RECAP: Red Wings start strong but can't hold lead in 4-3 loss to Blues

DETROIT -- Simon Edvinsson, in just his third NHL game, scored his first career goal on Thursday night as the Detroit Red Wings fell to the St. Louis Blues, 4-3, at Little Caesars Arena.

Detroit got off to a fast start, with Edvinsson finding the back of the net just 38 seconds into the opening period before Jake Walman doubled the club's lead at 1:28. It marked the sixth-fastest pair of goals by the Red Wings to kick off a game in franchise history.
The Blues retaliated with 10:07 remaining in the first, then took over the middle stanza by scoring three unanswered goals and carried a 4-2 advantage into the second intermission. Alex Chiasson's 6-on-5 goal at 17:44 of the final frame provided a late spark, but Detroit was unable to find the equalizer.
"In the third, I really felt we had a chance to push," Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde said. "We had a lot of looks. But the four minutes of penalties, those hurt... That game was there for the taking and we let it get away from us."
Goalie Alex Nedeljkovic, who was recalled from the American Hockey League's Grand Rapids Griffins under emergency conditions on Thursday morning, replaced Magnus Hellberg roughly halfway through the second and made eight saves in relief for Detroit.
"We were off to a good start," said Chiasson, who has scored a goal in back-to-back games. "The bench felt energized. It's a tough league to let go. You give an inch there and the next thing you know, they grab momentum. We found ourselves chasing the game a little bit. A good lesson for our group."
The loss dropped the Red Wings to 31-31-9 (71 points) overall, while the Blues improved to 32-33-6 (70 points).
NEXT UP:Detroit will travel to face the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday afternoon at Wells Fargo Center.

SCORING SUMMARY

Detroit 1, St. Louis 0 (00:38. 1st period)
Filip Zadina made a pass near the boards to Jordan Oesterle, who slid the puck to Edvinsson along the blue line. After skating to the top of the left face-off circle, the 20-year-old Swedish defenseman sent a wrister past Blues netminder Joel Hofer. It marked Detroit's fastest game-opening goal of the season.

Detroit 2, St. Louis 0 (1:28, 1st period)
Walman got to the top of the left face-off circle and ripped a shot into the back of the net for his eighth goal of the season. David Perron and Dominik Kubalik both recorded an assist. In all, the Red Wings have 37 goals from defensemen this season.

St. Louis 1, Detroit 2 (9:53, 1st period)
Alexey Toropchenko beat Hellberg with a shot from the blue line to get the visitors on the scoreboard.
St. Louis 2, Detroit 2 (3:31, 2nd period)
Brayden Schenn tipped in Jordan Kyrou's shot from the blue line to erase the Blues' early two-goal deficit.
St. Louis 3, Detroit 2 (12:40, 2nd period)
Sammy Blais, sitting right in front of Detroit's net, potted a rebound to give St. Louis its first lead of the night.
St. Louis 4, Detroit 2 (14:08, 2nd period)
Jake Neighbours scored a breakaway goal off a stretch pass from Robert Bortuzzo.
Detroit 3, St. Louis 4 (17:44, 3rd period)
After pulling Nedeljkovic for the extra attacker, Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin pushed the puck from behind the goal line to Lucas Raymond. A shot from Raymond was blocked by Hofer, but Chiasson managed to sneak the loose puck through traffic into the back of the net. Chiasson's tally was Detroit's ninth 6-on-5 goal this season, the most of any NHL club.

QUOTABLE

Lalonde on what went wrong for Detroit against St. Louis
"It's really tough to judge that game overall when four of their first five chances go in. But I hated the way we handled it. And I hated how we just lost momentum and energy every time a goal went in."
Lalonde on Edvinsson
"I loved that he got on the sheet. He made some plays offensively. Still, I think his game is good in that he was avoiding some big mistakes. Loved some of his plays in transition."
Chiasson on lessons learned from Thursday's game
"I thought we came back in the third, found a way to get back in there. But we gotta find a way to play 60 minutes. This league is too good to let down and let other teams come back into these types of games."
Chiasson on Nedeljkovic's performance in relief
"I can only imagine coming into a game cold and giving up a breakaway. I thought Ned played well the rest of the game. Good for him, battled as much as he could. Obviously, I played with him a little bit in Grand Rapids. You wanna see a guy like that do well, so I'm cheering for him."