Detroit, MI (Sports Network) - Henrik Zetterberg scored late in the third
period to lift the Detroit Red Wings past the St. Louis Blues, 3-2, at Joe
Louis Arena.
Zetterberg added an assist and Brendan Shanahan tied the game up in the third
period for Detroit, which has won three of its last four games.
Manny Legace turned aside 29 shots in the victory.
Keith Tkachuk returned to the lineup for St. Louis after missing 22 games with
a fractured right hand and scored a goal. Lee Stempniak also scored for the
Blues, who lost for the 12th time in their last 14 games.
Curtis Sanford allowed three goals on 38 shots in defeat.
Trailing 2-1 after two periods, the Red Wings scored twice in the final frame
to knock off the Blues.
With 11:50 left in the third period, Shanahan's slap shot from the top of the
left circle beat Sanford on his glove side, tying the game up at 2-2.
With 3:55 left in the game, Andreas Lilja raced in from his point position and
fired a wrist shot in close that Sanford turned aside. Zetterberg followed the
play up and sent the rebound into the net to put the Wings up 3-2 late.
St. Louis pulled Sanford with a minute left, but could not net the equalizer.
"We really wanted to win and it felt good to get the two points," said
Zetterberg. "They had a lot of young players and they had nothing to lose.
They come in here, skating real hard from the beginning. We just needed to
change momentum, and I think we did in the second period."
The Blues took a 1-0 lead 8:37 into the opening period on Stempniak's fifth
goal of the season. Dean McAmmond fired a wrister from the right circle that
Legace stopped, but Stempniak backhanded the rebound home in front.
With 5:06 left in the first period, Tkachuk found a loose puck in the crease
after a scrum in front and poked it in for a 2-0 St. Louis lead.
"I don't know (why we were bad)," added Zetterberg. "But we weren't playing
good in the first. We didn't skate and we weren't playing physical and they
were hungry."
Just 5:05 into the second stanza, Mikael Samuelsson's 18th goal of the season
got Detroit on the board. In front, Samuelsson tipped home Zetterberg's pass
from the left half wall past a sliding Sanford.
