By Michael Caples –
DETROIT – It seemed only fitting that Flo Rida’s hit “Good Feeling” would be blaring on the Red Wings locker room sound system when reporters were allowed in Tuesday night.
After all, they have plenty to feel good about right now.
The Wings overcame a 2-0 deficit by scoring three unanswered goals in the last 21:03 to top Central Division rival St. Louis at Joe Louis Arena.
The win is Detroit’s 11th straight on home ice.
Nicklas Lidstrom, Pavel Datsyuk, and Niklas Kronwall all scored for the Wings, who are now 23-12-1. Detroit is now one point ahead of the Blues for fourth place in the Western Conference.
“I think tonight really was a sweet one,” Kronwall said. “Just the matter of fact that we were coming back and we know we have a lot of momentum just with the crowd in here. I thought we did a good job in the third, just coming after them wave after wave, but at the same time they sat back a little bit and we were able to take advantage of that tonight.”
Lidstrom brought the Joe Louis Arena crowd back to life with the Wings’ first goal of the night, a blast from the point with 1:03 left in the second period.
Datsyuk’s redirection to the right of the St. Louis goal evened the score at the 11:19 mark of the third period. Fifty-six seconds later, Kronwall managed to fire a shot from the point past goaltender Brian Elliott to give the Wings a lead they would not relinquish.
Kronwall gave all the credit to teammates Valtteri Filppula and Jiri Hudler for his game-winning goal.
“Fil made a great play, making their forwards come down on him so I could get some more room,” Kronwall said. “Huds was doing a great job in front of the net, and their goalie didn’t see anything whatsoever. That’s why the puck went in.”
Lidstrom said the key to the Wings’ comeback was the patience they had with their game plan.
“It’s very satisfying, especially when you’re down,” the Wings’ captain said. “We were down 2-0, we were down 2-1 heading into the third, and just our patience that we showed tonight – just kind of sticking with it, grinding it out, not opening ourselves up defensively and letting them have any 3-on-2s. It happened a couple times, but I thought the team played disciplined down to the wire, and we earned our goals late in the game too.”
Game notes: Jimmy Howard had 29 saves in goal to record his 22nd win of the season…Joakim Andersson made his NHL debut for the Wings. The forward had eight shifts for 5:10 worth of ice time, and recorded one hit…Ian White recorded two assists on the night…Kronwall and Darren Helm led Detroit with four shots. Helm played with a full cage due to an injury in the Wings’ game Monday night.