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Weight's shootout goal hands Red Wings fourth straight loss

Mar 25, 2007 - 5:26 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- After further review, Doug Weight's shootout goal extended the losing streak of the Detroit Red Wings.

Weight scored a controversial goal in the second round of the shootout and Jason Bacashihua made an equally questionable save on Daniel Cleary's attempt in the third round as the St. Louis Blues posted a 3-2 victory over the Red Wings.

The loss was the fourth in a row for Detroit (45-19-11), which fell two points behind Nashville (48-21-7) for first place in both the Central Division and Western Conference.

The Red Wings dropped a season-high five straight games from November 17-25. Ironically, they suffered a shootout loss to the Blues during that slide.

With St. Louis ahead, 2-1, Valtteri Filppula scored with 7:17 remaining in the third period to force overtime. After a scoreless extra session, Weight gave the Blues the edge in the shootout on a strange play.

Entering 5-for-10 in the bonus format this season, Weight attempted to fire the puck between the pads of goaltender Dominik Hasek. The six-time Vezina Trophy winner made the initial save, but momentum carried him backward, and the puck ultimately wound up in the net.

"I went down and Dom stayed up on his feet," Weight said. "I felt like he was going to hold his position, so I tried to slide it five-hole. I got a lot on it, and the progression of his body is the rule. He has to stop with possession of the puck before it goes over the goal line. It's a tough thing for a goaltender. He was moving, and as he stopped, the puck was rolling in."

"The puck was somewhere under my pads," Hasek said. "I looked over at the referee and he was going, 'No goal.' At the same time, I sort of relaxed and the puck rolled over me, into the net. If the ref didn't do anything, I'd say it was a goal. But he spread his hands and said that it wasn't a goal."

The play originally was ruled a save, but after a lengthy video review, Weight was awarded the goal.

"I don't think it should be a goal because it was no goal before the puck rolled over the goal line," Hasek said. "It should be a rule. I don't understand why he changed his mind."

"I don't know what to say," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock added. "They implied that (Hasek's) momentum was carrying him. For me, what I see is, he's stopped and he's looking up at the ref that's waving him off, and then the puck's in the net."

Weight disagreed with Hasek, claiming the referee called it a goal before turning things over to the video officials.

"The ruling is 'goal,' and it's got to be conclusive 'no goal' to be called off," Weight said. "They reviewed it, they went upstairs, which is smart, what they should do. The point I wanted to make was he called it a goal, so it's got to be 100 percent conclusive that it's not."

Holding the last hope for Detroit, Cleary tried to slide the puck between Bacashihua's pads to forge a tie. However, the Michigan native made the stop and also slid backward, with the puck stopping on the goal line.

"I was watching the ref the whole time, and he called 'no goal,'" Bacashihua said. "I just tried to stop myself as close as I could to the goal line. The refs were right there. I opened my legs up and the (puck) fell right in front of the goal line. It didn't go in."

After prematurely celebrating, Bacashihua and the Blues were forced to wait several minutes until replay officials confirmed the save, giving St. Louis just its second win in eight games.

"I thought that with (Bacashihua) being in the net, the puck was in," Cleary said. "But obviously, the review was inconclusive. You know it's in, but you just can't see it. I haven't seen the replay yet, so it's hard to tell."

"They did the right thing," Blues coach Andy Murray said. "It has to be definitive. Doug Weight's was definitive, the other one was not definitive. The referee was right there. He said it wasn't over the line. Unless it's definitive, they can't overrule the call on the ice."

Defenseman Tomas Mojzis netted his first career goal, Brad Boyes also tallied and Bacashihua made 40 saves for the Blues (31-31-12), who kept alive their feint playoff hopes. St. Louis is 14 points behind idle Calgary (39-25-10) with eight games remaining.

"Having friends and family here and watching, it's a great feeling," said Bacashihua, who hails from nearby Garden City. "It's been a while since I've won a game. It's good to get back and play in front of these guys. They're playing well right now."

Jiri Hudler scored a power-play goal and Cleary notched his 100th career assist for Detroit, which concluded the season series against St. Louis with a 4-1-3 record.

"Give them credit, they were all over us," Red Wings defenseman Chris Chelios said. "That's a couple of games in a row at home that we started behind the eight-ball. ... Bottom line is, we've got to play three periods, or at least not lose it in the first period."

The Blues went 0-for-5 on the power play, finishing without a goal in 39 man-advantage opportunities vs. the Red Wings.

Mojzis opened the scoring at 4:36 of the first period, chasing down his own rebound and beating Hasek from the right side of the crease.

"It's just great," the 24-year-old Czech said. "I'm happy to be here every minute I'm here. To score a goal in the NHL, it's great. We got two points, which was the most important thing, but I'm glad I got my first one, too. I got the rebound, nobody was around."

Boyes doubled St. Louis' lead with 7:47 to go in the session, when grabbed the rebound of Lee Stempniak's shot in the slot and backhanded the puck around a defender and inside the left goalpost.

Hudler began Detroit's comeback in the middle period, firing a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle through a crowd and past Bacashihua at 7:05.

After Bacashihua made a superb glove save on Datsyuk with eight minutes to go in the third to preserve the lead, Filppula buried a rebound from the right hash marks less than a minute later to knot the contest at 2-2.

"I thought that we showed a lot of character coming back from being down two goals in the first and getting a point out of it," Detroit captain Nicklas Lidstrom said.

Datsyuk was kept off the scoresheet for the Red Wings, ending his three-game goal-scoring streak and 12-game points run.

Detroit lost more than just a game, as defenseman Brett Lebda suffered a concussion after being hit from behind by St. Louis' Ville Nieminen 6 1/2 minutes into the game. Lebda remained on the ice for a lengthy period before being carried off on a stretcher and taken to Detroit Medical Center for observation.

"It's what's been going on the last month in the league," Cleary said of Nieminen's hit. "You would think guys would have more respect for each other."