Fowler's OT goal lifts Blues past Red Wings for 10th straight win

ST. LOUIS -- Cam Fowler scored at 3:27 of overtime, and the St. Louis Blues extended their winning streak to 10 games with a 2-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Enterprise Center on Tuesday.

Fowler took a pass from Robert Thomas and lifted a backhand over Cam Talbot after Jordan Kyrou tied the game at 19:31 of the third period.

“A quick little 2-on-1 there,” Fowler said. “Obviously, 'Tommer’s' a great passer. He put me in a good position and I just saw myself in with a good chance on the goalie and tried to make a good shot. It was a good all-around play mostly by Tommer. He set the whole thing up.”

Kyrou tied it 1-1 for the Blues, who had pulled Jordan Binnington at 16:37 of the third, when he was able to slide a puck through Talbot’s pads after receiving a pass from Fowler.

“We’re just trying to attack there,” Kyrou said. “Not much time on the clock and we get a recovery there. Obviously, [Fowler] made a [heck of a] pass to me right to the seam there and I just tried to tip it.”

Jim Montgomery said he pulled Binnington early because the Blues weren’t creating enough at the time at 5-on-5.

“We weren’t creating enough chances, we didn’t have enough zone time, and they were icing pucks because they were tired,” he said.

Binnington made 20 saves for the Blues (41-28-7), who moved one point ahead of the Minnesota Wild for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.

“The great thing is we found a way to win,” Montgomery said. “Our third period continues to be a period where we play simple, our habits are at their best and our game management was the best.”

J.T. Compher scored, and Talbot made 35 saves for the Red Wings (34-33-7), who have lost 12 of their past 16 games (4-11-1). The Red Wings are four points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild card from the Eastern Conference.

“We just couldn’t find a way to hit the open net at the other end or just finish the night,” Detroit coach Todd McLellan said. “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 right now.

“We can either feel sorry for ourselves 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 we 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 at home. We know they’re really important. With this type of effort, we’ll give ourselves an opportunity to win.”

Compher made it 1-0 at 5:13 of the third period, tapping in a pass across the top of the crease from Jonatan Berggren into an open net.

“We had to work hard to get that goal,” McLellan said. “We were limiting it on our end to just the one chance (afterwards) and not second and third chances. At the other end, we thought we were getting some chances.

“The message didn’t change. We didn’t talk about playing safe or anything like that. Same game plan. It was a pretty good period. Unfortunately, we just didn’t win the game.”

Talbot did everything to keep the Red Wings in the lead when the Blues were peppering the goalie, especially early.

“Boy, he’s had a couple real good ones, hasn’t he?” McLellan said. “He just looks big, he looks confident, he looks sure of himself. With the team, you can tell from the bench when it’s going well for a goaltender. The team’s a little relaxed and they’re excited for the goaltender. You don’t sense any type of panic. We’re going to need more of that moving forward.”

NOTES: The Blues have outscored their opposition 41-14 during their winning streak and have allowed two or fewer goals in nine of the games and one or fewer in seven of them. … Thomas extended his point streak to six games (two goals, 11 assists). … St. Louis forward Dylan Holloway had an assist on the game-tying goal to give him 16 points (six goals, 10 assists) in his past 11 games. ... Blues forward Jimmy Snuggerud, the No. 23 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, played 10:43 and had two shots on goal in his NHL debut.