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Franzen lifts Red Wings past Blue Jackets

Nov 19, 2007 - 2:05 AM COLUMBUS, Ohio (Ticker) -- Not known for his offensive touch this season, Johan Franzen kept the Detroit Red Wings from being on the defensive again.

Franzen scored in the fifth round of the shootout and Chris Osgood denied David Vyborny as the Red Wings snapped a three-game losing streak with a 5-4 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday.

Franzen, who has yet to record a point in 10 games this season, wristed a shot past goaltender Pascal Leclaire and under the crossbar to give Detroit the edge in the bonus format.

"It's a move I use in practice," Franzen said. "I think I have a couple of good chances in the overtime so the coach had confidence in me and put me in. Hopefully now, more points will come.

"'The Mule' (Franzen) scoring on the shootout, maybe he gets going and gets some more points," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said.

Osgood, who made 36 stops in regulation, made a glove save on Vyborny to end the game.

"I just tried to stay big and not give them much to shoot at," Osgood said. "It's nice to get back in the win column and I felt OK. It was good to get the start and the win."

Babcock was obviously thrilled with the result as well.

"Fourteen wins in the first 20 games is terrific," he said. "It's a real big win for us. Winning on back to back nights is hard, especially when they're waiting on you."

Pavel Datsyuk tied the game at 4-4 with 4:50 remaining after accepting a feed from Henrik Zetterberg and wristing the puck over Leclaire's shoulder.

"It looked ugly during the third when they scored that goal," Babcock said. "Then Pavs (Datsyuk) scored a big-time goal for us to get us to the overtime and shootout."

The goal came 79 seconds after Nikolai Zherdev cleaned up a Rick Nash rebound and beat Osgood inside the right post to give Columbus a brief 4-3 lead.

"That just goes to show that he can dominate a game when he wants to," Nash said of Zherdev.

Nash also scored his 14th goal of the season to tie the game at 3-3 with 14:26 remaining in the second period.

Picking up a loose puck, Nash found some open ice before beating Osgood, who was out of position, with 5:34 remaining in the second period.

"I thought we played a good game and deserved the two points," Nash said. "We just had a couple of mental breakdowns and you can't do that against the best team in the league."

Defenseman Duvie Westcott scored his first goal of the season and Sergei Fedorov also tallied for the Blue Jackets, who lost for the sixth time in their last seven games.

Trailing, 1-0, Detroit scored two power-play goals 26 seconds apart in the first period to take the lead.

Nicklas Lidstrom leveled the game at 1-1 with his team on a 5-on-3 power play.

The five-time Norris Trophy winner blasted a shot from the left faceoff circle, which beat Leclaire for his third goal of the season.

"It was a big goal," Lidstrom said. "Each team struggled with penalties and the penalty kills tonight."

Although Columbus regained a skater from the penalty box, Detroit continued to press the advantage. Tomas Holmstrom ripped a shot along the left wing boards which deflected off a Blue Jackets defenseman and just inside the left post to give the Red Wings a 2-1 lead.

"I was just trying to get it on net, looking for a tip or a rebound - and it found its way in." Holmstrom said.

After Fedorov leveled the game on a 5-on-3 power play, Brett Lebda regained the lead for Detroit just 62 seconds later.

The defenseman gained the zone and blasted a slap shot from just inside the right faceoff circle, beating Leclaire inside the far post. The tally gave the Red Wings a 3-2 lead.

"Detroit's one of the best skill teams in the league," said Leclaire, who finished with 31 saves. "They just never quit, that's basically it. When they need a goal, they find ways to get one. We knew that.

"We just have to find ways to close good teams like that out - and when the games on the line, we need to step up and do the right things."