Jake Allen and the Blues did everything they could to spoil former coach Ken Hitchcock's return to St. Louis.
Allen made 38 saves and the Blues used three first-period goals to beat the Dallas Stars 4-2 in their home opener on Saturday night.
"We capitalized on our chances there," Blues defenseman Carl Gunnarsson said of the first-period flurry. "I think Snake (Jake Allen) was good back there. He helped us out a ton, especially on their power play. He had a couple big saves in the second and third period. A lot of credit to Jake, but I think we played a pretty good game over 60 minutes."
Gunnarsson, Joel Edmundson and Jaden Schwartz all scored in a five-minute span in the first, and Vladimir Tarasenko added a power-play goal in the third.
Allen was solid after making 29 saves in the Blues' 5-4 overtime win in Pittsburgh on Wednesday night.
"I feel good right now," Allen said. "I feel like I'm practicing well and it's translating into the games. Guys did a good job tonight. We started out strong. We had our ups and downs during the game. I think we'll level out here. It's still only the second game."
"I thought we'd be better in our zone under pressure and that's where I thought we did ourselves in," Hitchcock said. "We had a great start to the game. The first 10 to 12 minutes was exactly what we wanted."
Hitchcock coached the Blues for six seasons, going 248-124-41 before being fired last February. He was hired as the Stars coach in April.
The Blues honored Hitchcock with a tribute on the videoboard during the first period. Fans gave Hitchcock a standing ovation and Hitchcock responded by tapping his chest.
"I know this is a special place," Hitchcock said. "You spend six years here and you're in the playoffs every year. It's pretty special. Obviously I had a great relationship with the people here so it was a fun place."
Gunnarsson banked a shot off of defenseman Dan Hamhuis and past Lehtonen from behind the net with 10:10 left in the first, Gunnarsson's first goal in 62 games dating to the 2015-16 season. Edmundson then scored from the left circle after a nice pass from Alex Pietrangelo.
Schwartz scored off a nice pass from Brayden Scheen with 5:10 left in the period.
Klingberg scored a power-play goal for the Stars, assisted by Alexander Radulov, 2:48 into the third period to make it 3-1.
Tarasenko scored his first this year with 11:30 remaining. Pietrangelo and Schenn assisted on Tarasenko's goal, giving them each two assists on the night.
Janmark scored, assisted by Jason Spezza, with 6:49 left.
NOTES: The Stars went with Lehtonen in goal after using Ben Bishop on Friday. Bishop left that game early after being hit in the mask and cut by a shot. He went into concussion protocol, but Hitchcock said Saturday that Bishop was fine. He served as the backup to Lehtonen. ... The Blues are without F Robby Fabbri (left knee, out for season), F Alexander Steen (left hand), D Jay Bouwmeester (left ankle), F Zach Sanford (left shoulder) and F Patrik Berglund (left shoulder).
UP NEXT
St. Louis: At New York Islanders on Monday.
Dallas: At Detroit on Tuesday.
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