Pavel Datsyuk got help from the bench. The rest was up to the Detroit Red Wings center. Datsyuk's wrist shot from inside the left circle beat Blues goalie Brian Elliott over the right shoulder with 2.2 seconds remaining in overtime to give the Red Wings a 3-2 victory at Scottrade Center on Thursday. The officials initially gathered because they didn't see the puck go in the Blues net, but after review it was clear Datsyuk had his 15th goal. Elliott, who made 21 saves, admitted he was guessing on Datsyuk's shot. The Red Wings (24-11-9) won six of nine games during a stretch in which they played eight of nine on the road. They finished their six-game road trip 4-2-0. Joakim Andersson and Tomas Tatar each scored a goal one minute apart in the second period to give Detroit a 2-0 lead. The Red Wings ended the Blues' five-game winning streak. The Red Wings had three shots on goal through the game's first 30 minutes. It was the seventh loss on home ice for the Blues (27-13-4), who had outscored their opponents 28-10 during their winning streak. Petr Mrazek made 25 saves for the Red Wings. The 22-year-old came into the game with a 2-0-0 record, 0.80 goals-against average and .969 save percentage in three career games against the Blues. Backes and Alexander Steen each scored in the third period to help the Blues rally from a 2-0 deficit and send the game to overtime. Backes tipped a Jay Bouwmeester wrist shot from the point past Mrazek 3:58 into the third period with St. Louis on the power play. Backes' 16th goal ended a 128:13 goal drought for the Blues against the Red Wings at Scottrade Center. Steen's 14th goal, which extended his point streak to eight games (six goals, eight assists), came off a redirection of Alex Pietrangelo's centering pass with 47.6 seconds remaining in regulation. Andersson's first goal of the season came with 1:56 left in the second off Drew Miller's sharp-angled shot. Elliott left the near post exposed, and Andersson was able to poke the rebound past him for a 1-0 Detroit lead. Tatar's 18th goal came off a rebound of Jonathan Ericsson's shot from the left point. Tatar was able to collect the rebound with Bouwmeester nearby and lift a backhand over Elliott with 55.6 seconds left in the second. Before the Detroit goals, St. Louis had multiple chances to break the scoreless tie in the second period. Backes' wrist shot from the high slot was gloved by Mrazek with 11:19 remaining in the period, and then with Detroit on the power play, right wing T.J. Oshie could not convert a 2-on-1 shorthanded attempt with center Paul Stastny. Mrazek made a shoulder save on Oshie's initial wrist shot, and then the Blues right wing missed the net on the backhand rebound. The Red Wings had an apparent Gustav Nyquist goal waved off with 7:02 remaining in regulation when Justin Abdelkader was called for goaltender interference in the crease.
Blues Quotes
Brian Elliott: "I didn't see it. I just knew the only (real) spot he had to shoot, so I tried to get my body in front of it. It just snuck through there. Our D was trying to take the pass across. I have to watch the video again to see. It happened so fast out there."David Backes: "Two seconds left, you try not to give up anything and let them get a pretty clean shot away. That's tough. An icing with 30 seconds or 20 seconds left in overtime ... you try and gut those out. We showed a lot of character in coming back, getting a 6-on-5 goal which has eluded us for that first part of the year. We need to close that out after a lot of good efforts to come back."
Ken Hitchcock: "I wasn't sure when it was 2-0. When it was 2-1, I knew we were going to tie it up. I really felt that. If we kept it 5-on-5, we were going to be OK. I think that's the best somebody's played against us in this building for a long time. ... I'm disappointed in some aspect, but I think there's some real good lessons here. This was like a playoff game."
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