Hofer makes 30 saves, Blues hand Red Wings fourth straight loss

ST. LOUIS -- Joel Hofer made 19 of his 30 saves in the third period, and the St. Louis Blues ended a three-game slide by handing the Detroit Red Wings their fourth straight loss 3-2 at Enterprise Center on Tuesday.

“Not a lot of action (in the first two periods). It's obviously fun to get some shots and feel the pressure a little bit, but it was obviously good the way we played,” Hofer said. “It was a huge win for us.”

Jimmy Snuggerud had a goal and an assist, and Pius Suter and Justin Barron each scored for the Blues (8-8-2), who were 0-2-1 in their previous three games.

“I really liked the way we started the game. I thought our first 40 minutes might have been our best first 40 minutes of the year,” St. Louis coach Jim Montgomery said. “They pushed, they were down, they pushed. I thought we took our foot off the pedal, but we managed the puck well. We kept making them come against pressure. That’s why we extended the lead.”

Andrew Copp had a goal and an assist, and Lucas Raymond had two assists for the Red Wings (7-9-3), who have been outscored 13-5 in their past four losses. John Gibson, who missed the past two games with a lower-body injury, made 30 saves.

“I sure didn’t like our start. This was the complete opposite of the game that we played (against St. Louis in a 5-4 loss on Oct. 31) in Detroit a week or 10 days ago,” Detroit coach Todd McLellan said. “We were the dominant team for the first half of the game and then they took it over. I thought that happened here tonight, but unfortunately, they got the third one. We had a chance to come back or at least tie it at two, but three makes it pretty tough.”

Copp gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead at 19:47 of the first period. After Copp won the face-off and got the puck to Raymond, he skated to the slot and redirected Ben Chiarot's wrist shot from the left point by Hofer’s glove.

“I thought that was probably one of our better games in terms of starts and first periods,” Barron said. “Obviously they got one at the end of the first period there, but I liked the way we responded at the start of the second. We got right back to kind of how we finished the first period.”

The Blues scored twice in a 1:57 span early in the second period to forge ahead 2-1.

Just 37 seconds into the period, Suter began the Blues' surge with his 100th career goal to tie it 1-1. The forward converted a pass from Alexey Toropchenko coming off the right wall with a puck through the crease to the opposite side, and then Barron made it 2-1 at 2:34 off a 3-on-2 pass from Robert Thomas into the right circle. The shot caromed off Gibson’s arm, then the back of the goalie's right skate and in.

“You always try and get something going,” Suter said. “Get pucks back and then hold the line and low-to-high and just get them on net, especially our line. is such a big presence in front of the net. He makes the other guys try to move him, and so we always have somebody at the net.”

Detroit looked to tie it with 11:23 left in the third period on the power play by pushing the puck past the goal line on a net-front scramble. It was deemed no goal on the ice and upon video review, the call was confirmed.

Snuggerud pushed the Blues' lead to 3-1 at 15:58. He shot to the net after taking the puck in on a breakout, then got the rebound of Dylan Holloway's shot from the top of the right circle and chipped it over Gibson's left pad.

Moritz Seider scored his first goal of the season, a one-timer off a no-look pass from Raymond with Gibson pulled for the extra attacker, for the 3-2 final at 18:46.

“A couple lapses cost us the game,” Detroit forward Alex DeBrincat said. “I think overall we’ve got to be better creating stuff in the first two periods. … It’s tough to come back in this League. … Third period, we had a lot of chances to put it in the net and it just doesn’t go in. We’ve got to work harder around (the net)."

NOTES: Suter’s goal was also his 200th NHL point. … Barron has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in 15 games with St. Louis this season after having nine points (all assists) in 52 games with the Nashville Predators last season. … Blues defenseman Logan Mailloux played 18:09 in his season debut after missing 17 games with a broken right hand. … Red Wings forward Mason Appleton played 10:03 and had four hits after missing the past 16 games with an undisclosed injury, and forward Marco Kasper played 15:06 with six face-off wins after missing the past 17 games with an upper-body injury. … Detroit defenseman Justin Faulk was a minus-1 in 21:20 of ice time in his first game back in St. Louis since being acquired by the Red Wings on March 6. He had spent the past six seasons (2019-2026) with the Blues.