NHL: Detroit 5, St. Louis 2

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DETROIT, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Nicklas Lidstrom produced the first hat trick in his 19-year NHL career Wednesday and also had an assist in pushing Detroit to a 5-2 win over St. Louis.

The hat trick came in the 1,441st game for the star defenseman, all of them with the Red Wings.

Lidstrom opened the scoring 4:02 into the second period, tallied 2:46 into the third on the power play for a 4-1 lead and then added an empty-net goal with 30 seconds remaining.

Detroit won for the third time in four games following a three-game skid. Jimmy Howard got the win with 19 saves.

St. Louis has dropped seven out of nine. Jaroslav Halak stopped 32-of-36 shots.

Lidstrom has seven goals for the campaign. His largest goal total came in 1999-2000 season, when he scored 20. He has 242 goals for his career.