Jake Allen makes 38 saves, Blues beat Hitchcock-led Stars

Teammates surround St. Louis Blues' Joel Edmundson after his goal past Dallas Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen, left, of Finland, during the first period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Oct. 7, 2017, in St. Louis.
Teammates surround St. Louis Blues' Joel Edmundson after his goal past Dallas Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen, left, of Finland, during the first period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Oct. 7, 2017, in St. Louis.

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Jake Allen made 38 saves and the Blues used three first-period goals to beat the Dallas Stars 4-2 on Saturday night and spoil coach Ken Hitchcock's return to St. Louis.

Carl Gunnarsson, Joel Edmundson and Jaden Schwartz each scored in a five-minute span in the first, and Vladimir Tarasenko added a power-play goal in the third.

John Klingberg and Mattias Janmark scored for Dallas. Kari Lehtonen made 17 saves.

The Blues opened the season with a 5-4 overtime win at Pittsburgh on Wednesday. The Stars lost to the Vegas Golden Knights 2-1 on Friday.

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.

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 Schenn 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.

GAME 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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