Sloppy Red Wings Fall to Blue Jackets

Bad passing and off-target shooting in the first two periods Friday night helped lead the Detroit Red Wings to a 3-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets.

By the time they found their game in the third period, the Red Wings were already down 2-0 and were unable to recover.

Johan Franzen cut Columbus’ lead to a goal at 4:53 of the third with the teams playing four aside. Niklas Kronwall fired a long shot on net that was stopped by Blue Jackets netminder Fredrik Norrena but Franzen was on the doorstep to swat in the rebound.

Adam Foote put the Blue Jackets back up by a pair on a power play goal with 2:05 remaining in regulation.

Dan Fritsche had opened the game’s scoring with 3:20 remaining in the first period, banking in a shot from the left circle while Jason Chimera crashed the side of the net.

Alexander Svitov put Columbus up by two with a power play goal at 7:43 of the second, deflecting a shot from the top of the right circle by Foote past goalie Dominik Hasek.

The loss snapped a five-game winning streak for the Red Wings. They’ll look to rebound Saturday night when they visit the Colorado Avalanche, the team they beat to start the now-ended streak.