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Franzen helps Red Wings hold off Blues

Oct 23, 2008 - 5:22 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- A late goal by Johan Franzen helped the Detroit Red Wings stay perfect on the road.

Franzen's tally with 5:51 left in the third period helped the Red Wings hold of the St. Louis Blues, 4-3, on Wednesday.

Henrik Zetterberg, Tomas Holmstrom and defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom also scored for Detroit, which improved to 3-0-0 on the road. Pavel Datsyuk recorded a pair of assists and Ty Conklin stopped 21 shots for the Red Wings.

As good as Detroit has been on the road, it is just 1-1-1 at home this season, something that concerns coach Mike Babcock.

"We've been a pretty good road team, and that's fine," Babcock said. "But to be a championship team, you have to be good in both places, and we can - and should be - a lot better in our own building."

Keith Tkachuk scored his seventh goal in six games and Brad Boyes and rookie T.J. Oshie also tallied for the Blues, who had their three-game winning streak snapped.

The Red Wings dominated early and built a 3-0 lead before the Blues staged a rally, pulling within 4-3 with 84 seconds left in the third.

"We were a little star-struck for two periods," said St. Louis goaltender Manny Legace, who stopped 30 shots. "We watched them skate around, and when you do that against that team, they usually do what they want. We've got some good kids, but they need to grow up now."

"We gave them too much respect," Boyes added. "We just need to go out and play."

The Blues' rally began with Tkachuk's league-leading seventh goal with 31.8 seconds left in the middle period. Boyes cut the deficit to 3-2 at 10:07 of the third, exiting the penalty box and receiving a pass from Jay McClement in the right corner before firing a wrist shot past Conklin.

However, just over four minutes later, Franzen restored Detroit's two-goal lead. "The Mule" gathered a loose puck at the blue line and beat Legace with a wrist shot from the slot with just under six minutes remaining.

"As much as we outplayed them in the first period, we needed to score," Zetterberg said. "Second period, too. Then we got outplayed a little in the third."

Franzen's goal helped the Red Wings avoid a huge collapse, as Oshie scored a power-play goal with 1:24 left. The Blues nearly got the tying goal in the final stages as several players poked at Conklin after he stopped a slap shot before finally covering up.

"They seem to be more active in the offensive zone this year, and a lot busier in front of the net, especially on that goal at the end," Conklin said. "But we found a way to hang on away from home. Now we just have to take it home."

Detroit's offense got a boost from the return of reigning Conn Smythe Trophy winner Zetterberg, who missed the previous two games with a groin injury. The Swede gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead with 8:08 left in the first, and Holmstrom's power-play goal 83 seconds into the middle session doubled the advantage.

"Tomas is good at finding an open spot. He does it a lot," Lidstrom said. "He doesn't need much to put the puck in the net. He does that a lot, too."

Lidstrom made it a three-goal game with a slap shot from the right point that found its way through traffic with 2:19 left in the second.

St. Louis coach Andy Murray praised Detroit but lamented his team's missed chances.

"There's a reason the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup last year," Murray said. "They're skilled and they work really hard. And we didn't play up to our standard. You can credit the goaltender, but we had some chances to score."