DALLAS — Radek Faksa scored the tie-breaking goal on a rebound with 4:44 to play Friday night 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 victory against the St. Louis Blues.

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 made it 1-1 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 Ken Hitchcock of St. Louis, 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.

NOTES

NORRIS TROPHY: Drew Doughty of Los Angeles, Erik Karlsson of Ottawa and Brent Burns of San Jose are the finalists as the NHL’s top defenseman.

Members of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association submitted ballots at the end of the regular season, with the top three designated finalists. The winner will be announced June 22 during the NHL awards in Las Vegas.

DUCKS: Anaheim fired Coach Bruce Boudreau after its first-round exit from the playoffs.

Boudreau had regular-season success with the Ducks, leading them to four consecutive Pacific Division titles while going 208-104-40 in nearly five seasons, but the Ducks’ last four seasons ended with a Game 7 loss on home ice in the playoffs. The Ducks blew a 3-2 series lead in all four years.