Detroit City Wire

The Detroit Red Wings overcame a four-goal deficit to defeat the St. Louis Blues 6-4 at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday night. The team scored six unanswered goals in the final 32 minutes of regulation, marking their fifth four-goal comeback victory in franchise history and extending their home winning streak to five games.

J.T. Compher and Jonatan Berggren each recorded a goal and an assist. “I think this is one we’ll lean on,” said Compher. “There’s going to be bad periods and bad stretches. We’re going to get into holes throughout the year, but this is one that no matter the situation in the game, we’re going to believe that we can come back and get the job done.”

Goaltender John Gibson made 25 saves for Detroit, while Jordan Binnington stopped 22 shots for St. Louis.

Detroit trailed 2-0 after the first period, with goals from Jordan Kyrou and Jake Neighbours. The Blues extended their lead early in the second period through Pavel Buchnevich and another goal from Neighbours, making it 4-0.

“Early in the game, you could feel them take the momentum and just run with it,” said Detroit head coach Todd McLellan.

Compher described the slow start as a continuation of recent struggles: “It wasn’t a good enough response,” he said. “It wasn’t a good feeling. Todd got into us in that second period and we responded really well, but it’s on us to respond quicker and not have two, three bad periods in a row.”

Following a media timeout called by McLellan after St. Louis' fourth goal, Detroit began its comeback with Berggren scoring on a power play at 7:52 of the second period. Rookie Axel Sandin-Pellikka contributed an assist on Berggren’s second goal of the season.

“When you score goals, it’s easier and more fun,” said Berggren.

Emmitt Finnie scored his fourth goal of the season late in the second period, followed by Compher tipping in another goal just 27 seconds later to bring Detroit within one heading into intermission.

“We believed that we could come back and do it,” Compher added. “We were doing it greasy. It wasn’t tic-tac-toe or anything. It was going to the net, earning goals and earning chances.”

Alex DeBrincat tied the game midway through the third period with his first goal of the season before Simon Edvinsson gave Detroit its first lead less than a minute later with a shot deflected off Brayden Schenn. Edvinsson sealed the win with an empty-netter for his third goal of the season.

“That guy should have seven or eight goals right now, but he finally got rewarded,” McLellan said about DeBrincat's effort.

McLellan acknowledged both frustration with Detroit's early performance and satisfaction with their comeback: “I’m glad that we won,” he said. “That’s an incredible comeback... We had absolutely nothing going on... It was borderline disaster, and then to get it and come back…I agree with J.T. I think you can build on it.”

The Red Wings will begin a five-game road trip next week starting with another matchup against St. Louis at Enterprise Center.

On Gibson’s performance, McLellan stated: “I don’t think Gibby had a lot to do with the goals they scored, quite frankly. We did zero to help him... He didn’t have as much work, but when he got the work he made some pretty sharp saves.”

Compher commented on Detroit’s resilience: “This is a character win... It would have been really easy to roll over after the last seven periods that we have had, but I’m pretty proud of that.”

Berggren described Saturday’s result as significant for team morale: “A huge win... Huge for the locker room to have that comeback, especially this early in the season too.” He also emphasized preparation: “Just be ready when the puck drops... We will definitely learn from that.”