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Blues beat Stars in season finale

Apr 8, 2012 - 5:49 AM Dallas, TX (Sports Network) - David Perron scored the game winner on a power play late in the third period, and St. Louis hung on late to beat Dallas, 3-2, at American Airlines Center.

Alex Steen and Kris Russell also tickled the twine for the Blues (49-22-11), who halted a four-game losing skid.

St. Louis finished the year with 109 points, and is the second-seed heading into the playoffs after the Vancouver Canucks topped the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday to capture the President's Trophy.

The Blues will face the seventh-seed San Jose Sharks when the playoffs get underway next week.

"It's a special time, obviously," said Russell. "The regular season's out the window. It doesn't matter how many wins we had, we made the playoffs and that was our goal. It's a clean slate now."

Jaroslav Halak made 33 stops, assuring he and Brian Elliott the Jennings Trophy for fewest total goals allowed at 165.

Ryan Garbutt and Philip Larsen hit the net for the Stars (42-35-5), who dropped five straight and finished out of the postseason for the fourth straight season.

"It's a long season and you have to be up for the grind," said Garbutt. "There are a lot of guys who will be up for it next year."

Richard Bachman stopped 32 shots in the loss.

Perron's power-play score at 13:44 of the final stanza gave the visitors a 3-1 edge. He stole the puck at center from Stars forward Loui Eriksson, moved up the right wing and beat Bachman to the far side.

Dallas made it interesting on Larson's deflection tally with 3:04 to play, but could not find an equalizer with an extra attacker in the final minute.

Russell snapped the scoreless deadlock at 11:05 of the second period, then Steen doubled the edge at 7:54 of the third.

Garbutt put the Stars on the board with 9:09 played, potting an Eriksson rebound from inside the crease.

Game Notes

St. Louis won three of four in the season series, after Dallas swept four last year...The Blues put together the second-highest point total in franchise history, after a 114-point campaign in 1999-2000 which netted the first Presidents' Trophy in club lore...The Stars had won 10 consecutive season finales before Saturday...Without playing, Elliott managed to set the modern- era record for lowest goals-against average at 1.56, besting Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff's 1.69 accomplished in 2003-04.