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Quick-striking Zetterberg stuns Blue Jackets

Mar 20, 2008 - 5:37 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- Henrik Zetterberg left the Columbus Blue Jackets' heads spinning.

Zetterberg recorded a natural hat trick in the third period and All-Star Chris Osgood stopped 22 shots as the Detroit Red Wings posted a 3-1 victory over the Blue Jackets on Wednesday.

Pavel Datsyuk and defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski each recorded an assist for the Red Wings (48-20-6), who snapped a two-game skid and remained five points ahead of San Jose (44-21-9) in the race for the Presidents' Trophy. The Sharks posted a shootout victory over the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday.

"It's always fun, especially since we got the win, too," Zetterberg said. "We lost two in a row, so we needed this win."

"We played real good for the first two periods, and we played really good for the first six to seven minutes of the third," Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We made a couple of mistakes and they wound up in the net."

Manny Malhotra tallied for Columbus (33-30-11), which had its two-game winning streak snapped and remained seven points out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Detroit trailed, 1-0, before Zetterberg snapped a seven-game goalless drought in a big way. He tied the game at 6:34 of the third, then scored twice in a span of 35 seconds late in the period to record his third career hat trick and second this campaign.

"It's a great confidence builder for him to get back on the scoresheet again," Lidstrom said. "He's had a lot of chances. He's been snake-bitten a little bit, not being able to score."

The team's leading scorer, Zetterberg split a pair of defenders with some nifty stickhandling and poked a shot between the pads of goaltender Fredrik Norrena for his 37th of the season, forging a 1-1 tie.

"We let him into the middle," Hitchcock said. "We know what he does."

"The first one, I had a lot of speed coming and I got a great pass from Rafalski and their D were kind of standing still," Zetterberg said. "I got through them and put it five-hole on the goalie. It was a good feeling to see it go in."

Datsyuk set up the next goal with a cross-ice pass to Zetterberg, who fired a quick wrist shot from the left side past Norrena with 1:54 remaining in the third. The Swede capped the outburst by stealing a pass in the neutral zone and scoring on a breakaway with 79 seconds to go.

"We can't be giving up the puck to that guy," Columbus captain Rick Nash said.

Norrena came out of the net as Zetterberg skated around the left side and sprawled out in a last-ditch effort to prevent the goal.

"The third one, kind of lucky break - bad draw pass in the middle of the zone and I got a breakaway," Zetterberg said. "I think the goalie didn't realize I had control of the puck, so he comes out. (I) just go around and put it in."

"Of course, if you give him the empty net, for sure he'll score the game-winner," Norrena said.

It was a quick turnaround for Norrena, who was looking for his second straight shutout in place of Pascal Leclaire, who is sidelined with a concussion.

Norrena, who finished with 24 saves, had his shutout streak snapped at 108 minutes, 45 seconds with Zetterberg's first goal.

The Blue Jackets opened the scoring as Malhotra continued his hot streak, netting his fifth goal in three games at 7:05 of the second period. During a power play, he grabbed the rebound of Nash's shot and deposited it past Osgood for his 11th of the season.

"(We've) got the best team in the league down 1-0 after two periods," Nash said. "We've got to be better."