DALLAS (AP) Radek Faksa scored the tiebreaking goal on a rebound with 4:44 to play and had an assist on the other Dallas goal to help the Stars open the second round of the Western Conference playoffs with a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Friday night.
Like Antoine Roussel did on his second-period goal on which Faksa had an assist, Faksa started the rush that led to his winner.
Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk tied it at 1 with 8:28 left in the third period with a shot from the top of the left circle after Dallas failed to clear the puck out of the zone.
Game 2 is Sunday in the best-of-seven series matching the Western Conference's top two teams from the regular season.
After Faksa pushed the puck up the ice, Ales Hemsky had the initial shot stopped but not secured by Brian Elliott. Faksa was there to score his second goal of the playoffs.
Kari Lehtonen stopped 31 shots, withstanding a final surge when the Blues pulled Elliott out of the net and had an extra skater the final 1:40.
SHARKS 5, PREDATORS 2
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Joel Ward scored the tiebreaking goal against his former team with 8:11 remaining in regulation to help San Jose rally past Nashville in the opener of their series.
Ward also set up Tomas Hertl's power-play goal that tied the game earlier in the period before scoring one of his own to help San Jose win its first playoff game when trailing after two periods since 2011.
Logan Couture added a power-play goal and an empty-netter for insurance, before Tommy Wingels sealed it with another empty-net goal as the Sharks showed few signs of rust after having six days off since beating Los Angeles in a five-game series in the first round. Martin Jones made 29 saves
Mike Fisher and Ryan Johansen scored for the Predators, who allowed five goals in the third period after having only one day off since winning Game 7 of a first-round series in Anaheim. Pekka Rinne made 33 saves.
Game 2 is Sunday.
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