Game 29: St. Louis 5, Red Wings 4

St. Louis, MO (12/16/69)- The St. Louis Blues scored four unanswered goals after falling behind 1-0, and then they held on to nip the Red Wings, 5-4, at the Arena on Tuesday night.

The loss was the first for the Red Wings (14-6-9) in nearly a month, when they dropped a 6-2 decision in Montreal on November 19.

Red Berenson scored twice and Gary Sabourin had a goal and an assist for the Blues.

Trailing 4-1 to start the third period, the Red Wings showed the moxie and flair for the dramatic that punctuated their 8-1-7 run in the 16 games prior to Tuesday's.

Garry Unger (4:05) and Al Karlander (7:06) scored three minutes apart to cut the Blues' lead to a single goal. Larry Keenan scored at 15:08 to restore the two-goal cushion, but the Red Wings kept coming. Unger scored again just nine seconds after Keenan's goal to make the score 5-4.

Blues goalie Glenn Hall stood tall in the final minutes as the desperate Red Wings fired shot after shot at the Blues net.

Detroit's Gordie Howe tries to blast a shot through Blues defenseman Jean-Guy Talbot during Tuesday's game

Detroit lifted goalie Roger Crozier with just under two minutes remaining for an extra attacker but it was for naught.

Neither goalie was particularly sharp until the end when Hall stiffened. The nine goals scored by both teams were managed on just 47 shots on goal.

Hall only made 17 saves but several were huge in the waning moments.

"We didn't get enough pressure going on offense a-tall," lamented Red Wings coach Sid Abel, whose team fired just 21 shots at Hall.

The Red Wings are off until Saturday, when they travel to Montreal.

DET 1-0-3 = 4
STL 1-3-1 = 5

1st Period
DET- Mahovlich (Howe, Delvecchio) PPG 12:09
STL- Sabourin (McDonald) 15:27

2nd Period
STL- Berenson (McDonald, Sabourin) 7:31
STL- Berenson (McDonald) 12:32
STL- Crisp (Roberts, Arbour) 16:44

3rd Period
DET- Unger (Connelly) 4:05
DET- Karlander (MacGregor, Bergman) 7:06
STL- Keenan (Boudrias, Talbot) 15:08
DET- Unger (Harris, Libett) 15:17

Shots on Goal
DET 5-5-11 = 21
STL 12-7-7 = 26

Goalies
Crozier (DET); Hall (STL)

Power Plays
DET 1-for-2; STL 0-for-1

Penalty Minutes
DET 4; STL 6

Fights
None