maybe we were just a little sleepy

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ST. LOUIS -- Backup goalie Petr Mrazek kept the injury-riddled St. Louis Blues down heading into the playoffs with his second career shutout in a 3-0 victory for the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday. The Blues had been in contention for the No. 1 overall seed but lost their last six and missed a chance at taking the Central Division with Colorado clinching on a tiebreaker before playing at Anaheim Sunday night. Minus three of their top five scorers, their top faceoff man and two top defencemen, they were shut out for the second straight game and third time during the slump. Justin Abdelkader scored twice, Riley Sheahan added a goal and Pavel Datsyuk had two assists for the Red Wings, who are locked into the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs and will play Boston. The Blues set a franchise record with 52 wins but are the third seed in the Western Conference entering a first-round series against the defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks. Theyre scuffling to say the least with the franchises longest losing streak since a seven-game skid from Dec. 26, 2009 to Jan. 7, 2010, and theyve mustered five goals the last six games. The Red Wings, who rested Jimmy Howard, Daniel Alfredsson and Johan Franzen, were 3-1 against Boston. The Blues were 3-2 against Chicago. Mrazek is 2-4 this season and has three career victories, one of them in his NHL debut in St. Louis on Feb. 7, 2013. He bested the Blues Ryan Miller, who has lost his last five decisions. T.J. Oshie (head), David Backes (foot) and Alex Pietrangelo (undisclosed) led a long list of scratches for the Blues. Oshie has 60 points, Backes 57 and Pietrangelo 51. The Red Wings were outshot 7-4 in the first period, but took the lead on Abdelkaders deflection at 13:30. Near the midpoint of the period, an apparent goal by Tomas Tatar was waved off by a goaltender interference on Joakim Andersson, who slashed Millers stick seconds earlier. Sheahan scored for the third straight game on the counter-attack with his ninth overall making it 2-0 at 16:19 of the second and Abdelkader made it 3-0 with another deflection in the third. Notes: Blues D Jay Bouwmeester played in his 717th consecutive game -- the longest streak in major pro sports -- and was the only St. Louis player to dress every game. ... Miller is 2-9-2 against Detroit. ... The Red Wings are preparing for their 23rd consecutive playoff appearance. Robbie Gould Super Bowl Jersey . 1. AMIR JOHNSON: Nice to see him back in the lineup Tuesday night in Washington DC. Played with great energy and purpose. Its amazing when a guy gets those few precious days to recover what it does to the bounce in their step and overall game/confidence. Nick Mullens Super Bowl Jersey . Each day, TSN.ca provides the latest rumours, reports and speculation from around the NHL beat. Defensive Depth TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun is reporting the Toronto Maple Leafs have considerable interest in unrestricted free-agent defenceman Dan Boyle. http://www.thesf49ersshoponline.com/Youth-Mike-Person-49ers-Jersey/ . As deep as their roster is, they need their superstar. Rose scored 23 points in his return from a five-game absence due to back pain, and Chicago hung on to beat the struggling Atlanta Hawks 90-79 on Monday. Weston Richburg Super Bowl Jersey .ca Fantasy Editor Scott Cullen, NFL Editor Ben Fisher, and Isaac Owusu discuss three hot fantasy football topics. Patrick Willis Super Bowl Jersey . He spent the rest of the game making up for lost playing time. Green scored a career-high 36 points, including eight in overtime, and the Phoenix Suns beat Denver 112-107 on Tuesday night to hand the Nuggets their fifth consecutive loss. PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Penguins were glad to be back at Consol Energy Center after their longest road trip in three years. Recently, though, theyve felt right at home against the Washington Capitals regardless of where they play. Marc-Andre Fleury made 32 saves for his fifth shutout of the season, leading Pittsburgh to a 2-0 victory over Washington on Tuesday night. Jussi Jokinen and Sidney Crosby scored for the Penguins, who swept the teams home-and series one night after beating the Capitals 3-2 in Washington. Pittsburgh has beaten its longtime rivals a franchise-record eight straight times. "Every time we play them, its pretty intense," said Fleury, who has 28 career shutouts. "Its always a close game and a hard-fought game, so its nice to get the W." The Penguins have also won three in a row and picked up at least a point in eight of their last 10 games. Pittsburgh was at home for the second time since the end of the Olympic break, having travelled more than 6,000 miles in playing five games over three time zones the previous 10 days. Jaroslav Halak stopped 32 shots in his third start for Washington. Alexander Ovechkin was held without a point for the fourth consecutive game as the Capitals lost for the fourth time in their last five. Fleury tied his career high for shutouts in a season while winning his sixth straight start against the Capitals, whom the Penguins swept the season series from for the second year in a row. "We created a lot more chances than last game and more shots, and that was something we wanted to improve on," Crosby said. "But defensively we were pretty good." Pittsburgh widened its lead in the Eastern Conference to three points over the idle Boston Bruins and also increased its Metropolitan Division bulge to 16 points over the New York Rangers. Unlike Fleury, Halak was played both games on consecutive nights between the teams. Acquired in a trade from the Buffalo Sabres last week, Halaks first three starts with the Capitals have come over a four-day span. Jokinen beat him at 16:41 of the first. Left unchecked by Capitals defenceman Mike Green while skating through the slot, Jokinen offered a deft re-direct of Matt Niskanens shot from the right point for his 17th goal of the season -- but first since Jan. 30. Evgeni Malkin earned the second assist on the play, extending his assists streak to five games. Crosby scored for the second straight night against Halak, this time with a low wrist shot to the stick side with 5:48 left in the game after skating swiftly down the right wing. Halak said he wass surprised by the shot -- he was expecting Crosby to pass it to Chris Kunitz.dddddddddddd. "I just tried to look to pass as long as I could," Crosby said, "just to see if hed bite and try to hold him there." Lee Stempniak had the only assist on the goal in his home debut for Penguins after he and fellow forward Marcel Goc were acquired in trade-deadline day deals last week. Eleven minutes into the second period, the Capitals came the closest to scoring when rookie Evgeny Kuznetsov flipped a shot from just to the right of Fleury that clanged off the post before deflecting off of Fleurys left pad as he sprawled out. "If we tie the game there," Ovechkin said, "maybe its a little bit different game." Largely untested and forced to make just 12 saves through two periods, Fleury faced the brunt of the Washington onslaught during the third. "The first period, they controlled the game," Ovechkin said. "The last 30 minutes, we played our game, got the puck deep, started to cycle. Maybe we were just a little bit tired, maybe we were just a little sleepy. We just werent ready for the first period. The Capitals No.2 NHL power play had two opportunities over the games final 12 minutes, plus an extended 6-on-5 with Halak pulled over the final 90 seconds. But Fleury denied chances by Mark Chimera, Troy Brouwer and Marcus Johansson for some of his best third-period saves. "The first and second, there werent too many shots," Fleury said. "The third was crazy -- but it was fun though. You get a good sweat and get a win." Washington dropped into 11th place in the Eastern Conference standings and dropped three points out of the final playoff spot. "(The desperation level) needs to be a little more from everybody," Halak said. "Now, its do-or-die for us." NOTES: Kunitz missed a shift after crashing violently into the goal post during the third period. Bylsma said the contact was not directly to Kunitzs knee. ... Washington C Brooks Laich did not make the trip to Pittsburgh because he continues to be hampered by a groin injury. Laich has missed two of the past four games. ... Early Tuesday, the Capitals recalled C Casey Wellman and D Patrick Wey from their American Hockey League affiliate in Hershey. Wey, a native of a Pittsburgh suburb, was a healthy scratch. ... Before the game, Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said that D Kris Letang has been skating and working out in Pittsburgh. Letang has not played since suffering a stroke Jan. 29. He remains out indefinitely. ' ' '