ST. LOUIS _ Blues' opponents had pulled their goalie nine times this season, and the Blues had not given up a goal.
That run is now long forgotten, as it's happened twice in their last two games, and to divisional teams to boot.
Dallas followed Minnesota's lead in the closing minutes Monday at Scottrade Center and burned the Blues with Jamie Oleksiak's second goal of the night, sending a second straight game that was in the team's grasp to overtime.
But the Blues didn't need a shootout this time, as they did with the Wild, as Vladimir Tarasenko netted the game-winner with 1 minute, 36 seconds left in overtime, allowing his club to escape with a 4-3 win. The winger's team-leading 10th goal of the season was assisted by Jori Lehtera and Kevin Shattenkirk.
The Blues will gladly take these two points, as well, but they've now given away two points to Dallas and Minnesota, who are directly behind them in the Central Division standings. And unlike Saturday's 4-3 shootout win over the Wild, when they rallied in the third period to take the lead and then coughed it up, the Blues gave up leads two leads on the Stars Monday.
They took their second lead, 3-2, on a goal by David Perron with 6:48 left in regulation, a goal that continued the two longest point-streaks in the NHL.
Perron extended his point-streak to a league-best and career-best eight games, while Schwartz stretched his to seven games, which is currently second-best.
It looked like that goal would keep alive another streak, but the Blues needed Tarasenko's OT winner to capture their fifth straight win at Scottrade Center and give them a point in 10th straight at home (8-0-2).
The goal was necessary after Dallas pulled goalie Antti Niemi with 1:21 left in regulation for a 6-on-5 advantage. The Blues' Paul Stastny had a chance to clear the zone, but elected for a short exit pass and turned the puck over. Oleksiak put it in the back of the net on a puck that deflected off Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo.
The Blues avenged a 6-2 defeat to Dallas on Nov. 3, but did so after blowing a 2-0 lead on the Stars late in the second period.
An even-strength goal by Robby Fabbri in the first period and a power-play goal from Pietrangelo in the second period built the team's cushion.
The second goal from Pietrangelo marked the first time the Blues had held a two-goal lead in nine games, dating back to a 5-1 win over Colorado on Nov. 6.
The Blues went on the power play early in the second period when Esa Lindell went off for hooking Ryan Reaves. The club had three shots on goal on their second power play of the game, scoring on Pietrangelo's fifth goal of the season and third on the man-advantage.
It was an odd play, as Niemi acted as if he had control of the puck, but it sat loose underneath him and Pietrangelo was one of three Blues to pounce on it and he poked it in.
That gave them their 2-0 lead just 4:17 into the second period, and they didn't sit back.
Bidding for his second goal of the night, Fabbri went on a breakaway less than two minutes after Pietrangelo's goal. He waited about as long as one can wait before shooting, but his patience didn't pay off. The winger had Niemi down, but couldn't elevate the puck and put it into the goalie's right leg pad.
The Blues spent much of the rest of the period killing penalties. Perron was whistled for holding the stick and Jay Bouwmeester went off for interference. They got through that unharmed, but couldn't make it to the second intermission with their two-goal lead intact.
Oleksiak scored the goal of the night. The brother of Canadian Olympic swimmer Penny Oleksiak, the Stars defenseman did the breaststroke around Perron and Pietrangelo before scoring short-side on Allen, cutting the Blues' lead to 2-1 with 3:39 left in the period. Oleksiak, the
Niemi kept it a one-goal game with a save on Tarasenko with 1:59 left in the period, and that turned out to be a key stop when Dallas went on a power play early in the period.
Fabbri was called for a hooking penalty and Jamie Benn, who had drawn the Blues' ire earlier in the period when he skated into Allen, netted his seventh goal of the season with just 1:47 off the board for a 2-2 game.
A lead that took the Blues 24:17 to build was gone in 5:26.
They earned two power plays of their own in the third period, but couldn't muster a shot on goal, keeping it a tie game until Perron's game-winner.
In Perron's streak of eight games with at least a point, he has 11 points (3 goals, 8 assists). In Schwartz's streak, he has nine points (5 goals, 4 assists).
It was the Blues' eighth-straight game in which they registered three goals or better.
The Blues jumped on the board first with Fabbri's fifth goal of the season. He capped off one of the better passing sequences this club has shown in some time, with Tarasenko shipping the puck to Lehtera, who fed ahead to Robert Bortuzzo, who feathered a pass through Dallas defenseman Julius Honka and onto Fabbri.
Few would have blamed the Stars if they decided to challenge
