Red Wings soar to 4-1 win over Blues

By Steve Keating

DETROIT (Reuters) - Pavel Datsyuk scored twice to lift the Detroit Red Wings to a 4-1 win over the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday, their first back-to-back victories in a month.

While it was far from a dominating display by the NHL's top team, the spluttering Red Wings are now 2-0 in March and back to winning ways following a dismal February in which they enjoyed just one win in 11 games.

The February slump proved costly for the injury-riddled Red Wings, whose commanding 17-point lead atop the Western Conference standings was cut to just five by the charging Dallas Stars.

But with 10 of their final 15 regular season games on home ice, the Wings are confident they can tighten their grip on top spot and their fourth Presidents Cup in four seasons.

"I was real impressed with how hard the guys have played but when you have key people away we haven't been as good," Detroit coach Mike Babcock told reporters. "We got to get playing well together again like we were earlier in the year and we have to keep battling."

Injuries played a major role in the slide, particularly in defense with Niklas Kronwall, Brian Rafalski and Norris trophy winner Nicklas Lidstrom all out of the lineup.

Kronwall returned to action last week while Rafalski made his return against the Blues after missing eight games with a groin strain.

There was more good news for the Red Wings on Wednesday with word Lidstrom is expected to return during the current five-game home stand after missing six games with a sprained knee ligament.