SECOND TIME NOT A CHARM
Detroit Dominates Jackets 6-2

By DAVE SEAMAN, Columbus Wired

The difference in the rematch between the Detroit Red Wings and the Columbus Blue Jackets Monday night was the power play. The Red Wings converted on three of nine power plays to defeat the Jackets 6-2 in front of 16,098 at Nationwide Arena.

The Jackets converted only one of eight and couldn’t take advantage of nearly two minutes of a two-man advantage in the second period.

“At times we look good and get good chances,” Columbus coach Gerard Gallant said. “If you watch Detroit, they pass tape to tape. When you watched us on the 5-on-3 the passes were in people’s feet. ... That’s the difference. We have to pay attention to detail. I think we made too many bad passes.”

Brendan Shanahan and Pavel Datsyuk each scored two goals for Detroit, while Mathieu Schneider and Henrik Zetterberg each added one. Manny Legace continued his dominance over the Jackets, stopping 31 of 37 shots. Bryan Berard and Tevor Letowski scored for the Jackets, while goaltender Marc Denis had 31 saves.

Jackets captain Luke Richardson said he felt that the team played even with the Red Wings after falling to the same team 6-0 Saturday night. “We stayed with them five-on-five,” he said. “I don’t think our special teams were all that bad. We’re just a little snake bit right now and until that changes we have to just keep plugging away.”

The Jackets (2-7) struck first on the power play midway through first period. Vyborny won the faceoff to the left of Detroit goalie Manny Legace. Todd Marchant scooped up the puck and hit a sharp pass to Berard, who hit a slapshot from the blueline past Legace at 10:18.

Detroit (9-1) tied the game at 16:37 when the Jackets failed to clear the puck out of the Red Wing attack zone. With the puck behind the goal, Shanahan hit a soft shot off the back of Denis and it bounced in the goal. Chris Chelios and Jason Williams assisted on the goal.

The Red Wings took control in the second period. After burning off almost two minutes of a two-man disadvantage, the Wings’ Datsyuk scored twice in a 2 minute, 33 second span. The first goal came off a loose puck rebound at 7:35, while the second was a putback after Denis made a save at 9:08.

“We had to score (on the 5-on-3), Berard said. “That changes the outcome of the game. We played well 5-on-5, but we have to get more goals from the power play”

Letowski got the Jackets to within a goal when he took a pass from Marchant and tapped it past Legace at 11:38.

Things got ugly from there. Steven Goertzen was called for a five minute penalty for boarding and the Wings took advantage scoring twice in 1:13. Shanahan scored on a slap shot from just inside the blue line on the right board and Schneider took a pass from Nickas Lidstrom and tapped it past Denis.

“It was just a bad break for us with them getting two,” Jackets winger Jody Shelley said. “We’re a better team 5-on-5 and we we’re good with the puck. The specialty teams didn’t help us, but that’s only going to get better. We’re going to win games and tonight was another good lesson for us.”

Zetterberg added another goal when he shimmied around defenseman Radoslav Suchy and put the puck past Denis at 11:32 of the third.

Columbus celebrated two milestones in the game. Tyler Wright played his 300th game as a Blue Jacket, while David Vyborny became the club’s all-time leading assist leader, surpassing Geoff Sanderson mark of 95.

The Jackets host Nashville Wednesday at 7 p.m.