Stars vs. Blues: Game 6 Score and Twitter Reaction from 2016 NHL Playoffs

There will be a Game 7 after the Dallas Stars went on the road Monday and took down the St. Louis Blues, 3-2, behind goaltender Kari Lehtonen and an explosive first period.

Lehtonen notched 35 saves as Dallas received goals from Vernon Fiddler, Mattias Janmark and Jason Spezza. Coming into the game with a sub-.900 save percentage in the series, Lehtonen was as sharp as he has looked all series.

Patrik Berglund and Alexander Steen potted goals for St. Louis, while David Backes and Vladimir Tarasenko added an assist each.

Blues goaltender Brian Elliott was pulled after a quick Dallas offensive surge, which was concerning to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Jose de Jesus Ortiz:

Janmark started the scoring with a snipe on Elliott, who has struggled all series with high shots. The NHL shared a replay: 

On his 36th birthday, Fiddler added another, via NBCSN:

NHL.com's Mark Stepneski noted it came quickly after Janmark's tally:

Spezza then converted on a nasty power-play goal, as Dallas' official Twitter account showed:

Elliott's night was finished, and the quick exit was a surprise to the Dallas Morning News' Tim Cowlishaw:

Jake Allen, with only seven saves on the night, finished the game for St. Louis, which left the ice in a hurry after getting beat down at home.

St. Louis came out refocused and energized in the second period. NHL.com's Lou Korac noted the goalie change could have been responsible:

The Blues proceeded to control play for the entire period, which led to Steen finally breaking the ice and igniting the home crowd. The team's official Twitter account shared a replay:

Jeremy Rutherford of the Post-Dispatch acknowledged the Blues' consistent offensive pressure and its eventual payoff:

Although Dallas finished with only five shots in the second, Allen did have to make a key save on Ales Hemsky from point-blank range. KTCK's Bob Sturm thought perhaps the puck found the wrong player's stick:

Meanwhile, Lehtonen stood strong all period as most of the game was played in St. Louis' offensive zone. His best sequence came late in the second, when he robbed Tarasenko once on a deflection and then on an ensuing rebound.

He needed to be stout, as Korac noted the vast disparity in offensive pressure:

The Blues started the third period much like the second, except they received a gift when Dallas' Kris Russell flipped the puck out play for a delay of game three minutes in.

St. Louis was unable to cash in on a huge opportunity. However, the Blues still carried the momentum during the period as Dallas appeared to sit back and focus on defending. 

That strategy briefly folded when Berglund scored midway through the final frame after this sweet passing display, via the Blues:

Norm Sanders of the Belleville News-Democrat complimented Jori Lehtera for his nifty assist:

Uproxx's Pete Blackburn seemed to agree:

The Blues were in control the rest of the way. Yahoo Sports' Josh Cooper acknowledged the only chance Dallas had to hang on was Lehtonen: 

Dallas would be looking up tee times if not for the 32-year-old Fin, who made some huge saves in the game's final minute.

Considering it is still without Tyler Seguin, Dallas has to be thrilled with its Game 6 play. What it wants is more consistency.

The Stars looked great Monday, and the team played almost as well in its previous two wins over St. Louis, especially defensively. It has also been blown out twice in Games 3 and 5, losing by a combined score of 10-2.

Failing again to close out a Game 6 is concerning for the Blues. Until they prove they can consistently perform in the playoffs, there will always be doubts surrounding the team. Even though it was able to take out Chicago in the first round, blowing this series would still make St. Louis' postseason a failure. 

Downing the Stars on their home ice will be tough, but the Blues have reason to be confident, considering they are 2-1 at Dallas in the series. However, St. Louis has not advanced to a conference final since 2001. 

Which Dallas team will show up Wednesday? The inconsistency makes it tough to rely on the Stars, but the Blues' rocky playoff history makes for an intriguing Game 7.

Postgame Reaction:

Lehtonen was the hero Monday as he held off the surging Blues in St. Louis. Dallas Sports News' Michael Florek immediately credited the goaltender for the win:

Dallas Stars radio broadcaster Bruce LeVine and The Hockey Writers' Derek Neumeier also commended Lehtonen:

He also helped Dallas achieve a rare feat in winning a game, and scoring three goals nonetheless, when the Stars were thoroughly outplayed, courtesy of the team's Twitter account:

Dallas head coach Lindy Ruff chose to focus more on his team's play after getting ahead early. He emphasized that the team must do a better job of not changing its mentality and becoming complacent when playing with the lead, per Stepneski:

Ruff is absolutely right in this situation. Dallas is very lucky to still be playing, but it should takes some positives from the way it was able to find seams in St. Louis' strong defense early on. As the league's top scoring team in the regular season, the Stars are dangerous offensively, which was on full display in the first period. 

If they can combine that outburst with strong two-way play for an entire game, the Stars will be very hard to beat. 

Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock quickly came to the defense of Elliott following the game, per the team's Twitter account:

He also commented that his team played well after the first period, which should be a positive moving forward:

However, he was not so ready to praise Lehtonen, according to the Dallas Morning News' Mike Heika.

"I don't like giving the other goalie credit for anything, other than he wears pads, that's it," Hitchcock said, per Heika. "We can shoot better, we can do some things better offensively."

This is true, but it is not like St. Louis was taking its shots from tough scoring areas. The team routinely found space in the slot to get quality chances, Lehtonen just made the necessary saves. On most nights, the Blues are scoring more than twice on 37 shots. 

Game 7 looks to be a toss-up with each team having its pros and cons. Yet, St. Louis has shown itself to be more consistent as opposed to Dallas, which is susceptible to blowouts and letdowns. The Blues have also had longer stretches of dominance, much like Monday, throughout the series.

For this, the safer pick is to go with St. Louis to move on the Western Conference final, where it will have home-ice advantage against either Nashville or San Jose. 

All statistics courtesy of ESPN.com unless noted otherwise.