The St Louis Blues are doing their best to lock down a position in the top three in the Central Division.
On Thursday night, the Blues defeated the visiting Detroit Red Wings, 5-2, to put four points between them and the Dallas Stars for third in the division.
Jordan Binnington got the win over Detroit – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Ivan Barbashev scored a hat trick for the Blues who improved to 39-27-8.
“It feels great,” Barbashev said. “It’s their second game here to watch me and it was unbelievable. It was a good feeling.
“I thought our first period wasn’t really good, but the second and third, we just started playing better. We played physical. It was a lot of fun to be out there.”
Jordan Binnington made 20 saves to get the3 win.
Thomas Vanek struck twice for the Red Wings who held an early 1-0 lead before surrendering three straight to the Blues.
“I thought our effort was excellent, to be honest with you,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “I thought we competed real hard. We stubbed our toe a few times when we didn’t need to. … Overall, from an effort and compete standpoint, I thought it was excellent.”
Oskar Sundqvist and Pat Maroon also scored for the Blues.
“I think that’s what we’ve been talking about all year,” Maroon said. “Especially on that stretch we had where it’s just when someone scores, you’ve got to find a way to bounce back, get the next one. Our line went out there, got back to our game, grinding them down low, getting high to low, screens in front and found a way to get the rebound. [Robert] Thomas made a heck of a play with his skate, making that pass. So we found way to get it done tonight.”
[WATCH: All Red Wings vs. Blues highlights]
Jonathan Bernier made 19 saves in the loss.
“Vanek’s a true pro. An extremely smart player, one of the smartest players I’ve played with over the course of my career, good in the room, and it’s good to see him get rewarded” Niklas Kronwall said. “We could have used him for the stretch he was gone, too. That’s how offensively gifted he is.”
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