October 13, 2011:  St. Louis Blues (1-1-0) vs. Dallas Stars (2-1-0).

Tonight will be the début of the official LetsGoBlues.com in-game blog!  Feel free to discuss the game here.

The game will start at 7:30 pm CDT and will be played at American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.

Blues starting lineup

Offense

Andy McDonald - David Backes - Jamie Langenbrunner

T.J. Oshie - Patrik Berglund - Chris Stewart

Alex Steen - Jason Arnott - Matt D'Agostini

Vladimir Sobotka - Scott Nichol - Ryan Reaves

Defense

Kent Huskins - Alex Pietrangelo

Barret Jackman - Kevin Shattenkirk

Nikita Nikitin - Roman Polak

Goaltender

Jaroslav Halak

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7:38 Game time! First puck drop at 7:38 pm CDT.  There seems to be no one in attendance watching this game.

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7:49 Some rough stuff going pretty early. Lots of shots after the whistle; Jackman and Burish were going at it earlier while Steen and Daley were shoving around after the whistle. Could be a good night of hockey.

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7:56 Blues are getting a lot of pressure in the first half of the 1^st period. Dallas really is collapsing a lot in front of their goalie; this is the style of rookie head coach Glen Gulutzan. It is allowing the Blues point-men to have plenty of room but there are hardly any shots getting through. 8:30 left in 1^st period.

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8:08 Penalty called on Dallas. Chris Stewart was on a partial breakaway and Nick Grossman held him on the break. The play started when T.J. Oshie blocked a shot at the point and slid it to a streaking Stewart. Oshie goes to the locker room.

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8:10 Just after the penalty, a clearing attempt goes haywire and the puck bounces to center. Star forward Loui Eriksson took the puck and went on the breakaway. He goes forehand-backhand on Halak and beats him along the ice. The shorthanded goal was scored at 18:50 of the 1^st period making it 1-0 Stars.

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8:13 End of the 1^st period. Blues trail the Stars, 1-0. Shots are 13-12 in favor of the Blues.

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8:29 Start of 2^nd period.

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8:33 Penalty called on the Dallas Stars. High-sticking to Adam Burish as he upended Vladimir Sobotka.

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8:34 Fight between Chris Stewart and Sheldon Souray.  Few puches thrown from each player.  Hardly a fight.

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8:35 Penalty to the St. Louis Blues.  Jason Arnott goes off for holding to end the Blues' PP and send the game to 4-on-4.

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8:37 Stars head to the PP as Burish comes out of the box with just over a minute left in Arnott's penalty.

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8:41 Adam Burish scores for the Dallas Stars to make it 2-0. Trevor Daley easily skates through four Blues defenders and slides it to Burish who beats Halak along the ice. Blame goes to the Blues for not putting a body on Daley and to Halak for not closing those legs. How many times have we said the latter blame this season already?  Goal scored at 7:06 of the  2^nd period.

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8:42 T.J. Oshie takes a high-sticking penalty with about 11 minutes left in 2^nd.

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8:53 Penalty to Patrik Berglund of the Blues for hooking with just under 7 minutes left in  2^nd.

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8:55 Yet another PPG for the opposing team.  Mike Ribeiro took the shot from the point and Brendan Morrow was all alone in front to slide it by Halak.  3-0 Stars at 14:21 of the 2^nd.

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8:57 BLUES GOAL!!!!  Matt D'Agostini scores his 1^st of the season off a rebound in front.  Alex Steen and Kent Huskins get the assists.  This was Huskins' first point as a Blue.  Goal makes it 3-1 Stars at 14:41 of 2^nd.

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9:05 I think that last interception by the Stars puts Jackman's total interceptions at 1,700 of his career!  Congrats, Barret!

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9:06 End of 2^nd period.  Huge may-lay in front after Andy McDonald took a shot at the buzzer.  He took a high hit from Vernon Fiddler and teammate Nikita Nikitin (by accident of course).  He laid on the ice for a few seconds but got up when trainer Ray Barile hopped off the bench.  We'll see if any penalties are handed out to start the 3^rd period. Shots are 25-18 in favor of the Blues. 3-1 Stars.

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9:26 Start of 3^rd period.  Blues start on PP as roughing penalties were handed out to David Backes (STL), Mark Fistric (DAL) and Adam Burish (DAL).  McDonald is on the bench.

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9:31 BLUES GOAL!!!  Chris Stewart blasts it from the point and T.J. Oshie screens Lehtonen in front.  Great shot from Stewart beats him low glove-side.  3-2 Stars.  Goal scored at 3:58 of 3^rd period and it was Stewart's 2^nd of the season.  Assists go to Kevin Shattenkirk and Patrik Berglund.

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9:40 Alex Steen takes a high-stick from Sheldon Souray.  They battled in front and Souray brought it a little far.  Around 8:00 mark of this period.

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9:42 PP over but the Blues got some insanely good chances that time around.  Their puck control in this period has been excellent.

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9:44 Penalty to Roman Polak of the Blues at 10:05 for delay of game.

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9:56 Penalty coming to the Blues. Alex Steen knocked down Daley behind the Stars’ net. Looked coincidental to me. Nonetheless, the Blues have 3:16 left to get a goal to tie the game. They will be pushing during this PK.

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9:58 Blues are trying to get that goal during the PK a little too hard.  Passes up the middle in their own zone will cost them a goal.

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10:00 Penalty coming to Dallas with 1:04 remaining!  Loui Eriksson is going off for tripping.  Timeout Blues.  Still 3-2 Stars.

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10:02 Penalty coming to Blues with about .08 remaining.  Face-off comes down to the Blues' zone and this game is all but over.  McDonald goes off for boarding.

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10:04 Stars take this one, 3-2. Blues fall to 1-2-0 and the Stars go to 3-1-0.  Blues blow out the Stars in shots, 38-24  Another game where Halak was not his strongest.  I would expect to see Brian Elliott some time this weekend.

As you can see, it was okay that you watched the Cardinal game tonight instead.

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For the game box score, visit StLouisBlues.com.

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