Blues vs. Stars: Mason McTavish Scores 94 Seconds Into His Blues Debut as Joel Hofer Blanks Dallas

Mason McTavish did not have time to get nervous. Ninety-four seconds into his first game as a St. Louis Blue, Colton Parayko's shot was turned aside by Jake Oettinger, the rebound squirted between McTavish's skates, and he poked it home from the top of the crease.

That was all the offense the Blues truly needed. Joel Hofer stopped all 25 shots he faced, and St. Louis beat the Dallas Stars 4-0 on Friday night at American Airlines Center in the season opener for both teams. It was the ninth shutout of Hofer's career, and it ended a couple of long-running Dallas streaks in the process.

A Fast Start and a Long, Physical Middle

McTavish's goal came off a sequence that barely qualified as a set play, and he admitted as much afterward. "It was honestly a pretty bang-bang play," he said. "Just kind of got to the net. Parayko made a great play kind of getting it there." According to the AP, it was the fifth-quickest goal to start a season opener in Blues franchise history.

From there, the game turned heavy and physical. Jake Neighbours and Arttu Hyry fought early in the second period, and Blues forward Alexey Toropchenko left with an upper-body injury after taking a hit from Lian Bichsel. Coach Jim Montgomery said afterward that Toropchenko was more than day-to-day.

The Stars had their chances to answer, with four power plays over the course of the night, and they went 0-for-4. Dallas actually outshot St. Louis 25-24 and won a dominant 62.1 percent of the faceoffs. The problem was that none of it got past Hofer.

The Turning Point: Oettinger's Stumble

The second goal was the kind of play that haunts a goalie's film session. Midway through the second, a routine puck exchange behind the Dallas net went sideways. Oettinger set the puck up for defenseman Nils Lundkvist, Pius Suter arrived first and slipped it to Philip Broberg in front, and Oettinger, hurrying back to his post, went down after colliding with teammate Roope Hintz. Broberg found Dalibor Dvorsky with the whole net to shoot at, and Dvorsky obliged at 13:05. The 21-year-old Dvorsky could not have asked for an easier finish.

Down 2-0 with Hofer locked in, Dallas needed a jolt in the third, and instead got chaos. At 1:06, the Blues thought they had made it 3-0 on an Adam Jiricek power-play goal, but a Dallas offside challenge wiped it off the board. Montgomery still loved what he saw from Jiricek, who was chasing his first NHL goal. "He looked like he's been in the League for three years," Montgomery said. At 2:49, Brandon Carlo was assessed a kneeing penalty and a game misconduct for a hit that sent Hintz, playing his first game since March 6, to the ice clutching his left knee. Hintz returned a few minutes later.

Late in the third, Jimmy Snuggerud and Suter added empty-net goals 15 seconds apart, at 17:37 and 17:52, to finish it.

Hofer and McTavish Set the Tone

Hofer was the story. His 25 saves came against a team built on offensive firepower, and he was not shy about acknowledging the challenge. "They're obviously very dynamic and can make very good plays, but we were up to the test tonight. We were very tight on them and didn't give them much, so kudos to our guys," he said. He even picked up an assist on Suter's empty-netter. According to NHL.com, it was the first season-opening start of his NHL career, and he was second in the league with six shutouts last season. Montgomery was effusive. "I think we're starting to see a goalie that is blossoming into a potential top-10 goalie in the League," he said.

McTavish, who came over from Anaheim in a June trade for two first-round picks (Nos. 15 and 29), played 14:36 and was every bit as relieved as you would expect. "The longer it goes, the heavier your shoulders kind of get, so it's nice to get that first one," he said.

Snuggerud and Suter each finished with a goal and an assist and a plus-2, Parayko and Broberg also finished plus-2 with an assist apiece, and Broberg logged 23:08 on the back end.

For Dallas, Oettinger made 20 saves on 22 shots before being pulled for an extra attacker late. Tyler Seguin, back for his first game since Dec. 2, 2025, after a torn ACL, went minus-2 with six penalty minutes in 14:55. "Not very happy with tonight, but tomorrow's a new day," Seguin said.

Stats That Matter

• 94 seconds: How long it took McTavish to score in his Blues debut.
• 25-for-25: Hofer's shutout line, his ninth career shutout.
• 0-for-4 vs. 0-for-4: Neither power play scored, and the Dallas man advantage looked especially flat.
• 62.1 percent: Dallas' faceoff win rate, which gave the Stars plenty of puck and no goals to show for it.
• 15 seconds: The gap between Snuggerud's and Suter's empty-netters.

What It Means

St. Louis is 1-0-0 and heads straight to Colorado for a Saturday game, the second half of a back-to-back. A road shutout against a team that had won six straight season openers is about as good an opening statement as a club can make.

Dallas is 0-1-0, and the history books noticed. According to the AP, it was the first time the Stars lost a season opener since 2019, ending a six-game winning streak in openers that had been the NHL's longest active run. It was also the first time the Stars were shut out in a home opener since moving to Dallas before the 1993-94 season. Coach Glen Gulutzan pointed to the start. "We need to be a little bit sharper, certainly in our start. We didn't get our legs until the second," he said. The Stars visit Nashville on Saturday.

You Shall Not Pass

Hofer spent the night channeling his inner Gandalf, planted on the bridge while the Stars kept charging and getting nowhere. For a Dallas team that had not dropped an opener since 2019, the message was clear: some streaks end with a whimper, and some end with a goalie who simply refuses to move.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details from the Associated Press; postgame quotes and team notes as reported by NHL.com.