By DANA GAURUDER Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) — Sammy Blais scored the go-ahead goal, Joel Hofer made 27 saves and the St. Louis Blues held off the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 on Thursday night.
Alexey Toropchenko, Brayden Schenn and Jake Neighbours also scored for St. Louis, which avenged a loss to Detroit on Tuesday night.
The Blues are 5-2-1 over their last eight games.
“We’re playing better hockey, our defense has been better and Hof has been great for us,” Schenn said. “A lot of guys have stepped up (since the trade deadline) and this has been a nice little stretch.”
Simon Edvinsson, the sixth pick of the 2021 draft, scored his first career goal in his third NHL game as Detroit took a 2-0 lead just 1:28 into the game.
Edvinsson was more disappointed that he committed two penalties than pleased about the goal.
“I felt like for myself — two penalties — not good enough. I need to step up there,” he said. “I think I will be happy for the goal tomorrow, but we lose today.”
Jake Walman and Alex Chiasson also scored for Detroit.
Magnus Hellberg and Alex Nedeljkovic combined for 18 saves.
Lucas Raymond scored on the only goal during the shootout in Detroit’s 3-2 victory at St. Louis on Tuesday. The Red Wings got off to a quick start in the rematch.
Edvinsson’s goal came 38 seconds in when he skated in from the left point and took a shot that bounced off a defender’s leg and trickled through Hofer’s pads.
Walman lifted a shot from the left side over Hofer’s right shoulder to make it 2-0.
Toropchenko scored midway through the period on a shot from the point. Nathan Walker, playing in his 100th career game, had an assist to make it 2-1.
“That was a big goal because it got us some momentum,” Blues defenseman Colton Parayko said. “I thought we played well after that.”
St. Louis stormed ahead in the second period.
Schenn tied it at 2 when he tipped in Jordan Kyrou’s shot, and Blais put the Blues in front at 12:40 of the period when he tapped in a rebound of Parayko’s shot.
“We kind of give up one and they started building momentum,” Chiasson said. “Next thing you know, we were chasing the game.”
Nedeljkovic then replaced Hellberg, but Neighbours scored less than two minutes later on a breakaway.
“It’s really tough to judge a game overall when four of their first five chances go in,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said. “I hated the way we handled it and I hated the way we lost our momentum and energy every time a goal went in.”
Chiasson scored on a backhander during a scramble around the net with 2:16 remaining.
“I thought we were pretty good once we started playing,” St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. “We weren’t on our toes at the start of the game, so we were slow and they were winning a lot of battles.”
NOTES: The Red Wings recalled Nedeljkovic from Grand Rapids of the AHL under emergency conditions. No. 1 goaltender Ville Husso was inactive due to a lower body injury. … St. Louis D Torey Krug did not make the trip so he could be with his wife, who just gave birth to their third child. … The Blues were 7-2-1 in their last 10 games at Detroit. … Blues GM Doug Armstrong was named GM for Hockey Canada at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship, which will be held in Finland and Latvia in May.
UP NEXT
Blues: Visit Anaheim on Saturday.
Red Wings: Visit Philadelphia on Saturday.
