By JOE HARRIS Associated Press
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Lucas Raymond’s goal in the fourth round of a shootout gave the Detroit Red Wings a 3-2 win over the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night.
Raymond’s goal was the only one from either team in the tiebreaker. He is 3 for 8 in career shootout attempts.
Alex Chiasson and Filip Zadina scored in regulation for the Red Wings, who stopped a three-game losing streak. Magnus Hellberg made 20 saves and denied all four attempts in the shootout.
“Obviously, I know I’m a big boy,” the 6-foot-6 Hellberg said. “I try to have good patience and use my size, don’t come out too far, but still have good gap when they come. I know that if I just keep my position, they can’t really go around me because I have long legs and stuff like that. Today it worked and obviously Raymond a great goal there to finish the job.”
Robert Bortuzzo and Marco Scandella scored for the Blues, who won their previous three home games against Detroit. Joel Hofer made 28 saves, taking his first loss in his third game since being recalled from Springfield of the AHL last Thursday.
St. Louis got first-period goals from two unlikely sources.
Bortuzzo gave them the lead at 2:21 of the first period with his second goal of the season and first since New Year’s Eve. Scandella scored midway through the first — his first goal since April 24, 2022.
“Just finding the timing now,” said Scandella, who missed the first 56 games this season while recovering from hip surgery. “This is Game 14 for me. I’m starting to get into my groove, starting to feel good. It’s not easy jumping in in the middle of the season. Everyone’s going, systems are in place. Just building every day.”
Detroit had an answer for each St. Louis goal.
Chiasson got the Red Wings on the board with a power-play goal at the 7:49 mark, burying a perfect feed from David Perron. Zadina’s goal late in the first evened it at 2.
“It’s been a tough stretch of late,” Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said. “We’ve talked about having something to play for a little bit, where our morale was, and I give the guys a ton of credit. They played with some urgency tonight.”
Raymond was inches away from giving the Red Wings the lead in the final seconds of the second period as his shot trickled between Hofer’s legs, but Hofer was able to recover and pounce on the puck before it could be tapped over the goal line.
“I think we just trusted a process,” Hellberg said. “I felt that throughout the game that we were better than them. We kept building and we felt like their goalie made some good saves, but we knew sooner or later he’s going to give up one.”
WELCOME BACK
Perron made his first appearance in St. Louis since signing with the Red Wings as a free agent before the season. Perron, who has had three separate stints with the Blues, was a first-round draft pick by St. Louis in 2007 and was a part of the 2019 Stanley Cup championship team.
Perron received a standing ovation from the crowd after being honored with a video tribute during a break in the first period.
“Just a surreal moment that I don’t think I ever thought I would get to this point, but these fans are unbelievable and it means a lot,” Perron said. “Obviously, I had to just kind of try and stay composed for a bit there and barely did it.”
NOTES: The Blues carried three goaltenders, with Jordan Binnington returning after a two-game suspension. … Red Wings D Olli Määttä played in his 600th career game. … Blues F Jakub Vrana, acquired in a trade with Detroit on March 3, had his four-game point streak snapped (four goals, one assist).
UP NEXT
The teams played the first game of a unique home-and-home set, the only times they face each other this season. The rematch is Thursday night in Detroit.
