Blues rally for 4-3 win over Red Wings in Stockholm
NHL.com @NHLSTOCKHOLM -- It was considered a Detroit home game here at the Ericsson Globe and the Swede-heavy Red Wings had the sellout crowd on its side throughout the late-starting first game of the 2009 Compuware NHL Premiere-Stockholm.
Too bad the St. Louis Blues spoiled the party.
Paul Kariya scored twice and B.J. Crombeen had the other as the Blues showed the same fight and resiliency they had in the second half of last season when they shocked the NHL by making the playoffs as the sixth seed in the West after being dead last on Feb. 12.
"There is no give up in this team, that's for sure," said Kariya, who watched from the sidelines last season as the Blues went 19-7-3 over the final two months of the season. "We got off to a horrible start (Friday) because I think we were a little hesitant in the first period, but we calmed down toward the middle of the second and started to play our game."
The Blues scored first on a goal by Jay McClement 7:54 into the game, but Jonathan Ericsson, Kirk Maltby and Ville Leino gave the Wings a 3-1 lead 7:17 into the second period.
"They were schooling us is what it's called," Blues coach Andy Murray said.
"We had them bent real good," added Wings coach Mike Babcock.
"Then we started to play like we know we can, the way we did in the preseason and the way we finished last year," McClement told NHL.com. "We just have to keep that up for all three periods."
Leino scored off the rush with a snap shot from the left circle that Blues' goalie Chris Mason told NHL.com he had no chance at stopping.
The Blues started their five-minute and five-second barrage with their only power-play goal in four chances. Kariya's low wrist shot beat Wings goalie Chris Osgood on the stick side 12:31 into the second period.
Just 2:08 later, McClement, the center on the Blues' fourth line, drove the net and put the puck on Osgood, who left a juicy rebound in front -- and since nobody checked out B.J. Crombeen, the sturdy winger was able to jam it in to make it 3-3.
Roughly 5:30 into the third period,