ST. LOUIS (AP) — Pat Maroon scored 5:50 into the second overtime, Jordan Binnington made 29 saves and the St. Louis Blues outlasted the Dallas Stars 2-1 in Game 7 of their Western Conference semifinal playoff series Tuesday night.
Maroon slammed the puck in after Robert Thomas skated in on Ben Bishop from the right wing. It was the second game-winning goal of the series for the 31-year-old St. Louis native.
Vince Dunn also scored for St. Louis, which will face the winner of the San Jose-Colorado series in the conference final.
Ben Bishop made 52 saves and Mats Zuccarello scored for Dallas, which dropped to 5-8 in Game 7s in franchise history.
It marked the first time in NHL history that three playoff series were decided in overtime in Game 7 in the same year. San Jose eliminated Vegas and Carolina beat Washington in the first round.
St. Louis, which improved to 9-8 in Game 7s, outshot Dallas 54-30, including 41-16 in regulation. But Bishop was terrific against his first NHL team, keeping the Stars in the game with a handful of big-time stops in regulation and the overtimes.
The Blues jumped in front when Dunn converted a shot from the point 13:30 into the first period. It was his first career playoff goal.
Zuccarello then jumped on a fortunate deflection for Dallas, tying it at 1 at 15:55. A clearing attempt by St. Louis forward David Perron hit referee Marc Joannette and bounced right into the slot. Binnington was looking in the other direction and never saw Zuccarello’s shot.