Dallas Beats St. Louis, Nashville Forces Seventh Game

This time it was Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen's turn to shine. Lehtonen made 35 saves to bring the series home to Dallas for Game 7 with a 3-2 victory over St. Louis on Monday night.

Brian Elliott, a standout throughout the postseason, was pulled in the first period.

"We can just flip the script and say how well Elliott played, and just change the name to Lehtonen now," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said.

Rookie Mattias Janmark ignited a three-goal first period and Lehtonen made key saves the rest of the way, the biggest on Jaden Schwartz with about 20 seconds left.

"I just try to stay as relaxed as I can and just follow the puck and not try to play it any other way than I've done last 59 and a half minutes," Lehtonen said. "It's easy to say but today it worked."

Vernon Fiddler and Jason Spezza also scored for Dallas, which reclaimed home ice for the deciding game.

"We still have to win two in a row, which we have not been able to do in this series," Lehtonen said. "It's still alive, so we just need to relax now and get ready for the next one."

Alexander Steen and Patrik Berglund scored for St. Louis.

Predators 4, Sharks 3

Viktor Arvidsson's first playoff goal of his young career certainly is a moment to remember. The rest of the Nashville Predators are just grateful he scored so quickly after surviving a triple-overtime thriller in Game 4.

Arvidsson scored 2:03 into overtime, and the Predators forced a deciding seventh game for their second straight series by beating the San Jose Sharks 4-3 on Monday night.

"That was the second-most exciting part of him scoring was that it was in the first three minutes," Predators left wing Colin Wilson said. "We get to get to bed at a regular time. It's big to get that out of the way early. I'm happy for Arvy."

Arvidsson jumped the puck just inside the blue line going into Nashville's offensive zone, splitting between Melker Karlsson and Justin Braun on his left with Marc-Edouard Vlasic on the right. He skated up the left side into the circle before throwing a backhander past goaltender Martin Jones.

"Unbelievable," said Arvidsson, who turned 23 last month. "I didn't see it go in at first. The crowd went crazy, and I just didn't know what to do. It was really nice."

Nashville coach Peter Laviolette had just moved Arvidsson to the top line with Ryan Johansen and Filip Forsberg for this game, and Arvidsson responded by scoring his first goal this postseason. Fans celebrated by tossing a bunch of the hats given away for this game onto the ice.

Monday, May 9 Scoreboard

Dallas 3, St. Louis 2

Game 6 - Series tied 3-3

Nashville 4, San Jose 3 (OT)

Game 6 - Series tied 3-3

Tuesday, May 10 Schedule (Time Central)

Washington at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.

Game 6 - Penguins lead 3-2    

Wednesday, May 11 Schedule (Time Central)

St. Louis at Dallas

Game 7 - Series tied 3-3, 7 p.m.