Detroit Red Wings stay hot with seventh consecutive win over St. Louis Blues 3-1 -NHL Update
Detroit has shown immense progress over the duration of this month as it looks like the Red Wings made a New Year’s resolution to take over the Western Conference, which they have done and maintained with their seventh straight victory, this time over the
St. Louis Blues, 3-1, at the sold-out Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on Monday, January 23, 2012.
Scott Nichol made the first goal of the night that gave off the impression that St. Louis had taken control and was potentially about to take down the rowdy Red Wings, but the second period was solely dominated by Detroit.
"We know what our style is, but sometimes you do have to adapt", said Red Wings’ defenseman, Brad Stuart. "There's certain teams that you're just not going to beat without doing certain things and we talk about it before the game”.
Pavel Datsyuk answered right back for Detroit as he made the equaliser in the opening 51 seconds of the second period on their over carrying power play advantage when Chris Stewart was awarded multiple penalties for fighting late in the first.
Johan Franzen took over the lead with his 19th goal of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season nearly midway through while Niklas Kronwall insured the game for the home team with his 11th goal of the power play with
less than four minutes remaining in the third.
"We played good in stretches, but we crumbled when things got tight", Blues’ forward, Jamie Langenbrunner, said. "We got those retaliatory penalties. That takes away our momentum and gets us out of our comfort zone".
St. Louis was also entering the match on a four-game winning streak, which was bound to end after Detroit’s magnificent performance, setting back the Blues, who managed to get two straight shutouts in their previous matchups.
Blues will be playing off against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday while the Detroit Red Wings, who at the moment lead the Western Conference with 67 points, have the next on the road in Montreal against Canadiens.
It will be interesting to see whether Detroit can continue with the same momentum over the border in their next matchup or not.
Tags: