Pat Maroon scored 5:50 into the second overtime, Jordan Binnington made 29 saves and the St. Louis Blues outlasted the Dallas Stars 2-1 in Game 7 of their Western Conference semifinal playoff series Tuesday night.
Maroon slammed the puck in after Robert Thomas skated in on Ben Bishop from the right wing. It was the second game-winning goal of the series for the 31-year-old St. Louis native.
Vince Dunn also scored for St. Louis, which will face the winner of the San Jose-Colorado series in the conference final.
Ben Bishop made 52 saves and Mats Zuccarello scored for Dallas, which dropped to 5-8 in Game 7s in franchise history.
It marked the first time in NHL history that three playoff series were decided in overtime in Game 7 in the same year. San Jose eliminated Vegas and Carolina beat Washington in the first round.
St. Louis, which improved to 9-8 in Game 7s, outshot Dallas 54-30, including 41-16 in regulation. But Bishop was terrific against his first NHL team, keeping the Stars in the game with a handful of big-time stops in regulation and the overtimes.
The Blues jumped in front when Dunn converted a shot from the point 13:30 into the first period. It was his first career playoff goal.
Zuccarello then jumped on a fortunate deflection for Dallas, tying it at 1 at 15:55. A clearing attempt by St. Louis forward David Perron hit referee Marc Joannette and bounced right into the slot. Binnington was looking in the other direction and never saw Zuccarello’s shot.
![](https://i.cbc.ca/1.5127300.1557288437!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_780/stars-blues.jpg)
Members of the St. Louis Blues celebrate after scoring a goal against the Dallas Stars in Game 7 on Tuesday night. (Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)
Bishop, who took a drive off the collarbone in the third period of Game 6, posted shutouts in his two previous Game 7 appearances, both with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He stopped 18 shots in the second period while the Stars managed just one shot on goal.
Dallas killed off two penalties in a four-minute span midway through the second.
Stars rookie Roope Hintz just missed on a wraparound in the closing minute of regulation.
Binnington turned in several impressive saves in the first period. He stopped Radek Faksa on a breakaway and also recorded a glove save on a shot by John Klingberg.
St. Louis outshot Dallas 27-2 from the start of the second period until 5:16 left in the third.