Blues continue to roll, hang on vs. Stars

Joel Hofer made 39 saves to lift the St. Louis Blues past the visiting Dallas Stars 2-1 Wednesday night.

Jake Neighbours and Marco Scandella scored, while Scott Perunovich had two assists for the Blues, who improved to 5-1 under interim coach Drew Bannister.

Jason Robertson scored, and Scott Wedgewood made 28 saves for the Stars, who saw their three-game winning streak and six-game point streak snapped.

The Stars outshot the Blues 14-8 in the first period but went 0-for-2 on their power play while falling behind 1-0.

Hofer stopped Wyatt Johnston's point-blank shot with 7:49 left in the first period to keep the game scoreless. Hofer also made two excellent saves on Jamie Benn in the period.

The Blues took a 1-0 lead with 1:52 left in the period on Neighbours' one-time blast from deep on the right wing. Perunovich set up Neighbours with a pass from the blue line, and Brandon Saad set a screen on Wedgewood.

Scandella increased the lead to 2-0 at the 10:53 mark of the second period. With the Blues sustaining offensive pressure with an extended puck cycle, Scandella stepped in to score from the high slot through Neighbours' screen.

St. Louis got a four-minute power-play later in the period, including a two-minute 5-on-3 opportunity.

But Wedgewood fended off a flurry of shots as the Stars killed off the three penalties, then Robertson cut the Dallas deficit to 2-1 with a clean break-in with 1:29 left in the period.

The Stars just missed a chance to tie the game early in the third period when Roope Hintz hit the left post with a shot off the rush.

Dallas sustained steady pressure in the period while outshooting the Blues 15-5. The Stars pulled Wedgewood for an extra attacker with 1:52 left, but they failed to tie the game during a last-minute goalmouth scramble.