Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn scored two goals, and Cody Eakin added a third, 20-seconds after Benn’s second in the first period, ending Brian Elliott’s night just 8:38 into the game as the St. Louis Blues fell behind 3-0 at that point and go onto lose 4-1 Tuesday night at Scottrade Center.
Coach Ken Hitchcock saw lingering effects of the Florida game that left him displeased with the results.
“I think this is a team that wasn’t ready to compete,” Hitchcock said. “Weren’t ready from the start. That wasn’t the problem in Florida [a 2-1 shootout victory on Sunday]. We weren’t ready at the end in Florida … troubling. It would be troubling to not come back and be ready to play, especially … Dallas has had the advantage on us the last two games early in the game and we’ve had to mount comebacks in the games to be competitive. It’s concerning.”
Kari Lehtonen made 27 saves for the win. He had his bid for a second straight shutout end when Patrik Berglund scored with 7:30 remaining.
The Blues (37-16-4, 78 points) are 21-6-2 at home and fell six points behind the first-place Predators in the Central Division.