Joel Hofer said he's more relaxed now.
Is he ever.
Make it two straight starts for the St. Louis Blues goalie where he's looked calm, cool and collected. The Blues needed every bit of his calmness against a very good Dallas Stars side which peppered Hofer with 40 shots.
But only one beat him, and Hofer held down the fort in the third period of a Blues 2-1 win against the Stars at Enterprise Center, helping St. Louis (18-15-1) to its season-matching high third win in a row and fifth in six games since interim coach Drew Bannister replaced Craig Berube.
The Stars (20-9-4), who came in winners of three straight and on a six-game point streak (6-0-1), had their chances, but Hofer was up to the task.
He made a number of key saves throughout, with ones on Wyatt Johnston in tight, Jamie Benn on a Dallas power-play and again on Benn right before Jake Neighbours scored to make it 1-0, and Joe Pavelski from the inner part of the left circle in the third period two that really stood out.
"It was a good challenge," Hofer said. "Those are the kinds of games you look forward to, especially a divisional rival. It was a lot of fun and obviously we got the win, which made it even better.
"I was seeing it well. Just trying to stop the puck, trying to make it as easy as I can. The d-men did a good job and forwards, especially at keeping it to the outside for the most part. Got the win, which was the most important part."
We picked Hofer as our player to watch heading into this contest and felt like it was a big game for the goalie, who may have surprised some when he got the nod coming out of the Christmas break ahead of Jordan Binnington and the 23-year-old didn't disappoint.
"He was incredible," Blues defenseman Scott Perunovich said. 'He seems to be having a lot more fun. He's more relaxed and that's how we like it. He was talking to me during the plays and on the bench. It's good to see the success."
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