Two former Western Conference rivals squared off for a Saturday night (Oct.25) matchup, with the St. Louis Blues traveling to Detroit to take on the Red Wings. Both teams were coming off losses in their previous games, in which they gave up seven goals, and were looking to end their losing streaks. After the Blues jumped out to a 4-0 lead, the Red Wings led a furious comeback to pull off a 6-4 comeback win.
Game Recap
The Blues came out and dominated the opening period of the game, having nonstop pressure on the Red Wings and taking advantage of spotty defensive play. Jordan Kyrou cashed in on a power play opportunity less than ten minutes into the game, with Cam Fowler finding him at the top of the zone. Kyrou took advantage of two screens in front of Red Wings goaltender John Gibson to give the Blues a 1-0 lead. It did not take long for the Blues to extend their lead to 2-0, with the Red Wings being caught in their own end of the ice for an extended period of time, and Jake Neighbours scoring a goal right outside of Gibson’s crease on a re-direction off a pass from Justin Faulk. After the first period, the Blues held a 2-0 lead and outshot the Red Wings 11-4.
Another power play goal, less than a minute into the second period, by Pavel Buchnevich pushed the Blues’ lead to 3-0 after yet another re-direction goal out in front of Gibson. Neighbours added his second of the game less than five minutes later, feeding off a defensive lapse by the Red Wings following a dump-in by the Blues. The Red Wings left him all alone as he worked into the slot, and Robert Thomas found him in the slot for a shot that beat Gibson five-hole and gave the Blues a 4-0 lead. The Red Wings slowly began to get themselves back into the game, beginning with Jonatan Berggren scoring on the power play off a great cross-ice feed down low by Andrew Copp to get the Red Wings on the board. They would then score twice in the final two minutes of the period thanks to some puck luck. Dylan Larkin made a strong play on a Blues defenseman to lead to the puck bouncing out to Emmitt Finnie on a bit of a lucky bounce, and Finnie found a way to get his stick on the puck to beat Binnington. Travis Hamonic followed that up for the Red Wings with a fluttering shot that was knocked down in front by JT Compher that got past Binnington to bring the Red Wings within one, with the score being 4-3 after 40 minutes of play.
The third period was controlled by the Red Wings for the most part, riding the momentum of the two late second-period goals. Binnington stood tall early on in the period, weathering the storm. But the Red Wings eventually got to him again, with Alex DeBrincat scoring his first goal of the season to tie the game up at four apiece before Simon Edvinsson scored less than a minute after on a shot from the point that deflected off Brayden Schenn for a 5-4 lead. Edvinsson added an empty net goal to give the Red Wings a 6-4 comeback win.
Related: How Dylan Larkin’s Leadership Has Sparked the Red Wings’ Strong Start
In the win, Gibson earned his third win of the season and stopped 25 of 29 shots. Binnington stopped 21 of the 26 shots he faced. Finnie also pushed his point streak to four games with his goal in the second period.
What’s Next
The Red Wings move to 6-3-0 and are off until Tuesday night (Oct. 28), when they travel to St. Louis to take on the Blues again. The Blues, who fall to 3-4-1, return to the ice when they head to Pittsburgh for a matchup against the Penguins on Monday (Oct. 27).
