Blues cruise into West final

Captain, rookie lead St. Louis romp in Dallas

The captain and the kid are going to the Western Conference final with the St. Louis Blues.

St. Louis did more than survive Game 7 this time. The Blues routed the top-seeded Dallas Stars 6-1 on Wednesday night to advance to their first Western Conference championship round since 2001.

Robby Fabbri, their 20-year-old rookie center, became the youngest player in NHL history to score three points in a Game 7, with a goal and two assists, while captain David Backes added a goal and an assist.

"The way we feel here, we know we've got a good team and we know every time we're challenged we've kind of risen up to it," Paul Stastny said.

Linemates Fabbri, Stastny and Troy Brouwer each had a goal and two assists.

"Nice short plays, and we buried our opportunities," Brouwer said.

"We said before the game that we wanted to be the difference tonight, and I feel like we made a good impact."

The Blues, in the playoffs for the 40th time and still in search of their first Stanley Cup, will have home-ice advantage in the Western Conference final against Nashville or San Jose - and for the Stanley Cup Final as well, if they advance.

The Predators and Sharks play their deciding Game 7 on Thursday night in San Jose.

Patrik Berglund and Vladimir Tarasenko also had goals to help the Blues win for the third time on the road in the matchup. Tarasenko's seventh goal of the playoffs was an empty-netter with 4:40 left.

Patrick Eaves had the lone goal for Dallas, which matched its most lopsided playoff loss. The Stars also lost 6-1 in Game 3 of the series.

"It's a huge disappointment; we had good energy, but it's a tough way to end. It's not our team," coach Lindy Ruff said.

"Even when we started pushing, we missed too many good opportunities to get back in it."

It was the fourth straight game in the series, and fifth overall, won by the visiting team, and a lopsided finish to a second-round series matching the Western Conference's top two teams in the regular season.

Coach Ken Hitchcock's Blues were only two points behind Dallas in the regular-season standings for the top seed.

St. Louis also went seven games to win its quarterfinal series, beating the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 on Brouwer's winning goal in the Game 7 clincher at home.

In this Game 7, the Blues were in firm control after the first period, even after having a goal disallowed because of a replay challenge by Dallas.

Brian Elliott was back between the pipes for the Blues and had 31 saves. He was pulled late in the first period of Game 6 after giving up three goals on seven shots and Dallas held on to win 3-2 and set up its first Game 7 at home since 2000.

"I know in this dressing room there was no question who we were going to turn to, and Brian's our guy," Brouwer said.

"He was phenomenal for us, and we're going to have to ride (him) a couple more times throughout the course of these playoffs. But he's a guy that we could rely on."

The Blues were ahead to stay when Fabbri scored on a powerplay 5:23 into the game, whipping a backhander past after Kari Lehtonen after the Dallas goaltender was unable to control a loose puck.

Tarasenko took a shot from in front of the left circle that somehow got behind Lehtonen and into the net with about two minutes left in the first period that appeared to make it 2-0, but replays showed Tarasenko was offside before the puck got in the zone, and officials wiped off the goal.

St. Louis responded with two goals in the final 1:38 of the period. Stastny scored first and then Berglund on a shot from just inside the blue line with only 3.4 seconds left before intermission.

"The offside call gave us some life and we had a few opportunities to score," Stars left wing Patrick Sharp said. "The late one in the first was a tough one. It's all tough."

Loose pucks

Dallas coach Lindy Ruff used two goalies all season, and Lehtonen was replaced after allowing three goals on eight shots. Antti Niemi took over in the second period and gave up goals to Backes and Brouwer, but stopped the other eight shots he faced ... St. Louis is 5-2 on the road this postseason ... Hitchcock is 5-2 in Game 7s as a coach, while Ruff is 0-4. Ruff's first three were with Buffalo, in 2001, 2006 and 2011 ... Hitchcock was the Stars' coach for their previous Game 7 at home, a win over Colorado in the 2001 Western Conference final to get to their second consecutive Stanley Cup finals ... The Blues blocked 34 shots; the Stars blocked five.