Riley Sheahan also tallied and Pavel Datsyuk notched a pair
of assists for the Red Wings, who will make their 23rd
consecutive postseason appearance when they visit Presidents'
Trophy-winning Boston on Friday in the opener of the first-round
series.
Ryan Miller turned aside 18 shots for the Blues, who were shut
out for the third time during their six-game losing streak. St.
Louis, which finished behind Colorado in the Central, will host
the opener of its first-round playoff series against reigning
Stanley Cup champion Chicago on Thursday.
Making his eighth career start, Mrazek made a pad save on Maxim
Lapierre during a 3-on-1 rush midway through the second period.
The 22-year-old's first NHL shutout came during a 14-save
performance in a 5-0 win over Edmonton on Nov. 2.
After having a goal disallowed due to goaltender interference,
the Red Wings broke through at 13:30 of the first period as
defenseman Brian Lashoff's shot from the point deflected off the
shoulder of Abdelkader and fluttered past Miller. Sheahan
converted from the left faceoff circle with 3:41 left in the
second to double the advantage before Abdelkader chipped
Datsyuk's centering feed past Miller at 12:43 of the third.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Miller fell to 2-9-2 in 13 career starts versus
Detroit. ... St. Louis is mired in its first six-game slide
since a seven-game streak from Dec. 26, 2009-Jan. 7, 2010. ...
Detroit opted to sit Fs Johan Franzen and Daniel Alfredsson, Ds
Danny DeKeyser and Niklas Kronwall and G Jimmy Howard with
Sunday's game having no impact on its playoff seeding. St. Louis
played without Fs David Backes (foot), Brenden Morrow (foot),
T.J. Oshie (upper body), Vladimir Sobotka (lower body), Patrik
Berglund (upper body) and Vladimir Tarasenko (thumb) and Ds Alex
Pietrangelo (undisclosed) and Barret Jackman (undisclosed).
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