DETROIT - The Detroit Red Wings were unraveling Wednesday, having blown a three-goal lead and in danger letting what seemed like sure victory slip away late in the third period.

This wasn't a time for toe-drags, fancy stick-handling and tic-tac-toe passing. They needed someone to put on a hard hat and get the job done.

Tyler Bertuzzi was their man. He went to the net, like he often does, and banged in a rebound to snap a tie with 6:53 remaining in the third period. It was his second goal of the game and lifted the Red Wings past the St. Louis Blues 4-3 at Little Caesars Arena.

"I love him as a player," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "Mark Howe (Red Wings director of pro scouting) said to me, 'He's one of those guys that doesn't just work, he competes.' He finds ways to win pucks, gets stick on puck. We talk about hounding in the O-zone and hounding on the forecheck and that's what he does. He goes to the net and he's really good around the net."

Bertuzzi batted the puck out of the air from the crease to score his first goal at 11:04 of the second period, giving his team a 3-0 lead.

He has always had a nose for the net.

"I think I've been like that my whole life," Bertuzzi said. "As you go up in leagues it's harder to maybe toe-drag or dangle, so I've adapted to just play hard and go to the net, that's where a lot of goals are created."

Niklas Kronwall remembers the first time he saw Bertuzzi -- with his uncle, former Red Wing Todd Bertuzzi -- during a pre-training camp skate at Joe Louis Arena in 2013, a couple months after the Red Wings selected him 58th overall in the second round.

"We see Bert coming in with his long hair, tape everywhere. It was something different, that's for sure," Kronwall said. "But as soon as we saw him play and practice, you just knew all those 50-50 battles, he's so good with his stick, and he was in good spots all the time. A very, very smart player."

Said Bertuzzi: "I just wanted to come out here and work hard every day. Blash is a big working hard guy, so I came and did my thing every day and I just wanted to make a job for myself and I did."

Thomas Vanek, who, along with Andreas Athanasiou, also scored, said of Bertuzzi: "He just goes."

"He's got a ton of energy, he's not afraid to go in front of the net and in the corner," Vanek said. "He finds the puck. I think a lot of his goals are because he finds the puck around the net pretty quickly and puts it away."

His big night came on Tyler Bertuzzi Bobblehead Night and enabled the Red Wings (11-11-3) to end a three-game skid (0-2-1).

Bertuzzi has eight goals in 25 games, after scoring seven goals in 48 games as a rookie last season. But his game is more than just scoring. Blashill called him a winning player.

"It's easy to judge guys on stats, but some guys score and lose a lot, some guys produce enough and win tons," Blashill said. "He does all the little things it takes to win. He plays on the right side of the puck, he plays good D, he blocks shots, he wins stick battles. The game still comes down to winning one-on-one battles and he does that all the time.

"I think as he builds his body in the off-seasons and just continues to become more of a real good athlete, it'll help him even more."