Detroit City Wire

In a closely contested match at the Enterprise Center, the Detroit Red Wings suffered a narrow 2-1 defeat against the St. Louis Blues in overtime. A strong performance from goaltender Cam Talbot, who made 35 saves, was not enough to secure victory for the Red Wings. The team managed to earn one point in the standings for the overtime loss.

“We played a really good road game for a long time,” commented J.T. Compher. “[Talbot] played out of his mind and gave us a chance to win. They were able to squeeze one in late and steal that second point away from us.”

Compher was the sole goal-scorer for the Red Wings, who now trail behind the Montreal Canadiens for the Eastern Conference's second Wild-Card spot. The Blues' goaltender, Jordan Binnington, contributed significantly with 20 saves, aiding his team in achieving their tenth consecutive win and moving ahead of the Minnesota Wild for the Western Conference's first Wild-Card spot.

“We know what’s at stake,” said Detroit head coach Todd McLellan. “It’s not the fact that we gave up a point to an opponent, it’s just that we didn’t get the point. After starting slow in the night, [Talbot] kept us in it and we worked our way back in…We just couldn’t find a way to hit the open net at the other end or just finish the night. It’s disappointing, but the effort was pretty good tonight. We were on the short end of the points. We’ve got to suck it up and get going at home now.”

The Red Wings' penalty kill unit also performed well, eliminating all of the Blues' power-play opportunities. Mortiz Seider credited the unit’s success to positioning and keeping shooting lanes open for Talbot.

Both teams failed to score in the first two periods. The deadlock was broken by Compher early in the third period, who was assisted by Jonatan Berggren and Vladimir Tarasenko. However, the Blues equalized with 29 seconds left in regulation when Jordan Kyrou scored, leading the game into overtime. The Blues secured the win through Cam Fowler’s backhand goal in extra time.

Seider reflected on the game, “Two really good teams and two really good goaltenders tonight. I thought [Talbot] really played on top of his head and helped us out here to give ourselves a chance…I thought we contained them pretty well. Hopefully, that one point will be huge and looking back that’ll be a big one. But obviously, it’s really hard realizing that now because it feels like you lost one.”

Looking forward, the Red Wings are set to face the Carolina Hurricanes at Little Caesars Arena on Friday night, aiming to bounce back from the overtime loss.

Todd McLellan addressed the challenge of moving forward after the loss, “We can either feel sorry for ourselves, which I don’t think is a great option, or we can get right back after it. We have no choice. It’s not like we’re in the middle of the season and can take the time to pout a little bit. We don’t have that. We get on the plane, go home and get ready. We have a couple tough games coming up with Carolina and Florida [Panthers] at home. We know they’re really important, and with this type of effort we’ll give ourselves an opportunity to win.”

J.T. Compher also emphasized the necessity of quick adaptation, “There’s no time. We got a couple days to refocus and then it’s back at it. We’ll keep fighting for our lives, like we’ve been doing.”

Offering insight on the strength of their opponents, Compher added, “That’s a really good hockey team playing really good at the moment. We gave ourselves a chance to get two points, but we came up short. No one has beat them [in the nine games prior] and we gave ourselves a really good chance tonight.”

Seider also commented on Talbot’s recent performances, “Obviously, that’s more frustrating if you can’t get it done for him. He’s playing unreal and giving us at least a chance every night to stay in the fight.”