-Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/NHLI via Getty Images
After outscoring opponents 28-10 in its past five wins, St. Louis fell to the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 in overtime powered by goals from Tomas Tatar and Pavel Datsyuk.
The first period was a frustrating one for the Blues as they dominated the play outshooting the Red Wings 9-2, but were unable to get on the board.
Just two minutes into play, Jaden Schwartz had an opportunity down the right-hand boards, but it was turned aside by Petr Mrazek. The Blues continued the offensive pressure late in the period as Vladamir Tarasenko ripped a shot from the high slot, but that too was turned away by Mrazek who got the start in place of the injured Jimmy Howard.
Despite the Blues outshooting the Red Wings by a vast margin, the game remained scoreless after 20 minutes of play.
In the second period, the score remained tied until late in the period. Detroit’s Drew Miller held the puck below the goal line in the defensive zone of St. Louis. With time, Miller fired the puck from a tough angle on Brian Elliott as the puck bounced off of Andersson in front as Andersson was able to put it home for his first goal of the season and the first of the game. The goal made it 1-0 Detroit with 1:56 remaining in the second period.
After 38:04 of scoreless play before the goal by Andersson, the next goal would come much sooner as Tatar netted his 18th of the season. On the goal, Riley Sheahan shielded the puck away from Kevin Shattenkirk before dropping the puck over to Jonathan Ericsson. Ericsson took a wrist shot on net that was stopped by Elliott right in front as Tatar moved the puck from his forehand to his backhand and then into the net.
The goal would put the Blues in a two-goal deficit with just one period left to play.
Then the league’s best power play would go to work. Shattenkirk held the puck in the offensive zone near the blue line before sliding it across to his defensive partner Jay Bouwmeester who took a shot on net. The shot was deflected by David Backes into the net for his 16th tally of the season to make it 2-1 with 16:02 remaining in the period. The goal gives Backes seven goals and four assists in the past five games.
Then Detroit would get an opportunity on the power play as Gustav Nyquist lifted the puck over the shoulder of Elliott into the net. However, the goal was waved off as Justin Abdelkader was in the crease, so the score remained 2-1.
With under two minutes left to play and needing a goal, Ken Hitchcock pulled Elliott for an extra attacker. With the clock ticking down, Alex Pietrangelo carried play into the attacking zone as he moved in from the left side. Pietrangelo put a low shot a few inches off the ice on net that was deflected by Alexander Steen, past Mrazek, to tie the game at two with 47.6 seconds remaing.
The game remained tied for the rest of regulation as it would take extra time to decide this one.
The score remained tied for the majority of the overtime period until the final seconds of play. Kyle Quincey held the puck at the blue line and fed it over to Pavel Datsyuk who snapped a shot under the arm of Elliott to win the game for Detroit. The goal came with just 2.2 seconds left in the overtime period.
With the loss, the Blues do get a point, but their winning streak comes to an end.
St. Louis now sits at 27-13-4 and is tied with Chicago for second in the Central Division with 58 points.
The Blues will look to begin another winning streak Saturday Jan. 17 against the Toronto Maple Leafs at home at 6 p.m. CT.
