Carter Hutton gets second straight shutout for Blues

DETROIT-- Carter Hutton made 25 saves for his second straight shutout, and the St. Louis Blues extended their winning streak to five games with a 2-0 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena on Wednesday.
Hutton has four shutouts in his past six road starts, dating to a 4-0 win against the San Jose Sharks on Jan. 14.
"I saw before the game that he had three in his last five, so I told him that four in six would be much more impressive," Blues coach Mike Yeo said. "Now I'm going to tell him how great five in seven would look."

WATCH: All Blues vs. Red Wings highlights
Before this streak, Hutton had four NHL shutouts in 76 starts.
"I might have had a run like this in college; I know I got really hot as a junior," the 31-year-old said. "But nothing like this at this level. I think Jake [Allen, the Blues' No. 1 goalie] and I are answering a lot of critics."
St. Louis (30-22-5) is 6-1-0 since Yeo replaced Ken Hitchcock as coach. This win finished the first five-game sweep of a road trip in Blues history; it included three shutouts.

"Our goalies are winning games for us, but we've also really focused on defense since Mike took over," St. Louis defenseman Joel Edmundson said. "I think we're letting Jake and Carter see more pucks, and that's helped them."
Detroit (22-25-10) lost its fourth straight and is in last place in the Eastern Conference.
"We've been close every single game, where it is a play here and a play there, but we have to turn those into wins," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "These last four games don't matter. We've got to win Saturday and go from there."
Petr Mrazek made 27 saves for Detroit.
"It's frustrating when you don't win, because we did a great job out there," he said. "If we just scored, the game would have been different."

Ivan Barbashev gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 2:06 of the first period, beating Mrazek with a wrist shot from the left faceoff dot. Barbashev played on the third line with Kenny Agostino and Magnus Paajarvi, each called up from Chicago of the American Hockey League to replaced injured players.
"It is awesome that we're in a situation where the coach is giving us ice time with five minutes left in a 1-0 game," Barbashev said. "That shows trust in us and is going to make us better players."
The Blues outshot the Red Wings 16-4 in the second period. Hutton made four saves on a third-period power play, and Jaden Schwartz made it 2-0 with an empty-net goal with 11 seconds left.
"It felt like there were 12 guys in the crease for most of the last 90 seconds, but we kept digging," Edmundson said.

Goal of the game

On the third line's first shift, Barbashev took a pass from Agostino in the corner, circled into the faceoff circle and put a wrist shot under Mrazek's blocker.
"I was looking for a pass before they came after me, but when they left me alone, I took the shot," said Barbashev, who played his ninth NHL game.

Save of the game

The Blues nearly took a 2-0 lead late in the second period when Paajarvi broke through the Red Wings defense, but Mrazek jammed his pads together to keep the puck out of the five-hole.

Highlight of the game

With the Red Wings trying to tie the game late in the first period, Hutton made a pad save on Thomas Vanek's slap shot, then slid across the crease to get in front of Niklas Kronwall's one-timer off the rebound.

Unsung performance of the game

After pulling Mrazek for an extra attacker, the Red Wings kept the Blues under pressure for the final 90 seconds, but Hutton made three saves and his teammates blocked three shots before Schwartz's goal.
"The last shift of the game was definitely our toughest," Yeo said.

They said it

"It's easy for me to trust those guys, because they are performing at a high level. I'm able to use them against top lines late in a one-goal game." -- Blues coach Mike Yeo on playing a line made up of AHL call-ups
"It's definitely coming down to the end here. This is frustrating for sure." -- Red Wings forward Justin Abdelkader on keeping Detroit's 25-season Stanley Cup Playoff streak alive

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Need to know

Hutton, who has started 16 games this season, is tied for sixth in the NHL with four shutouts. … The Red Wings honored owner Mike Ilitch before and during the game. Ilitch, who bought the team in 1982, died Friday at the age of 87. The players wore a "Mr. I" patch on their left sleeve and the logo was painted in front of their bench. … The Blues played in the first NHL game at Joe Louis Arena, defeating the Red Wings 3-2 on Dec. 27, 1979.

What's next

Blues: Host the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; SN, SN360, FS-MW, NHL.TV)
Red Wings: Host the Washington Capitals on Saturday (2 p.m. ET; NHLN, CSN-DC, FS-D, NHL.TV)