The Blues, who have stood alone in third place in the Central Division for much of the new year, now have company. After a hard-fought 2-1 loss to Dallas at American Airlines Center, the Blues and Stars are now tied for third in the Central with 72 points apiece.
But the Stars have the edge because they have played two fewer games than St. Louis. The Stars are now 34-20-4; the Blues fell to 34-22-4 and are winless in their last three games (0-2-1).
Dallas took a 2-0 lead midway through the third period when Stephen Johns beat goalie Jake Allen on the near side. But the Blues kept battling, finally scoring while Dallas' John Klingberg was serving a double-minor for high-sticking Vladimir Sobotka.
Jaden Schwartz made a crossing pass to Brayden Schenn who score a backdoor goal to finally beat Stars goalie Ben Bishop for his 24th goal with 1:14 remaining.
The Blues buzzed around Bishop in the closing seconds, with Allen out of the net, but couldn't tie the game. The contest ended with Schenn and Marc Methot fighting behind the Dallas net _ Schwartz apparently taking offense to a slash by Methot.
The Blues outshot Dallas 29-16 and played a very solid game. The difference was the goaltending of Bishop and bad puck luck _ a goal on a deflection off Blues defenseman Carl Gunnarsson in the second period.
