Red Wings edge Blues for 6th straight win
ST. LOUIS -- Center Henrik Zetterberg scored in the eighth round of the shootout to give the Detroit Red Wings a 2-1 win over the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night, extending their winning streak to six games.
Alexander Steen of the Blues and Gustav Nyquist of the Red Wings in the first three rounds of the shootout before Zetterberg broke the tie.
It was the third consecutive game between the Red Wings and Blues in St. Louis to go to overtime, with Detroit winning the previous two contests. With 19 seconds left in overtime, Blues left winger Robby Fabbri was called for hooking but the Red Wings could not capitalize on the power-play chance.
After a scoreless first period in which the Blues out-shot the Red Wings 14-4, they finally got a shot past goalie Petr Mrazek 2:31 into the second period, with some help. A wrist shot by defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk deflected off the skate of Detroit center Frans Nielsen and into the net for his third goal of the season.
Nielsen was able to make amends for that play later in the period when he skated around Shattenkirk and beat goalie Jake Allen to tie the game with a shorthanded goal at 13:54 of the period.
The goal came while defenseman Jonathan Ericsson was serving a minor penalty for hooking and came on only the eighth shot on goal by Detroit in the game.
The Blues have scored only one goal in regulation in four of their last five games.
NOTES: The Blues activated Jori Lehtera from injured reserve and said he would play left wing instead of center. Lehtera missed four games because of a concussion. ... To make room on the roster, LW Magnus Paajarvi was placed on waivers. ... LW Justin Abdelkader returned to the Red Wings' lineup after missing two games because of a lower-body injury. ... LW Scottie Upshall and D Carl Gunnarsson were healthy scratches for the Blues. ... RW Thomas Vanek was scratched by Detroit. He was tied for the team lead with four goals and leads it with eight points through the first seven games. He is day-to-day with a mid-body injury. ... RW Steve Ott of the Red Wings played in the 800th game of his career. ... The Blues will host the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night while the Red Wings return home to play the Boston Bruins.