Blue Friday

The St. Louis Blues are leaving Detroit with a loss on every game of a five game road trip, after losing to the Red Wings, 3-1.

The Blues opened the scoring just 4:37 into the game. Cory Stillman was able to shoot against Dominik Hasek after taking a pass from Jeff Finley. The puck deflected off of Mathieu Dandenault’s outstretched stick and into the net behind Hasek.

The Red Wings answered that goal with 7:42 left in the first period. Nicklas Lidstrom fired a hard shot from the blue line, and Kris Draper tipped it into the net past St. Louis goaltender Fred Brathwaite. Draper now has seven goals on the season, just one behind his last year’s total of eight goals in seventy-five games.

Steve Yzerman snapped the tie 8:16 into the second period. The Blues’ Marc Bergevin had been sent to the penalty box for holding the stick, and Detroit got its all-star power play unit onto the ice. Sergei Fedorov took the puck away from a St. Louis defenseman in the left corner and passed back to Yzerman at the blue line. Yzerman blasted the shot away, and the puck went over Brathwaite’s shoulder.

Brett Hull fired a shot on Brathwaite just forty-six seconds later, and the players and fans all thought the puck had gone into the net, but official review determined that the puck had actually hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced back out.

Detroit scored again 4:35 into the third period. Yzerman and Brendan Shanahan got a two-on-one breakaway chance. Yzerman passed cross-ice to Shanahan, who sent the puck flying into the net over the sprawling Brathwaite.

St. Louis pulled their goalie for an extra attacker with just under two minutes left in the game. They were handed thirty-six seconds of a six-on-four advantage when Draper was given a penalty for cross-checking, but Hasek and the Red Wings defense were able to keep the puck from going into the net one more time.

Hasek made thirty-four saves on thirty-five shots. The Blues’ defense was able to hold the Red Wings to only twenty-four shots against Brathwaite. The Blues were 0 for 6 on the power play, and the Red Wings went 1 for 4 with the man-advantage.

Hasek made thirty-four saves on thirty-five shots. The Blues’ defense was able to hold the Red Wings to only twenty-four shots against Brathwaite. The Blues were 0 for 6 on the power play, and the Red Wings went 1 for 4 with the man-advantage.