Detroit Sweeps The Blue Jackets This Weekend

Added on Nov 29, 2010 by J Merrill in

NHL

Looks like the Detroit Redwings took out the aggression they built up, after a pounding by Atlanta, on the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Wings were dealt a humbling 5-1 blowout loss to the Atlanta Thrashers last week and took it personally, and after a short Thanksgiving break, they have since beat the Blue jackets twice now. The Wings took all four points from this weekend, after coming into the home-and-home series tied with Columbus at 28 points.

Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard, who improved to 13-2-2 and made his 12th straight start, said “It was good to send ourselves a message, We got a taste of our own medicine in Atlanta and it was one of those things where it woke us up. It got us back to playing defense fast and taking away second and third opportunities. It’s a lot of fun playing that way.”

Wings coach Mike Babcock then added “We embarrassed ourselves in Atlanta, We never touched the puck. They were better technically. They worked harder and executed better than we did. Every once in a while, you get away from things and you need to be reminded. We were able to get back on track and win these two games, and it was an important two games for us.” Babcock also said of a great Helmner made. “Helmer works every night for us, He did a real good job. He put it in behind the D and went in and got it. The D turned it over and he buried it. That was a big swing in the game…two goals in a very short period of time.”

Derick Brassard, who gave the Jackets a 1 goal lead at the end of one, said “We’re a good team, but that was a good indication that we still need to get better. There’s a lot of room to keep improving. They’re playing good hockey right now. They’re a team that’s on top of their game and on top of the conference.” Blue Jackets defenseman Mike Commodore added “If we skate, we can hang with those guys. If we stop and watch, like we did in the second period, we’re in trouble. Kind of a litmus test of how we’re doing. You lose two games, you fail. But we’re in there.”

The Redwings killed a huge penalty, on a two-man disadvantage during the middle portion of the third period, in the third period to really deflate the Jackets. “That was huge for us. If they scored a goal there, they’re still on the power play,” Detroit captain Nicklas Lidstrom said. “We’re just trying to keep three guys low when the puck was low and bring them up when they had the puck at the blue line. We did block some good shots and Howie [Howard] came up big again with saves when we really needed him to.” He continued “We had two tough games going in there and winning by a goal and then coming back here and even though we scored late, empty-netter, two tough games. And I think they have improved as a team. They’re playing us real hard.”

The Red Wings and Blue Jackets entered the weekend tied atop the Western Conference. The Red Wings now lead the conference with 32 points, while the Blue Jackets and Chicago Blackhawks are tied for second with 28 each.

The Columbus Blue Jackets(14-8-0, 28pts) face the Nashville Predators (9-8-5, 23pts) on Wednesday, and the Detroit Redwings (15-4-2, 32pts) play the San Jose Sharks (11-7-4, 26pts) on Tuesday.