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Red Wings top Blue Jackets to remain perfect

Oct 22, 2011 - 3:23 AM Detroit, MI (Sports Network) - Johan Franzen made his 400th career game a memorable one, recording two goals and an assist as the Detroit Red Wings remained undefeated with a 5-2 victory over the winless Columbus Blue Jackets.

Valtteri Filppula assisted on each of Franzen's goals and added an empty-net goal in the closing minutes of the game to give Detroit a perfect 5-0-0 record for the first time since the 1997-98 season, when they went 5-0 with a tie.

Jimmy Howard stopped 32 shots in the win.

Aaron Johnson had a goal and an assist, while Steve Mason made 28 saves in a losing effort for the Blue Jackets, who fell to 0-6-1 on the young season.

"These are tough times right now. We got to make sure we stick together, stay upbeat and try to get out of this," Blue Jackets center Rick Nash said about his team's start of the season.

Detroit took advantage of an R.J. Umberger holding penalty to take the lead in the first period. Franzen attempted a pass from the right circle down into the corner, but the puck bounced off a Columbus defender and right back to Franzen, who wristed a shot through a screen to the far side of the net and past the glove of Mason just over nine minutes into the game.

Another Blue Jacket penalty led to Franzen's second power-play goal of the period because of a lucky bounce. Franzen grabbed the puck at the right circle after Filppula won a faceoff inside Columbus' zone and skated down the right side of the ice. He sent the puck across the ice on an attempted pass, but the disc deflected off of Blue Jackets defenseman Johnson as he laid his stick down and into the net.

Columbus answered less than a minute later when Johnson's shot from the right circle went through the legs of Howard, hit the right post and was stuffed into the net by Derick Brassard to make it a 2-1 game.

The Red Wings took their two-goal lead back just 27 seconds into the second period when Pavel Datsyuk collected a rebound in the slot and wristed it through a crowd and into the twine.

"Today we were able to get a lot of second and third chances and get some goals," Filppula said.

Niklas Lidstrom's hooking penalty at the end of the second period gave Columbus a power play for the first two minutes of the third and they took advantage at the 1:42 mark. Antoine Vermette fell down at the right point but managed to swipe the puck to the bottom corner from the ground. Vinny Prospal then quickly sent the puck to the right circle and Johnson fired a one-timer through Howard's legs to make it a 3-2 contest.

But Lidstrom rifled a slap shot under the crossbar on a power play seconds after Columbus killed a 5-on-3 with 12:14 left in the game. Filppula laid the puck into the empty net within the final two minutes to seal the win.

Game Notes

Columbus is now 17-37-10 all-time against Detroit, including a 7-22-3 mark at Joe Louis Arena...Red Wings defenseman Brad Stuart was appearing in his 800th career game...Columbus went 1-for-4 on the power play and has scored a power- play goal in three straight games...Detroit went 3-for-5 on the man advantage...Columbus has scored two goals in each of its seven games this season.