The NHL on Saturday rescinded the match penalty received by St. Louis Blues captain David Backes in Friday's 5-3 loss to the Detroit Red Wings.

The game was tied 3-3 at 9:38 of the third period when Backes was called for a match penalty following his big hit on Red Wings defenseman Kent Huskins.

A match penalty includes a five-minute penalty, plus ejection from the game and a possible fine and suspension by the league. Huskins left the game after the hit.

Video replays showed that Backes in fact struck Huskins in the chest, not in the head. The NHL basically confirmed that fact by rescinding the match penalty.

"It's a non-penalty in the league's view," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said Saturday. "The match penalty comes with a fine and possible suspension depending on where it's at. All of that's obviously rescinded.

"In the league's view it was a legit hit. That's the end of the story."

What wasn't rescinded, however, was the game-winning goal scored by the Red Wings on the power-play that resulted from Backes' penalty.

Huskins left the game Friday after the hit, but was cleared to return Saturday. He told Detroit reporters he never thought Backes' hit was dirty.

"I know Backs from being there last year. He plays hard and he's not a dirty player," Huskins told MLive.com. "I haven't analyzed (the hit), but I know there was no intent to injure or anything like that."

Hitchcock refused further comment on the officiating.

"It's another lesson in adversity," he said. "One of the problems in killing the five minutes is the people that were killing the five minutes had no energy to go back and create some offense after that."

Hitchcock said Blues goalie Jaroslav Halak, replaced in Saturday's game by Brian Elliott, has a lower-body injury.

"He's day to day, we'll see how he feels tomorrow," Hitchcock said. "Right now we anticipate him being A-OK and good to go for Tuesday's game. We'll get a better read on it tomorrow and see how he feels."

The Blues have three home games this week, hosting Nashville on Tuesday, Detroit on Thursday and Anaheim on Saturday.

Blues rookie winger Vladimir Tarasenko added an assist Saturday that stretched his point streak to five games. His five goals rank third in the league and he's 14th with 10 points.

Tarasenko has at least a point in six of the Blues' seven games.

Contact reporter Norm Sanders at 239-2454, nsanders@bnd.com or on Twitter @NormSanders