On the heels of a game in which they scored seven goals against the Ottawa Senators, the Detroit Red Wings came up empty against the Columbus Blue Jackets, dropping a 3-0 decision Friday night.
Columbus netminder Steve Mason made 34 saves in earning the shutout. It was the third time in his career that he held the Red Wings without a goal.
Antoine Vermette opened the game’s scoring with 7:31 left in the first period. Vermette came over the boards on a line change while the Blue Jackets had possession deep in the Detroit end. He raced over the blue line to take a pass from Matt Calvert before the Red Wings knew he was there and blasted a shot past Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard.
Jared Boll made it 2-0 with 6:49 left in the second. Andrew Murray sent a pass from behind the net to Boll in the slot, where he put it back past Howard.
Murray added an empty-net goal with 1:12 left to play to finish the scoring.
Neither team scored a power play goal on the night. The Blue Jackets had three tries with the extra attacker while the Red Wings had six power plays, including a second-period five-on-three.
Howard finished the night with 21 saves on the 23 shots he faced.
The Red Wings are back in action on Saturday when they visit the Nashville Predators.
Detroit was once again without forwards Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Holmstrom. They are day-to-day, both hoping to return on Saturday in Nashville.
