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Stempniak, Blues hand Red Wings rare loss

Dec 21, 2007 - 5:55 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- The St. Louis Blues did something that no other team had been able to do in nearly a month: hold the Detroit Red Wings without a point.

Lee Stempniak and Keith Tkachuk scored third-period goals to lift the Blues to a 3-2 win over the Red Wings on Thursday.

Brad Boyes scored his 20th goal of the season in the opening period and Manny Legace stopped 34 shots for St. Louis, which snapped a four-game losing streak and moved into sole possession of second place in the Central Division - 17 points behind Detroit.

The Blues entered Thursday's contest having been outscored, 20-12, in their previous four contests, and Legace had not notched a win since November 28.

"They're the best and most talented team in the league," Legace said. "We just had a full, solid 60."

The Red Wings, who had not been held without a point in a game since a 3-2 loss at Nashville on November 22, lost one of their best players in the first period when Tomas Holmstrom left with a knee injury after colliding with a teammate.

"We're optimistic that it's not a big deal," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "But we're not sure until we get our people to look at it. I thought we competed hard. We just didn't get enough to get it done."

However, it was not the loss of Holmstrom that ended Detroit's impressive string, it was an inability to kill off a pair of third-period penalties.

After defenseman Niklas Kronwall was called for hooking at the 3:42 mark of the final period, Tkachuk redirected a slap shot by Paul Kariya past goaltender Chris Osgood to tie the contest at 2-2.

"I thought last game in our power play, we moved the puck around very well," Kariya said. "We had some good quality chances and it was just a matter of time before we started capitalizing. (Tkachuk) pays a price every game for us in front of the net. It's nice to see him get rewarded.

"It was a big goal for us to get the game tied. And obviously Stemper's goal to win it in the third was huge."

Ten minutes later, defenseman Andreas Lilja was called for an interference penalty, setting the stage for Stempniak's game-winner. With 5:58 remaining in the game, Stempniak skated in from the left circle to the slot and beat Osgood with a wrist shot.

"They got two goals tonight which is below their average," St. Louis Blues coach Andy Murray said. "We got three goals tonight and that's above their average. When you do that, your chances of winning are pretty good.

"Our special teams were good tonight. It's a great team we're playing. Keith is strong, strong in front of the net. I thought Keith was outstanding in the third period."

The Red Wings looked like they were well on their way to an NHL-best 26th win in the second period when they erased a 1-0 deficit with a pair of goals 30 seconds apart.

Veteran Dallas Drake made a cross-ice pass across the goal mouth to Valtteri Filppula, who tapped it past Legace to tie the game at 1-1 with 9:25 remaining in the second.

Mikael Samuelsson gave Detroit a 2-1 advantage after he scored on a breakaway with just over nine minutes remaining in the session.

The loss was only the second of the season for Osgood, who made 21 saves but saw his record fall to 15-2-1.