Sergei Bobrovsky stole the show in a 1-0 shootout win back on Dec. 16 at Joe Louis Arena. He gave the Red Wings faithful an encore Thursday night.
The Blue Jackets polished off a two-game sweep of their midweek road trip and Bobrovsky was the game’s No. 1 star, making 41 saves and delivering another rock-solid performance between the pipes. He racked up 25 saves in the final 40 minutes (after 16 saves in the first period) and frustrated a Detroit team that’s not used to struggling for offense.
A first period goal from Justin Abdelkader was the only damage for Detroit, and three unanswered goals by the Blue Jackets were more than enough to supplement Bobrovsky’s performance. The end result was a 3-1 victory — the second straight in Detroit for the Blue Jackets — and they won the season series against the Red Wings for the third year in a row.
They’re also 9-2-1 in their last 12 meetings with the Red Wings, their long-time (former) Central Division rivals and 4-1-0 in their last five games at The Joe.
“I thought we came out right from the start, got right into the game and we were doing the right things 5-on-5,” said Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards. “I thought we were involved and invested in the game early and we were defending well.”
Fedor Tyutin answered the early Detroit goal by jumping in from the left point and burying a beautiful Nick Foligno pass behind Jimmy Howard at 12:24. Foligno and Corey Tropp were doing the heavy lifting down low in the offensive zone on a long shift, and Tyutin made a great read to pinch in and supply a secondary wave.
Then it was Scott Hartnell scoring again — his third goal in less than four periods — to give the Blue Jackets a 2-1 lead, slamming in a perfect centering feed from Artem Anisimov. It was an impressive counter from the Blue Jackets, who were behind the eight-ball early thanks to some penalty trouble, but their penalty kill was outstanding and the goaltender played a big role in that.
The penalty kill was 5-for-6 on the night and, for the most part, the Blue Jackets did well to keep it simple against a highly-skilled Detroit power play.
“The last couple of games, we’ve gone down, shaken it off and gotten back in the game,” said defenseman Kevin Connauton. “We were really focusing on getting clears all the way down the ice and we did a really good job of that. We were battling in all parts of our zone, getting the puck and making plays when we had to.”
Columbus got a power play goal of its own late in the second period, and Cam Atkinson turned on the jets to give the visitors a much-needed insurance goal.
He picked up the puck and hit the gas pedal through the neutral zone, flying by two Red Wings before hitting the offensive blue line and leaving Detroit’s Jonathan Ericsson in the dust. Atkinson cut back into the right circle, toed up a quick snap shot and beat Howard high to the glove side, making it 3-1 Columbus with 90 seconds left in the second period.
After that, it was a lock down third period from the Blue Jackets, who killed two penalties and got several timely saves from their goaltender.
“Hopefully it gives us a little momentum going into tomorrow night in our own building,” Richards said. “We have to do the same thing tomorrow night with the same purpose and physicality, the things that make us the team that we can be.”
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