Nedeljkovic, Red Wings top Blues, end four-game skid

DETROIT -- Alex Nedeljkovic made 35 saves for the Detroit Red Wings, who ended a four-game skid with a 4-2 win against the St. Louis Blues at Little Caesars Arena on Wednesday.

"That's one of those games where you just have to tip your hat to the goaltender," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "We could have easily had five or six goals tonight -- we created enough chances, and we got the shots we needed -- he was just that good."
Robby Fabbri, who played his first 164 NHL games for St. Louis, including winning the Stanley Cup in 2019, had a goal and an assist in his first game against his former team.
"It was awesome to see [Fabbri] get a goal tonight," Nedeljkovic said. "That's where he started his career, and he had a really special run there. It was awesome for him to finish it off."

Dylan Larkin also had a goal and an assist for the Red Wings (9-9-3), who were returning from a 0-3-1 road trip.
"This gets us back to [.500] and we have a chance to build on that on Saturday (against the Buffalo Sabres)," Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. "You don't want to drop below that level, and now we have a number of games at home (four of next five) to get some points."
Pavel Buchnevich and David Perron scored for St. Louis (10-7-2), which has lost two of its past three games and six of its past eight (2-5-1). Ville Husso made 19 saves.
"I thought we played a really good game," Blues captain Ryan O'Reilly said. "We just didn't get the results we wanted."

Buchnevich gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 10:11 of the first period. He converted on a one-timer off a pass from Jordan Kyrou from behind the net.
Lucas Raymond tied it 1-1 at 13:48, taking a pass from Tyler Bertuzzi and shooting five-hole on Husso on a breakaway.
Larkin made it 2-1 at 7:45 of the second period, scoring from the slot after Marco Scandella couldn't clear away a rebound.
"We made a few too many defensive mistakes tonight," Kyrou said. "We have to be better at that, and I'm including myself there."
Perron scored his first goal in 14 games to tie it 2-2 at 1:11 of the third period, beating Nedeljkovic from a sharp angle.
Adam Erne put Detroit ahead 3-2 at 4:38 with a long wrist shot through a screen.

The Blues then had two Grade-A scoring chances at 6:55 of the third, but Nedeljkovic got across to make a pad save on Niko Mikkola's shot before lunging back to make a glove save on Scandella's rebound attempt.
"I saw the puck was already on his stick and I was still on the wrong side of the net," Nedeljkovic said. "At that point, I'm just trying to take up as much of the net as possible."
After Colton Parayko hit the crossbar off the ensuing face-off, Nedeljkovic again made a highlight-reel save, this time kicking out his left pad to deny Scott Perunovich on a one-timer from low in the left circle.
"[Nedeljkovic] was unbelievable tonight, especially in the third," Blashill said. "He stole one for us."
Fabbri shot into an empty net at 18:45 for the 4-2 final.
NOTES:Red Wings rookie forward Joe Veleno did not return after sustaining an upper-body injury late in the second period. Blashill did not have an update after the game. … Detroit defenseman Danny DeKeyser was a late scratch because of COVID-19 protocols. … Blues forward Brayden Schenn was minus-2 in 15:12 of ice time in his return after missing nine games with an upper-body injury. "He was OK," Berube said. "He wasn't going to be 100 percent after missing that much time, but he'll be fine."