NHL Update: Detroit Red Wings beat St. Louis Blues in OT, 4-3
Darren Helm lit the lamp in extra session and Detroit Red Wings held on to take 4-3 win over St. Louis Blues on Thursday night.
Todd Bertuzzi and Jakub Kindl both also found the net for Detroit, which won for the second time in three contests. Patrick Eaves tallied a goal in the win. Jimmy Howard turned aside 26 shots
for the victors and did not face a shot in overtime.
"I thought after they tied it, we got going again," Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock said. "We got right back to playing the way we could. It's always a mental thing, it's not like we're
asking our guys to get back on their heels like they did. But it turned out to be a good win for us."
Patrik Berglund and David Backes netted goals for St. Louis, which has dropped for the seventh time in its previous nine games. T.J. Oshie also added a goal in the losing effort, while Jaroslav
Halak stopped 25 shots for Blues.
"We battled back and we have to learn not to put ourselves in a hole like that, especially against Detroit," Oshie said. "It's tough to dig yourself out. We got close and we got a point,
but, obviously you want two points every night."
Eaves put Red Wings on the board for a 1-0 lead with 7:35 remaining in the opening period. The play was set up by Henrik Zetterberg, who spotted Eaves in between two Blues’ defenders in front
of the net and sent a quick pass to him from the end boards. Eaves then fired a one-timer into the net.
Detroit struck again for a two-goal 2-0 advantage in eighth minute of the second session. This time goal came from Bertuzzi, who was alone with an easy opportunity to score when Halak dropped
to the ice and was looking around for the puck. Bertuzzi, directly to Halak's right, took the puck and simply lifted it into the roof of the net.
After less than 2 ½ minutes, Kindl pushed Detroit’s lead to 3-0. He was also helped by St. Louis, as he slipped a pass in front of the net that bounced off Roman p***k and past Halak for
his first career NHL goal.
“It feels good, I’m not going to lie,” Kindl said. “It was a little lucky.”
Blues showed some life in the middle of second period, as Oshie opened the scoring for St. Louis to cut the deficit to 3-1 with a wrist shot from the slot.
St. Louis slowly started dominating the play. Blues crept within another goal to make it 3-2 game in seventh minute of the final period. It happened so when Berglund banged a one-timer that
deked Howard because he whiffed a little, scoring into the upper right corner of the net.
Blues showed a great performance and made the play interesting when Backes knotted the game at 3-3 for St. Louis. He gathered a loose puck in front of the net and chipped a backhand through
Howard's pads.
Halak then made an impressive sliding stop in the final minute of third period to keep St. Louis in the contest and sent the game into an extra session.
Halak was on the right side of his net when Zetterberg hit the puck in front and Justin Abdelkader tried to knock it home. He then quickly shifted in front just in time to stop the shot with
his left pad. It caught his knee first, and then rolled off near his foot.
Finally, Helm recorded the decisive goal for Detroit in second minute of the overtime, as he snapped a one-timer from the slot on a centring pass from Jiri Hudler and turned the game into
a rout.
Still, the game didn't figure to be as close as it was.
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