Just when the Detroit Red Wings were beginning to look scary good, things took a frightening turn. The Red Wings surrendered three unaswered third-period goals to the St. Louis Blues. Squandering a 4-2 lead in the process, the Wings dropped a 5-4 verdict to the Blues on a Halloween Saturday afternoon at Little Caesars Arena.
St. Louis forward Dalibor Dvorsky opened the scoring, catching Detroit goalie John Gibson going the wrong way on a cross-crease deke.
Red Wings lines tonight: projected lineup and starting goalie →
Detroit tied in later in the period. Blues goalie Joe Hofer mishandled a Nate Danielson dump-in behind his net. Michael Rasmusseen corralled the loose puck, feeding it to JT Compher, who blasted it into the vacated Blues net.
The Red Wings took the lead 41 seconds into the second period. Keegan Kolesar got loose on a breakaway and beat Hofer with a deke move. That was his first goal and first point with the Red Wings.
Lucas Raymond made it 3-1 later in the period. Circling the St. Louis zone, Raymond unleashed a wrist shot that eluded Hofer on the stick side.
With 27.1 seconds left in the second period, Jimmy Snuggerud jammed the rebound of a Robert Thomas shot by Gibson to make it 3-2.
Emmitt Finnie restored Detroit’s two-goal margin, scoring his sixth goal of the season on an early third-period power play.
The Blues weren’t ready to surrender. Midway through the period, Pavel Buchnevich beat Gibson with a high shot on the stick side. Goals by Justin Barron and Aleksanteri Kaskimaki put St. Louis back in front for the first time since it was 1-0.
Takeaways
Detroit goalie Gibson didn’t stop a single shot during the first period. Gibson’s first save of the game came with 10:53 left in the second period when he foiled Dvorsky with a pad save. After going the first eight games of the season without a goal, Raymond has scored five goals in the past six games.
Former Red Wings forward Jonatan Berggren made his return to Detroit with the Blues. He was skating on the right wing of the second St. Louis forward line with Pavel Buchnevich and Mason McTavish. Pius Suter, another former Detroit player, was at center on the Blues’ fourth line.
Key Moment
The goals by Barron and Kaskimaki to give St. Louis the lead came 18 seconds apart in the third period.
Key Stat
Detroit’s three-game home-ice win streak came to an end. The Red Wings are 7-12-3 in their past 22 games at Little Caesars Arena.
Up Next
The Red Wings are back on the road on Monday to face the Florida Panthers. Game time is 7 p.m.
Bob Duff has worked in the sports media industry since 1984 and covered the Red Wings since 1988. As … More about Bob Duff