Jason Spezza is feeling good. And you can't blame him.

The Dallas Stars, with home-ice advantage in the playoffs thanks to a dominant regular season, opened their second-round series against the St. Louis Blues with a 2-1 win, and they looked good doing it.

The Blues, coming off an emotional seven-game series win over the defending champion Chicago Blackhawks, looked a bit sluggish. And the Stars took advantage. Dallas outshot St. Louis 14-6 in the first period, and had a 31-17 advantage after two periods. The Blues woke up in the third, but you can't win a playoff game with 20 solid minutes.

"We've got somethin' going here," Spezza said after the game, according to Sportsnet's Mark Spector.

He's right. The Stars look good. They've been slept on, despite their regular season, because of their propensity to allow goals, but they're playing solid hockey. They're still allowing a few too many goals - the Minnesota Wild scored five twice in the first round and four in Game 6 - but a one-goal win will do a lot for a team's confidence.

Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen was good Friday night, stopping 31 of 32 shots. More games like that, and the Stars could be off to the Western Conference finals.

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Steve Ott gave Antoine Roussel some bulletin-board material.

In the hours before Game 1 between the St. Louis Blues and Dallas Stars, Ott was asked about facing pest Roussel, and after Dallas drew first blood in the best-of-seven series, Ott probably regrets his answer.

"There are a lot better players to worry about over there," Ott said, according to ESPN's Craig Custance.

Roussel had himself a game Friday night. He opened the scoring, tallying his second goal of the playoffs, and finished a plus-2 with three shots and four hits in 13:33, including 56 seconds short-handed.

Ott played 5:51 in Game 1. Roussel was a force. Oops.

The Stars took Game 1 by a goal, 2-1. Game 2 goes Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. ET in Dallas.

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BRANDON, Man. - The Brandon Wheat Kings are headed back to the Western Hockey League final. Nolan Patrick had three goals and two assists as the Wheat Kings downed the Red Deer Rebels 5-2 on Friday in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final, t...

DALLAS - Radek Faksa scored the tiebreaking goal on a rebound with 4:44 to play and had an assist on the other Dallas goal to help the Stars open the second round of the Western Conference playoffs with a 2-1 victiry over the St. Louis Blues on Friday night.

Like Antoine Roussel did on his second-period goal on which Faksa had an assist, Faksa started the rush that led to his winner.

Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk tied it at 1 with 8:28 left in the third period with a shot from the top of the left circle after Dallas failed to clear the puck out of the zone.

Game 2 is Sunday in the best-of-seven series matching the Western Conference's top two teams from the regular season.

After Faksa pushed the puck up the ice, Ales Hemsky had the initial shot stopped but not secured by Brian Elliott. Faksa was there to score his second goal of the playoffs.

Along with the Western Conference's top two teams, this is a matchup of Stars coach Lindy Ruff and St. Louis' Ken Hitchcock, coaches who became friends after being assistant coaches as Team Canada won gold medals in the last two Winter Olympics.

Hitchcock was coach of the Stars when the franchise won its only Stanley Cup in 1999, complete with a disputed clinching goal in triple overtime of Game 6 against Ruff's Buffalo Sabres. They also went head-to-head in the 2006 playoffs, when the Sabres beat Hitchcock's Philadelphia Flyers.

Kari Lehtonen stopped 31 shots, withstanding a final surge when the Blues pulled Elliott out of the net and had an extra skater the final 1:40.

Elliott, who has played all eight playoffs games for the Blues, had 40 saves.

Dallas took its initial lead midway through the second period when Roussel started a rush down the right side and then had a cross-ice pass John Klingberg before Faksa's wrist shot from the om the left slot. Roussel was there to knock in the rebound.

It was Roussel's second goal of the playoffs, the first one that he got a stick on the puck.

Roussel scored from behind the net in Game 2 of the first-round series against Minnesota. A puck ricocheted off a teammate's skate and then hit Roussel's, popping over the net and into the back of the goalie's head before falling to the ice. The strange goal was initially waived off before being overturned following a lengthy review.

NOTES: Stars right wing Patrick Eaves was down between the circles and had a struggle getting off the ice after getting hit by a shot taken by teammate Stephen Johns early in the third period. Once to the bench, Eaves hobbled to the locker room. ... The Stars hosted a Game 1 in the second round for the first time since 2003, the last time they were a No. 1 seed. ... St. Louis opened a playoff series on the road for the first time since 2009. ... Masters and U.S. Open champion Jordan Spieth was in a suite watching his hometown team with former Stars captain Brenden Morrow. In another suite was Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki.

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#SJSharks just let a black cat walk by #Preds bench #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/kzhNye5XU4

— Matt Sitkoff (@msitkoffNHL) April 30, 2016

The San Jose Sharks have a black cat.

And they unleashed it ahead of Game 1 of their second-round series against Nashville, sending it past the Predators' bench during pregame festivities.

Let the games begin.

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It appears Craig Smith's return to the Nashville Predators lineup may have been premature, as the forward has been ruled out for Game 1 against the San Jose Sharks.

Smith missed Games 4 and 5 of the opening round series versus the Anaheim Ducks with a lower-body injury, but returned for Games 6 and 7.

Predators forward Eric Nystrom replaces Smith in the starting lineup.

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T.J. Oshie hit the jackpot when he was traded to the Washington Capitals.

Previously a staple in the St. Louis Blues organization, Oshie was traded to the Capitals in the off-season to be the top-line right winger alongside Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom.

While transitioning to a line with two all-world players may seem like a breeze, it was a bit more difficult than expected.

"It's not really that easy to come in and play with us because me and Ovi have been playing with each other for such a long time," said Backstrom, according to Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post.

"It takes a little while to get used to each other and where we want the puck," Backstrom added.

The biggest hurdle for Washington during his transition was encouraging Oshie to use his shot more often.

"We had to sit him down a few times and say, 'Listen, you can shoot the puck pretty well. Don't always look for Ovi. If you've got a clear look, take your chances,'" said head coach Barry Trotz.

The advice worked, as Oshie set a career-high with 26 goals, and netted a hat-trick in Game 1 against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

A self-proclaimed pass-first player, Oshie admitted it took some time to get used to a shooter's mentality.

"The hit on me is usually that I pass too much," Oshie said. "Maybe that's the reason. (On Thursday), I was shooting a little bit more, so I don't know. Just haven't had success in the past, and hopefully this can continue. It's feeling good right now."

Ovechkin played a big role in encouraging Oshie to get the puck on net, according to Trotz.

"It took a while, but now I think he trusts his shot," Trotz said. "Ovi's been good, too. Ovi's said, 'Hey, you've got a clean look, so don't look for me. I'll be covered. I'll still get my shots and I'll still take my shots, but if you've got a clean look, go for it.' And he has."

With the Presidents Trophy and a 1-0 second-round series lead in tow, whatever Washington's top line as been working on, is clearly paying off.

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Better luck next time, Jason Demers.

St. Louis Blues goaltender Brian Elliott robbed the Dallas Stars defenseman with a beautiful pad save in the second period of Game 1 on Friday.

Elliott was stellar through two periods, stopping 29 of 30 shots as the Stars outplayed the Blues heavily through two periods.

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Three of the most gifted defensemen in the world are up for this year's Norris Trophy.

Ottawa Senators captain Erik Karlsson, Los Angeles Kings All-Star Drew Doughty, and San Jose Sharks do-it-all blue-liner Brent Burns are the finalists, the league announced Friday.

Karlsson, a two-time winner of the award, is the early favorite, as he finished fourth in league scoring with a career-high 82 points.

Doughty, considered Karlsson's counterpart for the trophy all season long, registered 51 points and a plus-24 rating this season for the Kings while logging 28:01 of ice-time per game.

Burns set a career high in goals (27) and points (75) for the Sharks this season, and earned his third All-Star Game selection.

The winner will be announced at the NHL Awards in Las Vegas on June 22.

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Come the Stanley Cup Playoffs, there's no sense in dwelling in the past, and the Tampa Bay Lightning know that.

After relinquishing home-ice advantage in a 5-3 loss to the New York Islanders in Game 1, the Lightning are well aware the next game is crucial.

"We don’t want to lose Game 1 but understand the fact we have lost Game 1 in a series both home and the road and we’ve come back," head coach Jon Cooper said Friday, in reference to Tampa Bay's three Game 1 losses in last year's Stanley Cup Final run.

"We’re just making it hard on ourselves. Plus, it makes Game 2 paramount …We got home ice, we lost it but let’s put ourselves in a position to be 1-1 when we go (to Brooklyn). We’ve done this before. Let’s draw from our experiences and the past, but we’re going to have to play a little better than we did (Tuesday) night to pull this one out."

Heading back to Brooklyn down 2-0 could pose a major problem for the Lightning, as the Islanders posted a record of 25-11-5 at the Barclays Center this season.

"The way you look at the playoffs, the next game is always a must-win," Lightning forward Alex Killorn said. "Especially at home when you're going down one game, you don't want to go to Brooklyn two games down."

Tampa Bay turned in a strong effort in Game 1, but a 33-save performance from Thomas Greiss thwarted the Lightning's comeback.

Game 2 goes Saturday at 3 p.m. ET.

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