DALLAS (AP) — St. Louis Blues rookie goaltender Jordan Binnington has had nothing but success since being called up from the American Hockey League.Binnington won his third straight start Youth Christian Djoos Jersey , Vladimir Tarasenko scored two goals and the Blues beat the Dallas Stars 3-1 on Saturday night.“It’s a good week,” Binnington said after his sixth NHL game.He’s 3-0 in three starts. The 25-year-old has allowed only two goals in those starts. Binnington shut out Philadelphia 1-0 on Monday and beat Montreal 4-1 Thursday.He made 21 saves on Saturday, the first time he has started consecutive games.“(Binnington)’s been amazing,” Tarasenko said. “Plays really confident. He gives us a lot of confidence, too.”Pat Maroon also scored for the Blues, who have won two straight for the fifth time this season.“I hate to use the word desperate times,” St. Louis interim coach Craig Berube said, “but we’ve got to win games. They’re in our division, and we’re trying to catch them.”Erik Condra scored for Dallas. Ben Bishop made 25 saves.Tarasenko scored in the first minute and Maroon added a first-period goal against Bishop, who won 3-1 at St. Louis four nights earlier. Veteran Jake Allen was in goal for the Blues in that game.“We’ve got to be ready when the puck is dropped,” Stars defenseman John Klingberg said.Binnington said the Blues’ fast start was a great help to him.“That’s two games in a row we’ve had a couple of goals in the first period, and that helps everyone to feed off that. From there on, we just play our game, keep it simple.”Condra broke up Binnington’s chance for a second shutout, scoring his first goal with Dallas at 8:35 of the third period.“(Binnington)’s confident and he’s aggressive,” Berube said. “He looks pretty calm and cool in there.”The Stars have lost three of four, but are in third place in the Central Division.Tarasenko scored on the first shot of the game http://www.officialcapitals.com/authentic-adidas-andre-burakovsky-jersey , 34 seconds in, from the right faceoff circle. Maroon’s backhand from the right of the net extended the Blues’ lead to 2-0 at 9:54.Dallas had a scoring chance midway through the second period, but Jason Spezza’s wrist shot from the top of the slot went over Binnington’s shoulder and off the crossbar.“It sounded like a post,” Binnington said. “Luckily for me it didn’t go in the net.”Spezza said the shot was frustrating when the Stars were trying to come back.“You like to see those ones go in to get some momentum,” he said.In the third, a shot blocked in front went to Condra at the right of the net and he scored on a short wrist shot. St. Louis challenged the goal looking for goaltender interference, but the goal stood.Tarasenko scored his second goal on the power play at 12:38. Oskar Sundqvist picked up his second assist of the game.“It was a big play by a big player,” Binnington said. “He’s an elite guy, an elite shot, and it was an important time for us to get a goal.”NOTES: Tarasenko has 15 career goals against Dallas. He also has seven assists for 22 points in 25 games. Over the last five seasons, he is tied with Winnipeg’s Patrik Laine for the most goals (14) vs. the Stars over the last five seasons. . Binnington was leading the AHL with a 2.08 goals against percentage when he was promoted from San Antonio. . The win improved the Blues’ record under interim coach Craig Berube to 12-12-1. . Condra was playing in his fifth game since being promoted from Texas of the AHL. His 40th NHL goal was his first since April 7, 2016. . Dallas D John Klingberg assisted on Condra’s goal and he has five points (one goal, four assists) in the last four games.UP NEXTBlues: Visit Washington on Monday for the second game of a four-game trip.Stars: Host Tampa Bay on Tuesday in the second of a six-game homestand. The first big free agent re-signing with his own team is just the beginning of what’s to come around the NHL.Defenseman John Carlson signed a $64 million, eight-year deal with the Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals. His agent and the representatives for other pending unrestricted free agents were able to start talking to any interested teams on Sunday at the beginning of the negotiating window that precedes the opening of the market July 1.Serious talks between New York Islanders center John Tavares and five suitors begin Monday in what should be the next step in shaking out signings and trades.”There’s going to be a lot happening,” Chicago Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman said Saturday in Dallas.”Things have sort of been at a standstill around the league, but I think with the free agent market being opened up to be able to have discussions with the agents, that will help http://www.officialcapitals.com/authentic-adidas-evgeny-kuznetsov-jersey , as well. Once you talk, you have an idea that you’re going to be able to get a free agent or if you won’t, then it might sort of move some teams to start looking at potential trades.”Only a handful of current NHL players were traded over the weekend at the draft: four in a swap between Carolina and Calgary and Washington sending two to Colorado to clear salary-cap space to re-sign Carlson. Montreal could still try to trade captain Max Pacioretty this week, and Hurricanes GM Don Waddell wants to make a move for a goaltender and said there’s a lot of interest in winger Jeff Skinner.”We have a lot of other possibilities, pieces to move around,” Waddell said.Tavares headlines this free agent class and his decision – reportedly among the Sharks, Maple Leafs, Stars, Bruins, Lightning, incumbent Islanders and perhaps a few more teams – could set up the rest of the market.Paul Stastny is the next-best free agent center available followed by the likes of Tyler Bozak, Derek Ryan and Tomas Plekanec. Teams that don’t land one of them could turn to Buffalo’s Ryan O’Reilly, who may be a better candidate to be traded July 2 after the Sabres pay him a $7.5 million bonus.At $8 million a year, Carlson ties Brent Burns for the second-highest cap hit in the league among defenseman behind only P.K. Subban’s $9 million with Nashville. Agent Rick Curran fielded calls from other teams Sunday before the deal got done with the Capitals.”Whatever your intentions are, you still have to do your due diligence because there’s more to it for me than that,” Carlson said Monday in Arlington, Virginia. ”I was hoping we could get something done and it worked itself out.”The Sharks are worth watching after they shed Mikkel Boedker’s $4 million salary to clear cap space and watched as Ilya Kovalchuk signed with Los Angeles on a three-year Jakub Vrana Jersey , $18.75 million deal. After saying San Jose will spend much of its space to re-sign players, GM Doug Wilson acknowledged there will still be room to make a deal.By July 1? Wilson smirked and said: ”The fifth is my birthday. Ask me then.”Toronto’s James van Riemsdyk, Vegas’ James Neal and David Perron, Boston’s Rick Nash, Columbus’ Thomas Vanek and New Jersey’s Patrick Maroon are among the wingers who are potentially available. Carlson staying with Washington leaves Detroit’s Mike Green, Dallas’ Dan Hamhuis and Columbus’ Ian Cole at the top of the list of defensemen.”There are some free agents out there that we like,” said Rangers GM Jeff Gorton, whose team shifted toward a rebuild this past season. ”We’re in a pretty good spot to talk to as many free agents that we can that we like and we’ll go forward that way.”Unlike New York, which had been in win-now mode for a while, the expansion Golden Knights were supposed to be building slowly toward becoming a perennial playoff contender. After reaching the Cup final in their first season, Vegas GM George McPhee doesn’t want to overpromise and under-deliver.”You just never know with these things and whether we’ll do anything at all or do something,” McPhee said. ”You’re sort of venturing into an area where there’s all kinds of things going on and you don’t know how it’s going to go. There’s no urgency for us to do anything. We like the team we have, we like the model we have. If we can make it better by doing something that makes sense, then we’ll do it.”The Capitals did not tender a qualifying offer to playoff star Devante Smith-Pelly, who will now become an attractive option to other teams as an unrestricted free agent. Washington said it’s still negotiating with Smith-Pelly, who scored seven goals in the postseason and would have had arbitration rights.—
