Blues overwhelm Red Wings 6-1

Vladimir Sobotka #71 of the St. Louis Blues celebrates his second period goal with teammates Vladimir Tarasenko #91 and Vince Dunn #29 during an NHL game against the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on December 9, 2017 in Detroit Michigan. (Photo by Dave Reginek/NHLI via Getty Images)

The St. Louis Blues made good on an early Saturday afternoon start at Little Caesars Arena. They blasted four goals in a row before the Red Wings responded in what concluded as a 6-1 win. It brought a short end to what Detroit hoped would be forward progress but what turned into a few steps back. Jake Allen made 28 saves against them in what was a frustrating 60 minutes for the Red Wings.

The Red Wings have been off for three days ready but were hoping to stay focused to maintain Tuesday’s big win over the Winnipeg Jets. The thrill of ending a seven-game losing streak came in a show of force that saw different players making their contributions to succeed. The Blues come into Detroit with a two-game winning streak in their search for another one. Jimmy Howard was in net yet again for the Red Wings where he wanted nothing more than to build on his victory where he stopped 25 against the Jets and do work against the Blues. While they don’t have a good history playing early afternoon games, Detroit knew that they couldn’t let their lone win be a fluke for more progress in the right direction.

The game had a slow start with three shots combined on goal between the teams in the first five minutes. It was clear that there was a fight for control of the puck with the Red Wings having the slight advantage. A power play to Detroit allowed them to pressure heavy for the first time with three shots at Allen. They took five in the two-minute chance but couldn’t convert. It was the best push that Detroit had put together in some time.

It then turned into a bad beat for Detroit as the Blues took control where Jaden Schwartz came in for a shot that went off the skate of Justin Abdelkader and Trevor Daley before going in. It was his 14^th of the season and the one that got the Blues ahead first. He suffered an ankle injury later in the game that took him off the ice for a time after being nailed with a puck. Despite his absence from the game, the Blues continued dealing with the shots on goal and did not allow Detroit to level the score in the first period.

They dealt with the rest of St. Louis’s power play which they had negated due to a penalty against them. The Red Wings had shorthanded chances that helped them add more to their shots on goal run but didn’t get them on the board. They instead saw the Blues increase their bottom line with a goal from Vladimir Sobotka who fired a high one that just caught the corner of the net for his sixth four minutes in. Scottie Upshall gave his team a 3-0 lead two minutes later with a rush to the net that gave him his fifth.

With the margin very big against the Red Wings, the needed something massive to come together and save the day. Allen was coming up big making the key stops that only frustrated the entire Detroit squad who saw him and the clock beat them down. It got worse for Detroit as Jay Bouwmeester made it 4-0 on a shot at 16:26 that gave him his first since returning from a long injury. Howard was dealing with yet another grueling time in between the pipes as he was living another nightmare. The Red Wings were held to four shots while St. Louis surged to 10 in the period with a sure chance of winning the game after 40 minutes.

Petr Mrazek came in to begin the third period for the Red Wings in an attempt to end the onslaught of goals scored by the Blues. Detroit didn’t make it any better as they gave their opponent’s a second power play where they sought to get a shot on goal for the first time. They were denied getting another goal but came closer later on as the Red Wings scrambled to assist Mrazek in blocking the puck from the net. Detroit had yet to get one at Allen in the period causing major concerns on the bench.

One got through at the hands of Frans Nielsen who had an open net on the team’s scoring chance in front of Allen getting his eighth. While it was a relief to get one, the Blues answered with well-designed scoring play that Dmitrij Jaskin scored after getting a stretch pass from captain Alex Pietrangelo for his fourth goal and Pietrangelo’s 16^th assist on the year. Before the brutality finished, the Blues got one more goal on a rebound attempt by Brayden Schenn notching his 15^th to complete their dominance over Detroit.  

While they continued on their road to success with three games in a row, the Red Wings would try to regroup fast before their Monday night match against the Florida Panthers.