BLUES (45-21-6) at RED WINGS (38-21-11)
TV: NBC, SN360
Season series: Pavel Datsyuk's goal with 2.2 seconds remaining in overtime helped the Detroit Red Wings defeat the St. Louis Blues 3-2 on Jan. 15. The Red Wings got two points despite squandering a 2-0 third-period lead.
Blues team scope: St. Louis will play the fifth of a six-game road trip after a 6-3 loss at the Minnesota Wild on Saturday. Center Paul Stastny scored his 14th goal to give him 500 points in his NHL career. "I'd rather have it in a win, but you just keep going forward," Stastny said. "The only good news for us is we play [Sunday]. We get right back at it." Blues defenseman Carl Gunnarsson sustained an upper-body injury in the second period and coach Ken Hitchcock had no immediate update on Gunnarsson's availability for Sunday. The Blues are 2-1-1 on the trip, which concludes Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Penguins. St. Louis finishes the regular season with six of its final eight games at home. Goalie Jake Allen, who relieved Brian Elliott on Saturday, is expected to start.
Red Wings team scope: Datsyuk (lower body) is questionable after missing the past two games. Datsyuk's injury isn't considered serious and he was to be examined on Saturday to determine his availability Sunday. Detroit starts a four-game homestand after a 1-3-0 road trip following a 3-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday. The Red Wings have lost six of their past eight games. Despite the recent slide, coach Mike Babcock sees positive signs. "The last three games were encouraging for me," Babcock told the Detroit Free Press. "We've started to skate better. For a while there after the trip, we didn't skate at all, we didn't move. It looks to me like our energy is back."
It wasn't long ago that the Detroit Red Wings were the only team in hockey without consecutive regulation losses. That finally happened two weeks ago, and what's followed hasn't been all that pretty.
Now experiencing their third such losing streak in eight games, the Red Wings need to turn things around Sunday against the visiting St. Louis Blues to avoid dropping three straight in regulation for the first time since Dec. 14-17, 2013.
The Red Wings (38-21-11) are back to open a four-game homestand after Friday's 3-1 loss to Tampa Bay dropped them to 2-6-0 since March 6. That span has featured 3.63 goals against per game, but their four-point playoff cushion over Ottawa with a game in hand is keeping them somewhat comfortable.
"We're not hunters," Henrik Zetterberg told the team's official website. "Teams are behind us and we're still ahead. Little bit more concern before (Sunday's 5-1 win in Pittsburgh), in my mind. The way we played in the last three, we've been doing a lot of good things. Obviously you want the points - that's important. If we keep playing like this we'll be fine."
There's probably some truth to that. Detroit's league-best power play (25.2 percent) kept ticking along at a consistent rate with a 1-for-3 mark - its 10th time with a goal in 11 games (10 for 40). It's also averaged 31.7 shots in those 11 games, up from 29.5 before that. The penalty kill is 10 for 10 in three games after allowing three goals Saturday in a 7-2 loss at Philadelphia.
"When you're on a winning streak like we were, you win some games sometimes maybe you shouldn't, and then crawling out of these things sometimes you lose a couple more than you should," coach Mike Babcock said. "But as long as you keep doing good things, good things are going to happen to you."
Datsyuk was vital in the first meeting, scoring in the final seconds of a 3-2 overtime win on Jan. 15. The Red Wings have won the last two meetings, though the Blues have taken the last three in Detroit.
That'd be even more concerning if St. Louis' road aura hadn't recently diffused.
The Blues, making a fifth stop on a six-game trip, had been on a 12-2-1 run away from home prior to Thursday's 2-1 shootout loss in Winnipeg and Saturday's 6-3 defeat in Minnesota.
They allowed a power-play goal Saturday for just the second time in 12 games but are still an impressive 35 for 37 (94.6 percent) on the kill in that span.
"We didn't play very well," coach Ken Hitchcock said. "Some of the goals were once-in-a-lifetime goals, but still, they scored six goals."
St. Louis is tied with Nashville atop the Central Division with 96 points and trails Anaheim by three with a game in hand against each.
Jake Allen will start in goal for the Blues after replacing Brian Elliott against the Wild. Allen preceded the relief appearance with a shutout in his previous start, but he has a 3.08 goals-against average in his last four games.
Counterpart Jimmy Howard has been even worse, losing three straight starts while going 1-4-0 in six games with a 3.67 GAA. That's about in line with a 3.82 GAA over a 1-3-1 stretch against the Blues.
T.J. Oshie has rarely contributed to Howard's struggles with just two goals and four assists in his last 18 games against Detroit.
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