• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Boyes scores twice as Blues down Red Wings

Mar 29, 2008 - 5:08 AM By Chuck Klonke PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

DETROIT (Ticker) -- Johan Franzen continued his torrid March, but the St. Louis Blues got some revenge.

Brad Boyes scored two goals, including the game-winner in overtime, to power the Blues to a 4-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Friday.

Franzen scored the winning goal in the third period of Detroit's 2-1 triumph in St. Louis on Tuesday, continuing a month-long stretch that has seen him record 13 goals and 11 assists. He added two more tallies in this contest.

This comes after the Swede entered March with just 12 tallies on the season.

"The second one was a great pass by Hank (Henrik Zetterberg), and I couldn't really miss it," Franzen said. "I have to thank him for that one. (I) got lucky on the first one. It was a rebound and I knocked it out of the air."

Franzen nearly had a third goal when Zetterberg went around defenseman Jay McKee and fed him, but All-Star goaltender Manny Legace made a glove save.

"(McKee) went down to block it and Zetterberg walked around him, and Franzen's wide open on the doorstep," Legace said. "He reached out and tipped the pass right into my glove."

However, after Franzen knotted the game at 3-3 at 15:19 of the third period with his second goal of this one, it was Boyes that ruined the Red Wings' chances of lowering their magic number for the Presidents' Trophy to one.

From near the right faceoff circle, Paul Kariya spun to his right and put a pass on the stick of Boyes, who used a snap shot to beat All-Star netminder Chris Osgood at 2:43 of overtime for his career-high 40th goal of the season.

"It was kind of funny," Boyes said. "(It was) almost exactly like the other night. We were playing well with a two-goal lead and, before you know it, it's tied. But this time, we were able to be resilient and come back and get the win."

Detroit (51-20-7) entered the contest needing a win as well as a loss by San Jose (47-21-10) to clinch its third President's Trophy in the last four seasons. The Sharks posted a 3-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Friday, clinching the Pacific Division title.

Kariya recorded three assists for the Blues, who won for just the third time in the last 18 games (3-12-3).

"The reason I've had so many tap-in goals is that Pauly's been setting me up," Boyes said.

Detroit registered 15 shots in the third period as it kept constant pressure on St. Louis.

"The whole third period was a red blur," said former Red Wing Legace, who finished with 36 saves. "It was a big fight all night. We had a great effort all around. You knew they were coming."

Boyes scored the only goal of the first period at 12:20 to give the Blues the lead. He one-timed a centering pass from Kariya past Osgood for his 39th goal of the season.

The teams traded power-play goals in the second period. Rookie defenseman Erik Johnson, who has scored three of his five goals this season against the Red Wings, fired a shot from the point that deflected off Franzen's skate and into the net at 4:29 to put the Blues ahead, 2-0.

Detroit halved the deficit when blue-liner Brian Rafalski flipped a shot over the right shoulder of Legace at 5:07.

Andy McDonald scored what appeared to be an insurance goal for the Blues at 9:28 of the third, but Franzen tallied twice during a span of less than two minutes to tie the game.

He poked a rebound between Legace's pads at 13:27 and, less than two minutes later, scored again on a tip-in at 15:19 to knot the contest at 3-3.

Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk assisted on all three goals for the Red Wings, who saw their four-game winning streak come to an end.

"For the first period and a half, we didn't want to shoot," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "You won't score goals if you don't shoot. Sometimes you're just not as pumped as you should be. We talk about it, but sometimes it just isn't there."

The game marked the return of fan favorite Darren McCarty, who left the Red Wings after the 2003-04 season to sign with the Calgary Flames. McCarty, who signed with Detroit as a free agent on February 25, received a standing ovation when he was introduced as one of the starters.