St. Louis Has Stars Singing the Blues

The St. Louis Blues are starting to look like the team that was so dominating early this season.

Scott Young scored a short-handed goal, Marty Reasoner tapped in another goal and Roman Turek made 28 saves as the Blues defeated the Dallas Stars, 2-1, Sunday night to take a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinal series.

Dallas played without center Mike Modano, who sprained his left ankle in the opener, and in the first period lost center Shaun Van Allen after he took a puck to his mouth. Forward John MacLean was lost to a bloody nose in the third period.

The best-of-seven series shifts to St. Louis for Game 3 on Tuesday night and the Blues will have history on their side.

They’ve won all nine series when winning the first two games, while the Stars haven’t overcome an 0-2 deficit since 1968 in the franchise’s first postseason series.

St. Louis also is playing at the same high level it enjoyed before injuries to several top players. Now healthy and having adjusted to several newcomers, the Blues have won four consecutive playoff games.

Reasoner, the surprise star of Game 1 with two goals and an assist, scored 85 seconds into this game after Keith Tkachuk stole the puck from Darryl Sydor and pulled goalie Ed Belfour out of position.

Joe Nieuwendyk redirected a pass from Brett Hull to spoil Roman Turek’s shutout with 52 seconds left and Dallas playing with an empty net. The Stars got three more shots off in the closing seconds, but couldn’t convert as Turek improved to 5-0-2 against his old team.