Hutton, Blues stay hot with 2-0 win over Detroit

In is becoming increasing more difficult to see a path  for the Detroit Red Wings to secure their 26th straight playoff appearance this season.

And Wednesday night was another slip in the effort to gain any momentum in a 2-0 loss

Carter Hutton notched second straight shutout in Detroit – file photo by Lewis Bleiman

to the St Louis Blues.

“It’s definitely coming down to the end here. This is frustrating for sure,” Detroit’s Justin Abdelkader said.

Carter Hutton made 25 saves as he posted his second straight shutout.

“I saw before the game that he had three in his last five, so I told him that four in six would be much more impressive,” Blues coach Mike Yeo said. “Now I’m going to tell him how great five in seven would look.”

Hutton is hot on the road with four shutouts in his last six road games.

“I might have had a run like this in college; I know I got really hot as a junior,” the 31-year-old said. “But nothing like this at this level. I think Jake [Allen, the Blues’ No. 1 goalie] and I are answering a lot of critics.”

The Blues are 6-1-0 since Yeo took the bench boss duties.

“Our goalies are winning games for us, but we’ve also really focused on defense since Mike took over,” St. Louis defenseman Joel Edmundson said. “I think we’re letting Jake and Carter see more pucks, and that’s helped them.”

Ivan Barbashev  and Jaden Schwartz were the Blues’ goal scorers.

Detroit has lost four straight and fell to 22-25-10.

“We’ve been close every single game, where it is a play here and a play there, but we have to turn those into wins,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “These last four games don’t matter. We’ve got to win Saturday and go from there.”