Red Wings Strike Back at Blue Jackets

Two nights after an awful first period led to a 4-3 loss in Columbus, the Detroit Red Wings played a strong sixty minutes and capitalized on all their chances, earning a 5-0 win over the Blue Jackets in the second game of a home-and-home series.

Dominik Hasek, who was pulled after allowing three goals in the first period on Monday, made 27 saves en route to the shutout.

Like the Blue Jackets did in Columbus, the Red Wings got on the board early, with Dan Cleary scoring the first of his two goals just 5:46 into the game.

With the teams skating four aside, Mathieu Schneider fired a shot from the right point as Cleary cut across the top of the crease, in position to deflect the puck past goaltender Fredrik Norrena.

Cleary’s second of the night came 4:32 later on a Detroit power play. A shot from the left circle by Robert Lang left both teams scrambling at the top of the crease until the Blue Jackets attempted a clear up the middle. Nicklas Lidstrom held the puck in and quickly turned to put it back on net, where it was tipped by Cleary to put Detrot up by two.

Kirk Maltby’s first goal of the season came at 6:15 of the second period. Maltby blocked an outlet pass by defenseman Aaron Johnson and skated in all alone on Norrena, lifting a shot over his shoulder from in close.

Columbus appeared to score later in the period but the goal was called back. Alexander Svitov appeared to score on his own rebound but on review it was determined that the puck crossed the goal line on the first attempt, a kick off a feed from Rick Nash. The disallowal of the first goal voided the second.

Just 1:02 past the game’s midway point, Lidstrom added a fourth Detroit goal off a blast from the blue line with the Red Wings on a power play.

Jason Williams closed the game’s scoring at 4:38 of the third, taking a long pass and skating in all alone on Norrena before putting the puck between his legs on a backhand shot.

Norrena was replaced by backup Ty Conklin to finish the game. Conklin stopped all three shots he faced after Norrena made 17 saves on 22 shots.

Detroit scored on two of their six power play chances, while stopping all six of Columbus’ tries with the man-advantage.

The Red Wings return to the ice on Friday when they host the Minnesota Wild in the first game of a rare home-and-home-and-home that will see the two teams face off on Friday in Detroit, in Minnesota on Saturday, and back in Detroit on next Wednesday.

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Rookie Matt Ellis played his second game for the Red Wings in place of the injured Mikael Samuelsson. Samuelsson is expected to return after Christmas.