ST. LOUIS – Seeing St. Louis score a shorthanded goal Wednesday during a five-minute power play sucked the life out of his team, Detroit Red Wings forward Johan Franzen said.

Todd Bertuzzi called it disheartening when St. Louis scored again three minutes later to take a two-goal lead.

Late in the third period, it appeared the Red Wings were done, since they were facing the NHL's best defensive team and a goaltender, Brian Elliott, who had recorded three consecutive shutouts and looked well on his way to a fourth.

But the Red Wings showed tremendous character and resiliency. Franzen, set up by terrific passes from Pavel Datsyuk, scored two goals in the final 6:05 of regulation. Then Bertuzzi made another nifty move to score the deciding goal in the shootout while Jimmy Howard denied all three Blues shooters, as the Red Wings pulled out a 3-2 victory at Scottrade Center.

“This time of the year, to get a win like that is huge,'' Detroit defenseman Brad Stuart said. “To fight back and get the one point and then get the shootout, more than anything is good for our morale going into the playoffs.

“You're going to find yourself in a situation in the playoffs where you're down and you got to fight back. The fact that we did tonight is a good boost for us.''

The Red Wings topped the 100-point mark for the 12th consecutive season (they have 101), extending their own NHL record, but more importantly, they moved one point ahead of the Nashville Predators for the fourth playoff seed in the Western Conference, the final spot for home-ice advantage in the first round.

Coach Mike Babcock hopes it's a sign that his team is gelling heading into the postseason.

“We haven't been as good; there's good reason,'' Babcock said. “Injuries are excuses, but they're reality, too. We had a ton of them and then when you get these guys back, it takes them a while to get skating. We played a team that's physical and forechecks hard and I thought we got better as the game went on.''

The Red Wings wrap up the regular season with home games against New Jersey on Thursday and Chicago on Saturday afternoon.

The game was scoreless through two periods, but it was fast-paced. The third period was action-packed.

Trailing 2-0, the Red Wings took over, led by the line of Franzen, Datsyuk and Bertuzzi, who was moved back onto that unit in the second period.

Franzen scored from the slot at 13:55 and scored again from the side of the net at 16:10.

“Two great passes from Pav,'' Franzen said. “Bert did a good job before that, holding onto the puck, occupying people.''

Babcock said of his decision to put Bertuzzi back on that line, “I thought Gus (Gustav Nyquist) was real good on that line, too, but Bert's a big body, went to the net; that's what he's got to do. As long as he takes care of the puck and plays physical and goes to the net, he can really help those guys.''

Said Bertuzzi: “Just a matter of getting the puck and giving it to Pav, giving him some space so he can maneuver around. It opened up Mule in the slot.''

The Red Wings improved to 9-2 in shootouts after Bertuzzi beat Elliott with a backhander.

“I think Howie's been a huge boost, the way he's been in shootouts. He's basically unbeatable right now,'' Bertuzzi said. “Pavel's confident, Huds (Jiri Hudler) has scored some big goals and I feel pretty confident going down, too.''

Said Howard: “I feel I'm unbeatable out there when it comes to (shootouts) and then we got Pavel, Huds and Bert, three great guys that go in there and put some really good moves on the goaltender.''

The Red Wings snapped a seven-game road winless streak (0-5-2).

It didn't look like it was going to get to a shootout when the Blues took over in the third.

The Red Wings went on a five-minute power play at 6:01 when Ryan Reaves received a major penalty and game misconduct for boarding Stuart, who was shaken up but returned later.

The Blues, however, struck first, as David Perron scored on a shorthanded breakaway at 7:18.

Andy MacDonald capitalized on another turnover by making it 2-0 at 10:19, during four-on-four play.

“I hated our power play, I mean I hated watching that,'' Babcock said. “I thought early in the game we had them in their zone two minutes, we had lots of opportunity and then that five-minute thing, when you give that up, that's a tough one.''

But, Bertuzzi said, “I liked our competitiveness and our will.''

Detroit has won four in a row against the Central Division champion Blues, the prior three at Joe Louis Arena after St. Louis won the first two meetings at Scottrade.