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Cody Eakin snipe in overtime ties Blues, Stars series

Cody Eakin snipe in overtime ties Blues, Stars series

After receiving a metaphorical 'kiss of death' from Ryan Reaves at the end of Game 3, the Dallas Stars had to come up big in Game 4 to keep their season from going on the brink of elimination.

They did, but they needed overtime to do it. Snapping an eight-year overtime scoring drought for the franchise.

The game's scoring started on a blunder by the Stars. Carl Gunnarsson separated Travis Moen from the puck. Jaden Schwartz picked it off and sent a laser of a pass to Vladimir Tarasenko at the top of the neutral zone. Tarasenko could not be more alone as he went in for the breakaway on Kari Lehtonen.

Here's the thing. On the play, Dallas had six (6!!) skaters on the ice. Even then they couldn't catch Tarasenko who was cherry picking.

Blues close out the first period 1-0.

Just over four minutes into the second period, it was time for St. Louis to have a silly play of their own.

Rookie Joel Edmundson goes to retrieve the puck at the goal line. He's completely alone and not under pressure in any way. He fires the puck from one knee directly to Radek Faksa.

The problem is Faksa is on the Stars. He takes a couple strides before firing the puck past Brian Elliott.

Tie game, and Edmundson is going to need a new stick.

Just 16 seconds after the Stars tied the game, David Backes was whistled for a tripping penalty.

Dallas's power play was given three opportunities to score during the game. They made good on their second chance.

Less than a minute into the man advantage, Patrick Sharp scored his fourth goal of the playoffs with assists to Jamie Benn (8) and Jason Spezza (7).

Dallas has the lead in the game for the first time, 2-1.

The animosity between the two sides was obvious as they combined for 65 hits.

St. Louis had the rare 4-on-3 advantage midway through the second period. With six seconds left in the power play, Paul Stastny, stationed in front of the net, deflects a Tarasenko rocket in past Lehtonen.

For the second time, the game is tied.

And it stayed that way through the rest of the second period and through the third. Through the end of regulation, the Stars outshot the Blues 25-24.

Dallas needed less than three minutes to draw the series even with St. Louis.

Jamie Benn makes a pass to Patrick Sharp in the neutral zone before he's run into by Backes. Sharp skates it in and spots Eakin in alone on the far side.

Eakin snipes a shot in the top corner past Elliott.

Dallas wins win in overtime. The series goes back to Dallas for Game 5 tied 2-2.

Lindy Ruff after the game to NHL.com:

"Real solid effort," Dallas coach Lindy Ruff said. "A little bit of a rough start, we gave up a couple of doozies to Tarasenko, but after that, it was a heck of a game.

"It was who was going to bend the furthest. I thought the third period we had three, four real good looks."

As for the other coach, Ken Hitchock, from Mark Spector of Sportsnet:

“We’re not going to beat them at their game,” observed Blues coach Ken Hitchcock, “and they’re probably going to struggle at our game.”

“We didn’t bury them when we had the chance. We let them off the mat with those two quick goals."

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Jen Neale is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @MsJenNeale_PD.

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