Blues 5, Red Wings 4

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DETROIT (AP) -David Backes had a lot easier time scoring four goals for the surging St. Louis Blues than he did trying to explain his big night.

"I don't know what happened. One of those games where you kind of black out and then they're patting you on the back," Backes said after the Blues' 5-4 victory over the Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night. "It's awesome. I don't know what to attribute it to. Maybe a little sickness and a good pregame nap."

The 6-foot-3, 220-pound winger broke a 4-4 tie with 4:07 left with his 30th goal of the season, scoring on a one-timer from the bottom of the left circle. Backes scored just 36 seconds after Detroit's Niklas Kronwall tied it.

"We felt that David had the potential to be a 30-goal scorer," Blues coach Andy Murray said. "But we didn't think it would happen here in Detroit."

Andy McDonald also scored, and Chris Mason made 34 saves to help the Blues jump from ninth to eighth in the Western Conference playoff race. The Blues are a point behind seventh-place Anaheim and one ahead of ninth-place Nashville.

"We just battled in the third period," Mason said. "It was back and forth and we got the two points."

St. Louis rebounded from a 3-1 loss in Chicago on Wednesday night that snapped its winning streak at five games.

"We showed a lot of perseverance," Backes said. "Every time we got the lead, they tied it up. We got some great games defensively, guys blocked a lot of shots. Chris Mason made some great saves."

Kronwall and Nicklas Lidstrom each had a goal and two assists and Pavel Datsyuk and Johan Franzen both had a goal and an assist for Detroit, which lost its third straight and fourth in five games. Ty Conklin stopped 28 shots.

"Obviously, the job I'm doing here, the team is not ready," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "So, myself and the leadership group here, as a group of individuals, we've got to do better than this. This is unacceptable."

At Raleigh, N.C., Chad LaRose and Rod Brind'Amour scored 28 seconds apart late in the third period in Carolina's club-record 10th straight home victory.

LaRose finished with two goals, Eric Staal had a goal and an assist, and Cam Ward made 36 saves in his career-best 25th straight start.

The Hurricanes extended their season-best winning streak to seven while surpassing the nine consecutive home-ice wins they had in their 2005-06 Stanley Cup season. They haven't been to the postseason since, but they took another step toward wrapping up one of the eight Eastern playoff spots, jumping past idle Pittsburgh and Philadelphia into fourth place.

Corey Potter and Dan Girardi scored for New York. With their fourth loss in six games, the Rangers dropped to eighth - a point behind seventh-place Montreal and two ahead of ninth-place Florida.

At Uniondale, N.Y., Saku Koivu scored the first of Montreal's three power-play goals, and Alex Kovalev had three assists to help the Canadiens vault over the Rangers into seventh place in the East.

Mathieu Schneider and Andrei Markov also scored power-play goals, Alex Tanguay and Mike Komisarek added goals, and Jaroslav Halak made 26 saves in place of Carey Price (flu). The Canadiens are 4-0-1 in their last five and 5-3-3 since general manager Bob Gainey took over as coach.

Jeff Tambellini scored for New York.

At Boston, Tim Thomas stopped 31 shots and the Bruins won their fifth straight to move within a victory of clinching the best record in the East.

Milan Lucic and Marc Savard scored for Boston, which would clinch home ice through the conference finals with its next victory or Washington's next loss.

Daniel Alfredsson scored for Ottawa.

At Edmonton, Alberta, Evgeni Nabokov made 25 saves for his 40th victory of the season, and Jonathan Cheechoo and Dan Boyle scored for NHL-leading San Jose.

At 51-15-11, the Sharks matched the franchise victory record set in 2006-07. Nabokov improved to 40-9-8 and helped the Sharks push their points total to 113 - three more than East-leading Boston and six ahead of Detroit.

Sam Gagner scored for Edmonton.

At Vancouver, British Columbia, Corey Perry scored the only shootout goal, and Anaheim overcame a pair of two-goal deficits for its eighth victory in nine games.

Jonas Hiller made 25 saves in regulation and overtime, then stopped Pavol Demitra, Kyle Wellwood and Alex Burrows in the shootout as Anaheim moved into seventh place in the West - a point ahead of St. Louis and two in front of Nashville.

Bobby Ryan and Teemu Selanne each had two goals for Anaheim, and Perry also scored.

Burrows, Wellwood and identical twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin scored for Vancouver, which clinched a playoff spot with the single point. The Canucks are tied with Calgary for the Northwest Division lead.

At Dallas, Miikka Kiprusoff made 29 saves, and Jarome Iginla and Craig Conroy scored to help Calgary clinch a playoff spot.

Rookie Fabian Brunnstrom scored for Dallas.

At Glendale, Ariz., Scottie Upshall scored with 5:54 remaining, and Al Montoya made 21 saves for Phoenix in his second career start.

Montoya shut out Colorado on Wednesday night in his NHL debut.

Ed Jovanovski added a goal and an assist in the Coyotes' fourth straight home win. Derek Armstrong scored for Los Angeles.