Red Wings’ Rally Falls Short in St. Louis

The Detroit Red Wings rallied from down 4-1 to pull within a goal Thursday night but couldn’t get the evener, falling to the St. Louis Blues, 4-3.

Nicklas Lidstrom and Patrick Eaves scored second-period goals but St. Louis goalie Jaroslav Halak stopped all 15 shots he faced in the third to hold onto the lead for the Blues.

Lidstrom’s goal came on a one-timer from the top of the left faceoff circle with 8:27 left in the middle period and the Red Wings on a five-on-three.

Eaves scored with 3:09 left in the period, snapping a shot from the top of the right circle past Halak after Kris Draper and Darren Helm dug the puck out from behind the net.

The Blues opened the scoring with 6:39 left in the first. Erik Johnson one-timed a shot from the blue line through a crowd and past Chris Osgood on a St. Louis power play.

Johan Franzen responded just 30 seconds later, tying the game on a snapper from the left faceoff dot.

Only 36 seconds after that, Patrick Berglund scored the first of two goals to restore the St. Louis lead, beating Osgood from the high slot.

Berglund scored again with 1:13 left in the first, just three seconds after the expiration of a penalty to Detroit’s Niklas Kronwall. Berglund’s shot from the left wing boards went through a crowd and past Osgood to make it 3-1.

Matt D’Agostini made it 4-1 at 5:51 of the second. Jonathan Ericsson gave the puck away in the neutral zone and it was picked up by Eric Brewer. Brewer sent it up to David Backes, who sprung D’Agostini for a break in on Osgood. He faked out Osgood and slid the puck past him for the eventual game-winner.

Osgood finished the night with 21 saves on 25 shots in his second failed bid at his 400th career win. Halak stopped 35 of 38 Detroit chances.

Both teams went one-for-four on the power play.

The Red Wings are now off for Christmas but return on Sunday when they visit the Minnesota Wild.