Blues visit desperate Red Wings on short rest

Goals have been hard to come by for the reeling Detroit Red Wings, and their top player shoulders the blame.

The Wings have produced just nine goals while dropping their last seven games. They'll look for a quick turnaround when they host the defending champion St. Louis Blues on Sunday.

Detroit has endured seven consecutive regulation losses for the first time since November 1989.

"This stretch we haven't scored enough," center Dylan Larkin said to NHL.com. "Myself, I haven't been good enough offensively or defensively. You want to point fingers, point it right at me. I have to be way better for this team and carry the load up front and put the puck in the net."

Larkin notched a career-high 32 goals and 41 assists in 76 games last season. He has delivered just two goals and five assists in 11 games, and hasn't recorded a point over the last five games.

The Wings were shut out for the first time this season, 2-0, by the Buffalo Sabres on Friday despite 41 shots on goal.

"We gave up seven chances for the game and had 21. You play that game 10 times, you're winning nine of them," coach Jeff Blashill said. "If it hadn't been for the fact we've lost all these in a row, it would be easy to move on, but when you've lost a bunch in a row you got to have great mental toughness.

"I told our guys, 'You keep playing these kind of games over and over and over, you're going to win a lot of games.'"

Those words offer little consolation to Larkin, who wants to see the results on the scoreboard and stat sheet.

"We need a win bad. We need to get our confidence back as a team," he said. "We've played good, we haven't played good consistently. We just need to get two points and grind out a win and pick up from there."

Last season, the Wings and Blues split the two-game season series. Detroit won at home 4-3 and lost on the road 5-2.

St. Louis will be at a disadvantage playing the second end of a back-to-back. It was blanked by Boston 3-0 on Saturday night.

Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko, who has 10 points thus far, didn't play due to an upper-body injury and will also miss Sunday's game. He suffered the injury during their 5-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday.

"Any time you lose a player, it (stinks), and a player like him, it's even worse. ... Hopefully, he's back soon," Blues forward Robert Thomas told NHL.com.

Without Tarasenko, the Blues managed only 26 shots in a rematch of Stanley Cup finalists.

"He's an important leader for us, and it's tough to see him go down," goaltender Jordan Binnington said.

Brayden Schenn leads the Blues with eight goals and 11 points. David Perron is second on the team with five goals, while Jaden Schwartz has a team-high eight assists.

The teams won't play again until Detroit visits St. Louis on March 31.

--Field Level Media