• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Hossa scores twice as Red Wings roll past Blue Jackets

Nov 29, 2008 - 5:13 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- The Detroit Red Wings had stumbled a bit lately, but their prized offseason acquisition picked them back up on Friday.

Marian Hossa scored two goals - including one that snapped a tie with exactly two minutes remaining in the third period - as the Red Wings recorded a 5-3 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Signed to a one-year, $7.45 million contract in the offseason, Hossa leads the Red Wings with 13 goals and 26 points this season.

"He's been unbelievable for this hockey team, not just the way he plays but he's a great guy in the room," Detroit's Kris Draper said. "He works so hard every night. I think everyone knew he was a world-class hockey player, but until you're with him every day you don't know how hard he works."

Henrik Zetterberg and Jiri Hudler each scored power-play goals and Draper converted a shorthanded empty-netter with seven seconds left. Pavel Datsyuk and Mikael Samuelsson added two assists apiece for the Red Wings, who avoided their third straight loss following a five-game win streak.

"Tonight showed how important winning faceoffs is on the power play and penalty kill," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "They dominated in the circle in the first period, but held our own for the rest of the game."

Fedor Tyutin scored twice and rookie Jakub Voracek also tallied, but the Blue Jackets suffered their fourth loss in five contests.

"When you come back in the third period, but they manage to score in the last two minutes, it's a hard lesson to learn," Tyutin said. "You have to learn from it."

Detroit fell to the Vancouver Canucks, 3-2, in overtime on Monday and then, 3-1, to the Montreal Canadiens two days later.

Prior to that mild skid, the Red Wings won seven of eight - with their only blemish coming in a 7-6 overtime loss to the team they bounced in the Stanley Cup Finals last season, the Pittsburgh Penguins, on November 11.

Chris Osgood made 13 saves, having entered with only two starts in Detroit's previous six contests. Ty Conklin got the nod from Babcock in the others and went 3-1-0 with a shutout.

Osgood received the boost he and the Red Wings needed when Hossa fired a wrister from below the left faceoff circle past Pascal Leclaire to secure the victory.

"We had a plan," Hossa said. "The inside wing is going to jump. The puck came up to me. I surprised the goalie. Just tried to shoot basically at the paint. I think it just hit the outside of his pad and he put it in himself."

Tyutin pulled the Blue Jackets even at 3-3 just 77 seconds into the third with a slap shot from mid-ice that found its way between the left goalpost and Osgood's stick.

"Just got lucky," Tyutin said. "They let me skate it up to the red line. I thought, 'I can dump it in or shoot.' I don't know why, but I took a shot on goal. If I shoot 100 more of those, I'm sure they wouldn't go in. It's not good enough, I guess. We have to learn how to play the last two minutes of the period."

After Tyutin forged a 2-2 tie with 2:32 left in the second, Hossa struck for the first time by converting a slap shot off Datsyuk's backhanded feed two minutes later.

"It was an unbelievable effort by (Hossa)," Draper said. "He just jumped through and threw it on net. You just never know how the puck is going to bounce on a certain night."

Voracek netted his fourth goal of the season to open the scoring with six minutes remaining in the first, but Zetterberg evened the game three minutes later and Hudler capitalized with the man advantage midway through the following session.

"Columbus plays hard and we knew they were going to come, but we showed poise and discipline and won the hockey game," Draper said.

Detroit outshot Columbus, 35-16, overall - including a 14-5 margin in the third.

"They got some chances but I thought we played the way that we need to," Columbus left wing Jason Chimera said. "In the second period we played pretty well (and) in the third period we played well. To lose like that, with a couple of minutes left, is tough."