The St. Louis Blues snapped a three-game losing streak on Tuesday night with a 3-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings at Enterprise Center. Jimmy Snuggerud scored the winning goal late in the third period and added an assist, helping St. Louis improve to 8-8-2 while sending Detroit to its fourth consecutive loss.
Strong Response After Late First-Period Setback
Head coach Jim Montgomery entered the matchup wanting the Blues to establish a faster pace in the offensive zone, retrieve pucks more aggressively, and force opposing defenders to work harder. St. Louis controlled much of the early play, but Detroit goaltender John Gibson kept the game scoreless with several key saves, including a paddle stop on Jonatan Berggren.
Detroit took the lead with just 12.3 seconds remaining in the opening period. Following an icing call on Blues defenseman Cam Fowler and a lost defensive-zone face-off, Andrew Copp redirected a left point shot from Ben Chiarot into the net to make it 1-0.
Despite the late setback, St. Louis responded quickly in the second period by scoring two goals in under two minutes. Pius Suter tied the game 37 seconds into the period after Ross Johnston and Alexey Toropchenko won a battle along the boards to set up a pass across the crease. The goal marked the 100th NHL goal and 200th career point for Suter.
At 2:34 of the second period, defenseman Justin Barron joined a 3-on-2 rush and finished a feed from Robert Thomas to give the Blues a 2-1 advantage. Claimed off waivers from the Nashville Predators earlier this season, Barron has recorded 10 points in 15 games with St. Louis while adapting to playing on his off-side on defense. His strong play coincides with the team assigning first-round prospects Theo Lindstein and Adam Jiricek to AHL Springfield.
Hofer Holds Firm as Snuggerud Capitalizes
The Red Wings mounted a strong push in the third period, putting 20 shots on goal after registering just 12 through the first two periods. Blues goaltender Joel Hofer stopped 19 of those third-period attempts to preserve the lead, finishing with 30 saves on the night to improve his season record to 7-5-1.
Hofer also withstood a tense moment at 8:37 of the final period during Detroit’s only power play of the game. Following a goal-mouth scramble, officials conducted a lengthy video review before confirming the initial call on the ice that the puck had not crossed the goal line.
Snuggerud extended the Blues’ lead to 3-1 at 15:58 of the third period. After making a defensive play in his own zone to launch a rush, Snuggerud drove toward the net, where a pass from Dylan Holloway deflected off Gibson and bounced off Snuggerud’s skates into the net for his team-leading 10th goal of the season.
The victory also marked the return of defenseman Logan Mailloux, who made his season debut after missing 17 games with a broken right hand, skating 18:09 alongside Philip Broberg. Before the game, the Blues honored 104-year-old World War II Marine veteran Bob Schultz, who performed the ceremonial puck drop for the team’s Salute to Military Night.
