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Blues, Red Wings collide in Motown

Jan 20, 2014 - 4:19 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Detroit Red Wings made the most of a controversial call that went in their favor on Saturday. On Monday, the club will try to record consecutive home wins for the first time since October when they host the St. Louis Blues at Joe Louis Arena.

Tomas Tatar capped a late Detroit comeback with the only goal of the shootout, lifting the Red Wings to Saturday's improbable 3-2 victory over the visiting Kings.

However, Detroit was the recipient of a fortunate ruling late in regulation before Tatar won it in the shootouts phase. The Red Wings trailed 2-1 in the final minute of the third, but drew even on a strange and controversial power- play tally from Niklas Kronwall, whose deflected shot bounced off the netting behind the Los Angeles goal and struck Kings netminder Jonathan Quick in the back before trickling in with 26.1 seconds to play.

The goal was upheld following a video review, with the NHL releasing a statement afterward explaining that the play was not reviewable.

"You get breaks against you a lot," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "We've had a number (of goals) called back against us this year. That was a break we got. If you work hard, over time you get breaks."

Coming off back-to-back shutout losses to Anaheim and the New York Rangers, Detroit also received a goal and an assist from Henrik Zetterberg and a 30- save performance from Jimmy Howard to prevail.

The Red Wings, who are just 7-10-7 as the host this season, halted a two-game home slide on Saturday. Detroit hasn't won two in a row at the Joe since beating Philadelphia and Columbus on Oct. 12 and 15, respectively.

Detroit is still battling a rash of injuries and star forward Pavel Datsyuk is expected to miss a seventh straight game on Monday with a lower-body injury. However, fellow forwards Daniel Alfredsson (back) and Joakim Andersson (lower body) could return to action on Monday. Alfredsson has sat out the last four games, while Andersson has missed the last two.

In addition to Datsyuk, forwards Johan Franzen (head) and Darren Helm (groin/shoulder) and defenseman Jonathan Ericsson (ribs) are expected to miss Monday's tilt.

The Blues will try to get back on track Monday after losing two straight and three of their last four games. St. Louis, which is second in the Central Division with 69 points, had won seven straight before falling into its recent funk.

St. Louis was handed a second straight regulation loss on Saturday, dropping a 3-2 decision against the visiting Anaheim Ducks. The Blues fell behind 3-0 in the contest before scoring twice in the third period to come up short in the comeback attempt.

Barret Jackman and Jaden Schwartz scored for the Blues, while Brian Elliott gave up all three goals on 21 shots.

"We haven't had good first periods in any of those games (on the losing streak)," Jackman said. "It is costly. We're not moving our feet, we're not getting the energy up. We weren't working together."

Alexander Steen played in his first game since suffering a concussion on Dec. 21, but the Blues forward failed to score despite registering four shots on net in nearly 21 minutes of ice time. Steen has a team-high 24 goals in 2013-14, tying his personal best mark for tallies in a season.

The Blues are opening a four-game road trip on Monday and are 14-5-3 as the guest this season.

St. Louis won three of five meetings against the Red Wings last season when the clubs were still in the same division before the onset of realignment moved Detroit to the Eastern Conference's Atlantic Division. The Blues have won two straight in the Motor City, but Detroit has claimed seven of the last 10 encounters on its home ice.

The Red Wings have taken six of nine in the series overall.