After back and forth play for the first 5 minutes, Tomas
Jurco was high-sticked, resulting in a 4 minute man advantage for Detroit. The
PP looked much improved early, generating multiple chances in the first half of
the double minor. After continuing the offensive onslaught, a blast from
Zidlicky at the point was deflected by Abdelkader into the back of the net to
make it 1-0 Detroit. The Blue Jackets immediately made a strong push to tie the
game and after Howard turned aside a number of chances, they finally broke
through. After Howard stopped a hard shot from the slot, Foligno made a nice
play to collect the rebound and pass it to a wide-open Tyutin who put it home
to tie the game at 1. Just four minutes later, some poor defending by Zidlicky left
Hartnell all alone in front who put it past a helpless Howard to give Columbus
a 2-1 lead with only 4 minutes left in the period.
It was good to see Tomas Jurco back on the bench to start
the 2nd after missing the majority of the 1st following the
high stick. The opening 10 minutes saw a lot of special teams play, including
nearly 2 full minutes of 4-4 hockey. Each team had a grade A scoring chance but
were unable to convert. Johansen was robbed by Howard on the PP while
Zetterberg mishandled the puck on a glorious wraparound attempt. With less than
2 minutes remaining, Columbus attempted their PP breakout while Detroit set up
in their passive neutral zone fore-check. After receiving the drop pass Cam Atkinson
would turn on the jets and skate right by Ericsson before putting it over
Jimmy’s glove to make it 3-1 Columbus heading into the 3rd.
The 3rd period started with some major line
juggling as we saw the return of Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Abby as well as the
original kid line. The downside of those two chances was the third line of Erik
Cole and Pulkkinen centered by Glendening. The Red Wings had two PP
opportunities early but were unable to convert on either, effectively sealing
their fate. The team pressed after pulling the goalie early, but was unable to
really threaten the Blue Jacket’s lead.
It was a very poor effort by Detroit defensively,
particularly on the penalty kill. The two huge defensive miscues cost them against
a team committed to working hard in their own zone. Coming out of the west
coast trip a bit of a let down is to be expected. However, this stretch of
games should have been a chance to pick up points without playing their best.
By continuing to drop points against teams like Columbus and Calgary the Wings
are giving back the ground they made up on the impressive trip. Hopefully this
short road trip will jump start the team and get them back to their winning
ways.
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