Datsyuk scores late in OT to lift Red Wings over Blues

ST. LOUIS -- Pavel Datsyuk scored at 4:57 of overtime to give the Detroit Red Wings a 3-2 win over the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night.

Detroit won for the fourth time in five games and completed a six-game road trip with a 4-2 mark. Petr Mrazek made 25 saves and improved to 3-0 in four career appearances against St. Louis.

Joakim Andersson and Tomas Tatar scored in a 60-second span in the second period to give the Red Wings a 2-0 lead. Datsyuk's 14th goal of the season helped Detroit improve to 5-9 in overtime.

David Backes and Alexander Steen had goals for St. Louis, which had a five-game winning streak snapped. Steen scored with 47 seconds left in regulation to tie it 2-2.

Andersson scored his first goal of the season with 1:56 left off a scramble in front of the net. Tatar tallied his team-high 18th by picking up the rebound of a shot by Jonathan Ericsson.

Backes cut the deficit in half with a power-play goal early in the third period.

Mrazek, filling in for Jimmy Howard, who is out two-to-four weeks with a groin injury, improved to 7-3-1.

St. Louis goalie Brian Elliott, who fell to 11-6-1, made 21 saves.

The Red Wings have won their last three games in St. Louis by a combined score of 11-3.

Noteworthy

• The Blues granted G Martin Brodeur a one-week leave of absence on Wednesday. The 42-year-old Brodeur, who signed with St. Louis on Dec. 2, went 3-3 with a 2.87 goals against average.
• The Blues have played the Red Wings 276 times, second-most of any opponent in franchise history behind Chicago (293). Detroit, which entered the game averaging 30.6 shots per game, managed just three through the first 31:42.
• Jincy Dunne, who scored the winning goal in overtime to lead the United States Women's U-18 team to a 3-2 win over Canada in the goal medal game Monday in Buffalo, dropped the first puck.

She is from the St. Louis suburb of O'Fallon, Missouri.