Detroit Red Wings snap three-game slide against Columbus Blue Jackets 5-2 -NHL Update
Detroit was hoping for a rest stop and an end to their recent three-game slide. The Red Wings found their chance against Columbus as they downed the Blue Jackets, 5-2, Tuesday night, February 28, 2012, at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
With consecutive losses, Detroit was on the verge of losing their second number spot in the Western Conference after they fell behind Vancouver Canucks and with St. Louis Blues catching up, only two points away from tying at 87 points, Red Wings needed the
win.
"We really needed a win," Red Wings’ veteran left winger, Henrik Zetterberg, said. "We had a few bodies out. The guys that came out did a really good job."
Johan Franzen kicked off the scoring with his 24th goal of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season, but it was quickly followed by Columbus’ disgruntled captain, Rick Nash, on the power play nearly three minutes later.
After a scoreless second period, Columbus had thought they had done a good job keeping a team like Detroit out of their net but entering the third period, the Red Wings saw red and nothing but that.
"We battled back and tied the game, and then after that we kind of took over," said Detroit goalie, Joey MacDonald, who started the match in place of Jimmy Howard. "We got that third goal (from Zetterberg), a bad-angle one, and that's kind of how it goes."
Derek MacKenzie gave Columbus some hope by making the tie-breaker at 2:13 as the Blue Jackets were shorthanded with Brett Lebda out, but Detroit would not miss any more opportunities.
Niklas Kronwall got the equaliser at 3:43 on their second power play opportunity as James Wisniewski was called for roughing, triggering three more goals in a row.
Henrik Zetterberg, Jan Mursak and Valtteri Filppula took the match way out of Columbus’ hands with less than seven minutes left to play with a revised record of 5-2.
Detroit has the next two at home now, their first since losing back-to-back games against Vancouver Canucks and Colorado Avalanche. Their first opponent will be Minnesota Wild on Friday while Columbus is to face-off against Colorado Avalanche on Thursday.
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