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Lehtonen's heroics beat Blues, send series to Game 7

Josh Cooper

The Dallas Stars received a big performance from much-maligned goaltender Kari Lehtonen to send their series with the St. Louis Blues to a decisive Game 7.

Lehtonen, who had been swapped out with Antti Niemi at points, was the difference for Dallas in their 3-2 Game 6 win at Scottrade Center.

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The Blues dominated play in the second and third periods, firing shot after shot at Lehtonen. He wasn’t spectacular, but he made all the big saves.

Game 7 is Wednesday at American Airlines Arena.

Overall, Lehtonen stopped 37 Blues shots on goal. In the final minute Lehtonen made several big saves, including one on Kevin Shattenkirk from the point and then David Backes off the rebound. He also made a save on Jaden Schwartz in the slot. The Blues had 75 shot attempts in the game to the Stars’ 25.

Coming into the game he had a 3.04 goal against average and .892 save percentage in the series. In the playoffs he held a 2.65 goal-against average and .901 save percentage before Game 6.

Meanwhile, Lehtonen’s St. Louis counterpart Brian Elliott struggled, especially in the early going. He allowed three goals in the first period, and two in the first six minutes.

First, Stars forward Mattias Janmark ripped a shot high glove side off a rush to make it 1-0 just 4:53 into the game.

Then 20 seconds later, Dallas forward Vernon Fiddler deflected a feed from Colton Sceviour in front of Elliott to put the game at 2-0.

Jason Spezza’s toe-drag goal at the 16:49 mark was probably the deciding factor for coach Ken Hitchcock to make the move.

Elliott had been sound this series leading up to Game 6 with a 1.92 goal against average and .937 save percentage. Now he’ll be answering questions on if he has the ability to close out a team.

In Game 6 against the Chicago Blackhawks in the last round, Elliott allowed five goals in 35 shots on goal as the Blues were beat 6-3. In that game St. Louis had a chance to clinch the series. He came back to beat the Hawks in Game 7, but Hitchcock has often had an itchy trigger finger with his goaltenders. Will he look to Jake Allen, who stopped 7 of 7 Stars shots on goal?

Alexander Steen and Patrik Berglund each scored for the Blues. Berglund’s goal at 8:59 of the third period put the game at 3-2 and started St. Louis on their last push on Lehtonen.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!