Wings use late surge to salvage point but Blues prevail in overtime

Detroit — Playing the defending Stanley Cup champions isn’t the best remedy for a long losing streak.

And it wasn't for the Red Wings, who rallied for a point but ultimately lost, 5-4, in overtime against the St. Louis Blues on Sunday night.

Blues forward David Perron scored his sixth goal at 1 minute, 28 seconds of overtime, rallying the Blues, who gave up a 3-1 third-period lead.

The Red Wings (3-8-1) scored three third-period goals to salvage a point but saw their winless streak reach eight games.

BOX SCORE: Blues 5, Red Wings 4 (OT)

"That third period was a building block for us,” said Dylan Larkin, who had a goal and an assist. “We don’t like our start, we need to come out with more energy at home, but that was a confidence-building period. We need to play like that all the time — throwing pucks at the net, playing fast and not giving the other team much.”

Blues forward Ryan O'Reilly tied it at 4 with his fourth point and second goal of the game on the power play at the 15:42 mark, just 23 seconds after the Wings were penalized for too many men on the ice. 

“Ultimately it’s my bench and I’m responsible for it,” coach Jeff Blashill said of the untimely too many men penalty. “You can’t have that. We have to know who we’re changing for, the players and coaches both on the bench, there’s no way you can end up with a too many men. We’ve taken a couple here and that’s a joke. There’s no possible way that can happen at that point. I take responsibility for it.”

Larkin, Valtteri Filppula and Tyler Bertuzzi scored third-period goals.

Bertuzzi snapped a 3-3 tie with his fifth goal at the 11:51 mark. Larkin won the faceoff, and the puck went to Bertuzzi, who snapped a bad-angle shot that got through Blues goalie Jordan Binnington.

Larkin cut St. Louis’ lead to 3-2, with his third goal, just 1:44 into the third period. Larkin snapped a shot that bounced off Binnington’s shoulder, over his head and into the back of the net. 

The goal certainly energized the Wings, who tied it on Filppula’s first goal at the six-minute mark. Filppula, off the rush, centered a pass that bounced off the skate of Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo and into the net.

“Best period we’ve played all year,” Bertuzzi said. “We were playing with a lot of emotion, we were playing to win. Keep doing that and doing the right things that way, wins will come.”

Filip Hronek (power play) added the other goal in the second period, ending a Wings’ scoreless streak of 127 minutes, 31 seconds at the time.

St. Louis (6-3-3) lost Saturday in Boston in what was a rematch of last season’s excellent Stanley Cup Finals.

After that defeat, the Blues appeared intent on not losing two in a row less than 24 hours later with the quick start.

But the Blues appeared to wear down as the third period approached, and the Wings took advantage.

“In the third they’re a bit tired. They played an emotional game (Saturday), and that’s part of why the third ends up that way, they’re tired for sure,” Blashill said. “We did tons of good stuff throughout the game, especially as the game continued to go along, we carried the play.”

The Blues jumped on the Wings early.

With Patrik Nemeth in the box for hooking, the Blues quickly took advantage with Brayden Schenn (ninth goal) converting a nice pass from O’Reilly just 1:20 into the game.

The Blues extended the lead to 2-0 at the 7:26 mark on Zach Sanford’s first goal.

O’Reilly fed Alexander Steen racing on the ice, and Steen slapped a shot that nicked Sanford and got past goaltender Jonathan Bernier.

“You can’t start down 2-0,” Blashill said. “You’re on your heels and you can’t be on your heels when you are a team that hasn’t won enough. We have to be way better than that early.”

Hronek got the Wings on the scoreboard with his power-play goal, one-timing a pass from Mike Green to cut the St. Louis lead to 2-1 at 10:04 of the second period.

ted.kulfan@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @tkulfan