ST. LOUIS (AP) Dallas’ Cody Eakin scored at 2:58 of overtime to give the Stars a 3-2 win at St. Louis on Thursday, bouncing back smartly from a blowout loss two days earlier and tying their NHL second-round playoff series at two games apiece.
Likewise, Nashville won in overtime – triple overtime in their case – against San Jose to also square that series at 2-2.
Dallas was coming off a humiliating 6-1 loss to the Blues in Game 3, but turned that around with a valuable road victory.
”I said, `It’s time for us to man up,’ and we did,” coach Lindy Ruff said. ”Our leaders were our leaders.”
Patrick Sharp set up the winner and also scored for the Stars, while rookie Radek Faksa had the other goal, his third of the postseason.
”It was ugly for a lot of the guys and the team in general for Game 3,” Sharp said. ”Credit to the team, we were able to put it behind us.”
Vladimir Tarasenko scored his sixth goal of the playoffs on a first-period breakaway and added an assist for St. Louis, giving him five points in the past two games. Paul Stastny had his first of the postseason off a deflection from Tarasenko.
The Stars, who finished first overall in the Western Conference, regained home-ice advantage heading into Game 5 on Saturday in Dallas.
Eakin has a goal and seven assists in the postseason and hustled to get into position on the deciding score. He beat Brian Elliott on a 3-on-2 break after getting a stick on Jori Lehtera’s shot in tight on the other end against Kari Lehtonen.
”That’s the nice thing about finishing first, we’ve got home court advantage back,” Eakin said. ”It’s a race to two, and it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Nashville’s Mike Fisher scored at 11:12 of the third overtime to give the Predators a 4-3 win against San Jose in the longest game in franchise history, which stretched into Friday morning.
With the victory, the Predators won their first overtime game on home ice. More importantly, they tied this second-round, best-of-seven series at 2-2.
James Neal scored with 4:21 left in the third period tying it up at 3-3, and the teams went scoreless during the first two overtimes and headed to a third extra period – the first in the NHL playoffs this year.
The Predators killed off six penalties, including one shortly before Fisher’s winning goal at 1:03 a.m. Goalie Pekka Rinne made 44 saves.
Game 5 is Saturday in San Jose.
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