(SportsNetwork. Philipp Grubauer Jersey .com) - Goals and wins have come pretty easily for the St. Louis Blues in recent weeks and the club hopes to continue its hot streak when it hosts the Detroit Red Wings in Thursdays battle at Scottrade Center. The Blues have won five straight and are outscoring the opposition by a 29-10 margin during the hot streak, which includes a 3-0 start to seven-game homestand. St. Louis two most recent wins were on the close side, however, as the Blues edged Carolina in a shootout on Saturday before taking a 4-2 decision in Tuesdays clash with Edmonton. David Backes and Vladimir Tarasenko each posted a goal and an assist to lead the way in the win over the Oilers. St. Louis led 3-0 before allowing Edmonton to make a game of it in the third period. Oilers forward Benoit Pouliot scored twice in the final 20 minutes, but the Blues were able to hold on for the victory. You dont want to give points away to teams that are behind you, especially when all the other teams keep winning, said St. Louis head coach Ken Hitchcock. You just dont want to start falling behind teams at this point. Jaden Schwartz and Alexander Steen each scored a goal for the Blues, while Jake Allen allowed two goals on 15 shots. St. Louis, which is one point behind Chicago for second place in the Central Division, can post its second-longest winning streak of the season with another victory tonight. The Blues season-high streak came with seven consecutive wins from Oct. 25-Nov. 6. The Blues have won four straight on home ice and are 16-4-1 in the Gateway City this season. However, St. Louis has dropped two straight and three of its last four home games against tonights opponent. Detroit has claimed seven of 11 overall from the Blues and enters tonights encounter having won three of its last four games to post a 3-2-0 mark on a six-game road trip that ends in St. Louis. The Wings are 10-7-3 as the visiting team this season. The Red Wings fell 3-1 in Washington on Saturday, but rebounded Tuesday night in Buffalo with a 3-1 victory of their own. Petr Mrazek filled in nicely for the injured Jimmy Howard, stopping 25 shots to anchor the victory at first Niagara Center. Gustav Nyquist, Tomas Tatar and Darren Helm all scored for the Red Wings, while Kyle Quincey posted two assists. I think we played a great game today, said Mrazek. Our penalty kill was really solid, and thats been getting a lot better lately. Howard, Detroits No. 1 goaltender, is week-to-week with a groin injury and Mrazek expects to start again tonight with Tom McCollum as his backup. Mrazek owns a 2-0 record and .80 goals against average in three lifetime appearances against the Blues. Brian Elliott is expected to start for St. Louis. He is 3-6-1 with a 2.49 GAA in his career versus Detroit. The Blues are still carrying three goalies on their NHL roster, but that number will shrink to two as Martin Brodeur was granted a week-long leave of absence from the club on Wednesday. A statement released by the Blues said Brodeur will rejoin the club in one week and his future will be addressed at that time. The future Hall of Fame netminder was signed to a one-year deal on Dec. 2 when Elliott was sidelined with an injury. Brodeur led the New Jersey Devils to three Stanley Cup titles during his legendary 21-season run with the club, a tenure that ended when the Devils opted not to sign him last offseason. He is 3-3-0 with a 2.87 GAA and .899 save percentage in seven games with the Blues. The Red Wings, who are third in the Atlantic Division, expect to be without forward Tomas Jurco for a fourth straight game. Jurco is dealing with a back injury and hasnt played since Jan. 6 in Edmonton. Next up for Detroit is a three-game homestand which begins Saturday against Nashville. John Carlson Jersey . Price was hurt at the start of Wednesdays practice after facing just one shot as the team worked on their power play. He left the ice in discomfort and appeared to be favouring his leg. A Habs source told TSNs John Lu that Price suffered the injury in Sochi and not before the Olympics. Lucas Johansen Jersey . -- New York Yankees centre fielder Jacoby Ellsbury was sent for an MRI Thursday of his ailing right calf, which was negative.MINNEAPOLIS -- All those Cy Young awards, all that heat in their vaunted starting rotation, and there were the Detroit Tigers, staggering out to the field in the eighth inning with an infielder on the pitching mound. After Andrew Romine served up two monster home runs in the inning, Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said he thought Romine was one of the bright spots on the night, showing just how bad the series opener against the last-place Minnesota Twins went for the Tigers. Eduardo Escobar got a career-high five hits, including a homer and a triple, and the Twins batted around twice in a 20-6 rout of the Tigers on Friday night. The 20 runs are the most in a major league game this season. Tigers pitchers walked nine and threw 214 pitches in the game, which is more than David Price and Rick Porcello threw combined in back-to-back complete games the two previous days. "Every team goes through a few of these games," Ausmus said. "It always stings a little more when youre fighting in the pennant race at the end of August." Danny Santana had a homer and four RBIs and Oswaldo Arcia and Trevor Plouffe also homered for the Twins, who scored six runs in the second inning and nine in the sixth to drop the Tigers to 2 1/2 games behind Kansas City in the AL Central race. Robbie Ray (1-4) lasted just 1 1-3 innings, giving up six runs and six hits. Escobar and Santana hit two-run homers off Ray to get the Twins out to a 6-1 lead in the second inning. The short outing puts a lot of stress on the Tigers bullpen with three more games in the next two days. "I lost a little command," Ray said. "It seems like they were on everything I was throwing." Ausmus tried to get creative with his struggling relievers to keep them available through the weekend. No reliever pitched more than 1 2-3 innings before Romine entered. Romine gave up a double to Kennys Vargas to begin the inning and then threw a wild pitch. Arcia and Plouffe followed with 822 feet of combined homers. But Romine, who declined comment after the game, got a little mercy from the next batter, veteran Twins catcher Kurt Suzuki. He never swung the bat while striking out looking on a 3-2 pitch. The Tigers optioned Ray and left-hander Ian Krol to Triple-A Toledo and recalled pitchers Patrick McCoy and Kyle Lobstein to replenish the bullpen. Marcus Johansson Jersey. . The Tigers scored four times in the fifth to cut the deficit to 6-5, but Minnesota sent 14 batters to the plate in the sixth inning to break it wide open. Joe Mauer came to the plate with the bases loaded twice in the inning, driving in two with a single and forcing one home on a walk, the sixth by a Tigers pitcher in a rugged frame that also included two errors from Kinsler at second base and Nick Castellanos at third. "This was a bad game, embarrassing really," Ausmus said. "Theres not much to say." Mauer had two hits and three RBIs and Vargas had three hits and three RBIs for the Twins, who lead the majors in runs scored this month with 113 in 20 games. TRAINERS ROOM Tigers: Ausmus said RHP Anibal Sanchez, on the disabled list with a right pectoral strain, played catch before the game. Ausmus said Sanchez reported that everything went fine and he would play catch again on Saturday. Closer Joakim Soria (oblique) is scheduled to do some throwing on Saturday as well. UP NEXT The Twins will recall right-hander Yohan Pino (1-5, 5.37) from Triple-A Rochester to start the first game of a day-night doubleheader. He will face Tigers righty Buck Farmer (0-0, 7.20), who is being recalled from Triple-A Toledo. Both teams are allowed to call a 26th player up for the twinbill. In the night cap, Twins right-hander Trevor May (0-2, 9.00) will face Tigers right-hander Justin Verlander (10-11, 4.76). SWING AND A MISS The Tigers were one of several teams in the market for Cuban outfielder Rusney Castillo. But several outlets reported on Friday that the Boston Red Sox landed him with a seven-year, $72.5 million deal. Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski told Detroit reporters before the game that the Tigers had been scouting Castillo for a while and were very interested in landing him, even before trading centre fielder Austin Jackson. But he also said there bid was not close to the one that won it for Boston. "If we were in second place, there was a big difference in the first place," Dombrowski said. Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Cheap Jerseys ' ' '