ST. LOUIS -- The Detroit Red Wings got the strong start they were seeking, and a happy ending.

They could overlook an ugly stretch late in Thursday’s game, which cost them a three-goal lead, after

scored at 1:51 of overtime to give the Red Wings a 4-3 victory against the St. Louis Blues at Scottrade Center.

The Red Wings completed a stretch of 11 out of 14 games on the road. They went 7-3-1 in those road games and 8-4-2 overall.

“Good win for us,” coach

said. “A 14-game stretch with the kind of travel we’ve had, to go 8-4-2 during the time is excellent, shows how committed the guys have been.”

,

and

also scored for the Red Wings. Hudler had three assists and

had two assists.

, back after sitting two games with a bruised right knee, made 26 saves for the win.

After a slow start, the Blues outplayed the Red Wings for much of the final 40 minutes, battling back from a 3-0 deficit to tie it.

Helm prevented a complete collapse by scoring on a two-on-one break, taking a pass from Jiri Hudler and firing a shot past Jaroslav Halak.

“I tried to chip it past their (defense),” Helm said. “I saw Huds racing for it. I was able to jump up into the play. I just used my speed to get up there. I knew Huds was probably going to pass it. I just had to get up there and find it.”

Said Hudler: “Helmer, with his speed, I knew he was going by their first (defenseman). Then it was two-on-one and I knew he was coming. I kind of faked the shot (and passed). I got a good bounce this time.”

Helm has 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in his last 11 games.

“Good for Helmer,” Babcock said. “He’s been real dangerous for us. If you go through all the four-on-four overtime wins we’ve had Helmer seems to be involved in all of them.”

The Blues launched their comeback when T.J. Oshie, in his second game back following ankle surgery, scored at 11:14 of the second period.

They continued to press in the third. Patrik Berglund scored at 6:35. David Backes then tied it at 14:14. After Howard made saves on Brad Boyes and Alexander Steen, Backes whipped a backhand shot through the goalie’s pads.

“They started getting pucks deep, they were getting on top of our (defense),” Howard said. “I don’t think it had anything to do with us getting complacent. They sort of woke up.”

The Red Wings led 1-0 after the first period as Eaves scored at 12:25 on a nice pass from

. It was their first lead after 20 minutes since Dec. 27 in Dallas.

They added to that lead in the second period, scoring twice despite being outshot 10-3.

Bertuzzi scored at 7:34, taking a pass from Filppula and flipping a shot past Halak from the side of the net while the goalie was looking the other way. Kindl made it 3-0 with his first NHL goal at 9:50. It came off a rush as Kindl’s attempted pass to Hudler hit defenseman Roman Polack’s stick and went in.

A would-be blowout turned into an unnecessary thriller, but as far as Babcock was concerned, all’s well that ends well.

“I thought we did a lot of good things,” Babcock said. “We could have been way up and then we got on our heels a little bit at the start of the third and they came back and made a game of it.

“After it was 3-3, we got going again, got back to playing the way we can.”