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Red Wings down Blue Jackets

Feb 29, 2012 - 4:07 AM Columbus, OH (Sports Network) - Niklas Kronwall scored and added a pair of assists as the Detroit Red Wings used four unanswered goals in the third period to drop the Columbus Blue Jackets, 5-2, at Nationwide Arena.

Johan Franzen, Henrik Zetterberg, and Valtteri Filppula finished with a goal and an assist apiece, and Jan Mursak also scored for the Red Wings, who snapped a three-game slide. Joey MacDonald made 28 saves in the victory.

Detroit also played without captain Nicklas Lidstrom, who was hurt during this past Saturday's game against Colorado when he was hit in the skate by a puck.

"I thought we had really good energy in the first and the third," Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock said. "As long as we were willing to shoot the puck, good things happened."

Rick Nash and Derek MacKenzie scored for the Blue Jackets, who have lost three straight and five of six. Curtis Sanford was tagged for all five goals on 25 shots in defeat.

With the game tied at one after two periods, Columbus struck just 2:13 into the final stanza while shorthanded.

Playing at the top of the penalty-kill box, Mackenzie knocked the puck away from a diving Kronwall and raced the other way with Jiri Hudler on his back. Mackenzie went in on goal and ripped a wrister that MacDonald got a piece of, but it squeezed through him to give the Jackets the lead.

They would not score again.

After giving up the shorthanded tally, the Wings came back on the same power play and scored to even the game when Kronwall got a pass in the left circle from Zetterberg, worked his way to the slot and put a tricky backhander on net that got through Sanford at 3:43 of the final period.

Filppula started the play on the Wings next tally as he worked his way through the neutral zone and gained the blue line on the left wing. He made his way to the slot and dished to Zetterberg, who moved down below the goal line and beat Sanford from a sharp angle to give the Red Wings the lead for good at 8:26.

Mursak pounced on a rebound in front off a shot from the slot by Cory Emmerton at 9:15 to make it 4-2, and Filppula capped the third-period rout when he ripped a wrist shot past Sanford at 13:52 of the final stanza.

The Red Wings opened the scoring just 4:08 into the opening period after Jakub Kindl ripped a shot from the point that was stopped by Sanford, but Franzen corralled the rebound in front and backhanded it past the Jackets' netminder to give his team the early lead.

Columbus tied it at 6:55 when Nash took a pass from Derick Brassard behind the net and came out front for the wrap-around attempt. MacDonald stopped the initial shot, but Nash kept at it and jammed it through MacDonald's pads after getting buried in front.

"I thought it was an entertaining game," Blue Jackets interim head coach Todd Richards said. "Those two goals I'm sure our goalie would like to have back that kind of sucked the air out of our team. It was a disappointing finish to what I thought was a pretty hard-played game."

Game Notes

Columbus fell to 18-38-11 all-time against Detroit, and 11-16-7 at Nationwide Arena...To replace Lidstrom in the lineup, the Wings recalled defenseman Doug Janik from their American Hockey League affiliate in Grand Rapids...Detroit finished 1-for-6 with the man advantage, while the Blue Jackets converted 1- of-5 power-play opportunities...The Wings will host the Minnesota Wild on Friday, while the Blue Jackets will visit the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday.