Blues rally to beat Red Wings

~ St. Louis snapped its four-game losing streak with the 3-2 win.

ST. LOUIS -- Playing the Detroit Red Wings generally is not a recipe for snapping a losing streak.

Thanks to 34 saves by goalie Manny Legace and third period power-play goals from Keith Tkachuk and Lee Stempniak, the St. Louis Blues stopped a four-game skid, rallying to beat Detroit 3-2 on Thursday.

The win ended the Red Wings' 12-game point streak. The Red Wings earned at least a point in 12 straight games (10-0-2) since losing 3-2 at Nashville on Nov. 22.

"That's the best team in the league," said Legace, a former Red Wings goalie. "They're the most talented and their work ethic is second to none. That's where you got to set your standards.

"I thought we had a full, solid 60 minutes all the way through."

Detroit goalie Chris Osgood (15-2-1) hadn't lost since dropping a 3-2 decision at Chicago on Nov. 11. Red Wings coach Mike Babcock thought his team played well enough to get Osgood another win.

"We competed hard," Babcock said. "We had a good run where we won a lot of games, and now we have to start another streak."

Brad Boyes scored his 20th goal for St. Louis, and Paul Kariya and Andy McDonald each had two assists. McDonald has four points in his first two games with the Blues, and Kariya has 31 points in 31 games.

Valtteri Filppula and Mikael Samuelsson scored for Detroit. Henrik Zetterberg picked up an assist on Filppula's goal, giving him 50 points (25 goals, 25 assists). Zetterberg has nine points in five games.

Detroit led 2-1 heading into the third period, but the Blues took advantage of Niklas Kronwall's hooking penalty to tie the game when Tkachuk deflected Kariya's shot from the point past Osgood at 4:22.

St. Louis took the lead with 5:58 remaining after Andreas Lilja's interference penalty. On the ensuing power play, Stempniak skated in front from the left boards and beat Osgood with a wrist shot.

Babcock thought the Blues' David Backes, who was in front trying to screen Osgood, was guilty of goaltender interference on the play.

"The thing I don't like is on their second power-play goal, they have a player two feet into the crease," Babcock said.