Blues Put Clamps on Stars, NHL Scores

This time, the St. Louis Blues knew what to do with a two-goal lead. Go for more, more, more.

Alexander Steen and David Backes had two goals apiece, and the defense put the clamps on the Dallas Stars in a 6-1 victory that put the Blues up 2-1 in the second-round series Tuesday.

Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and two assists, Troy Brouwer had a goal and assist, and Brian Elliott was strong when he needed to be for the Blues in their first lopsided triumph of the postseason. Their other five wins were decided by one goal, including 4-3 in overtime in Game 3 after the Stars came from two goals down.

"Last game in the third period, we had a little bit of a letdown, sitting back on our heels, and we made it more of a game than we wanted to be," Brouwer said. "Tonight, we kept pushing. We kept attacking."

The Blues finished two points behind Western Conference champion Dallas in the regular season and have control of the series heading into Game 4 Thursday in St. Louis. Despite a late start -- more than one-and-a-half hours after the usual puck drop -- the vast majority of a standing-room crowd of 19,323 stuck around to the finish.

"Credit everybody in the room that they bought in," Backes said. "We had probably our most complete effort of the postseason and a good time to have it."

St. Louis scored six unanswered goals after Colton Sceviour gave Dallas the early advantage, with three coming in a breakaway second period. Steen capped the big second period with a power-play goal, which tied his postseason career high for goals in a game.

Lightning 5, Islanders 4

Brian Boyle delivered a hard hit and then took advantage of a lucky carom to get the Tampa Bay Lightning a big playoff win.

Boyle scored at 2:48 of overtime to lift the Lightning to a 5-4 victory over the New York Islanders on Tuesday night for a 2-1 lead in their second-round series.

Seconds before the Lightning's rush on their winning goal, Boyle delivered a hard shoulder hit to the head of Thomas Hickey on the left side after the Islanders defenseman had sent the puck forward. No penalty was called on the play.

The Lightning got the puck and were on an odd-man rush as Victor Hedman fired a shot from the left side that was wide. The rebound came off the boards and right to Boyle in front at the right side of the goal and he tapped it in for the win.

"I thought I had it, but I just missed it," Hedman said, "and Boyle was there and prepared for the rebound and stuck it in."

Boyle added: "It was a fortunate bounce."

Nikita Kucherov tied it in the final minute of regulation, and Ryan Callahan, Hedman and Vladislav Namestnikov also scored for the Lightning. Ben Bishop stopped 35 shots.

Predators 4, Sharks 1

The Nashville Predators finally figured out how to shut down the NHL's best road team and a pretty potent power play. As a result, they have given themselves a chance to tie their second-round series.

Shea Weber scored the go-ahead goal and had an assist, and the Predators beat the San Jose Sharks 4-1 on Tuesday to cut the series deficit to 2-1.

James Neal and Filip Forsberg each scored on the power play, Colin Wilson had a goal, and Pekka Rinne made 26 saves for Nashville. The Predators killed four penalties after the Sharks went 3-for-5 on the man advantage in the first two games. Nashville also went 2-for-5 on the power play after being 2-for-31 this postseason.

"It's something we definitely need to be better at," Neal said of both the penalty kill and the power play. "I thought we had some decent looks, but ultimately, it changes games when you score on the PP and you get big kills. We did that tonight and got a big win."

Patrick Marleau scored for the Sharks, who lost away from San Jose for the first time this postseason and for the first time since a loss at Arizona on March 17.

Game 4 will be Thursday.

Tuesday, May 3 Scoreboard

Tampa Bay 5, NY Islanders 4 (OT)

Game 3 - Lightning lead 2-1

Nashville 4, San Jose 1

Game 3 - Sharks lead 2-1

St. Louis 6, Dallas 1

Game 3 - Blues lead 2-1    

Wednesday, May 4 Schedule (All Times Central)

Washington at Pittsburgh

Game 4 - Penguins lead 2-1, 7 p.m.