Blues push Stars to brink with comfortable win

The St. Louis Blues beat the Dallas Stars 4-1 on Saturday to move within one win of reaching the NHL Western Conference finals for the first time since 2001.
Dmitrij Jaskin and Troy Brouwer scored second-period goals and Brian Elliott made 27 saves for St. Louis, who can wrap up the second-round playoff series at home on Monday.
“That’s what you play for,” Elliott said. “It’s three games down. It’s one more. That’s what it comes down to, getting the fourth.”
In San Jose, California, Joe Pavelski scored two goals and the San Jose Sharks were another step closer to advancing with a 5-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. The Sharks lead the series 3-2 heading into Monday’s game six.
Jaskin, playing his first game of the post-season, scored the eventual game-winner for the Blues, collecting his own rebound to score his first career playoff goal midway through the second period. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for three, four weeks,” Jaskin said of his return. “It’s great. I found out this morning and I was ready.”
Scottie Upshall made Jaskin’s goal possible, keeping the puck in the offensive zone. He moved the puck to Jay Bouwmeester, who fed a pass in the slot to Jaskin. Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen made the save on Jaskin’s first shot, but he fired in the rebound for a 2-1 lead.
“I thought it was a double crossbar or something, a double post,” Jaskin said. “So I didn’t really celebrate. It was nice to find out it was in.”
Robby Fabgri and Paul Stastny each had a goal and an assist for the Blues, who won two straight games in Dallas to push the Stars to the brink of elimination.
Alex Goligoski scored the lone goal for the Stars in the first period. “We’ve got to cash in (on our chances),” Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. “We hit some posts, we hit a crossbar, we missed a couple point blank.”
In Washington, Capitals right winger Justin Williams scored a key second-period goal and Braden Holtby was dominant in net once again as the Capitals stayed alive in the Eastern Conference series with a 3-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Penguins still lead the best-of-seven series 3-2 with game six scheduled for Tuesday in Pittsburgh. In a series in which all four games had been decided by one goal, Williams gave the Capitals some breathing room halfway through the second period. He collected the puck inside the blue line and fired a shot that squeezed between the pads of goaltender Matthew Murray to give Washington a 3-1 lead with 10:02 left.
Washington then relied on goaltender Holtby, who finished with 30 saves. That included consecutive stops against Patric Hornqvist and Justin Schultz late in the second period.

Playoff results
(Series best of seven):
Western Conference
At Dallas
St. Louis 4 Dallas 1
(St. Louis leads series 3-2)
At San Jose
San Jose 5 Nashville 1
(San Jose leads series 3-2)
Eastern Conference
At Washington
Washington 3 Pittsburgh 1
(Pittsburgh leads series 3-2)