Titov stole a clearing pass from Darryl Sydor and fired it past Dallas goalie Ed Belfour. It was the first playoff goal against Belfour in 123:30, a streak that began with the Cup-clinching triple-overtime victory against Buffalo last year.

Mike Keane gave Dallas a 1-0 lead late in the second period.

Belfour had it easy this time as his defense limited the Oilers to 14 shots. Edmonton went 15:50 into the second period without taking a shot and had just three in the final period.

The Stars, facing the Oilers in a fourth consecutive postseason, have beaten Edmonton in eight straight playoff games. Dallas has won 10 in a row at Reunion Arena.

Since the Oilers eliminated the Stars from the 1997 playoffs, Dallas holds an 18-2-1 advantage. The Stars’ last eight victories have been by one goal.

Toronto 2, Ottawa 0--Curtis Joseph made 30 saves for his ninth playoff shutout and Darcy Tucker and Mats Sundin scored to give the Maple Leafs a victory in their series opener at Toronto.

Tucker scored in the second period and Sundin added an empty-netter with 20.8 seconds left for the Maple Leafs, who reached the conference finals last year.

Toronto had the opportunity to put the game away early but couldn’t capitalize.

Three consecutive Ottawa penalties gave Toronto advantages for six of the opening 10 minutes, but the most dangerous shots sailed wide or were blocked by goalie Tom Barrasso.

The Senators regrouped and came out strong in the second period. They got off the first eight shots, and only some outstanding saves by Joseph kept them from taking the lead.

Ottawa outshot Toronto 24-16 over the first 40 minutes, yet the Maple Leafs led, 1-0.