In Columbus, Andrew Copp scored in the third period to end a Blue Jackets rally on Sunday night and give the Detroit Red Wings a 4-2 lead they protected for the win.
Ville Husso made 32 saves in the win.
Detroit improved to 12-7-5.
“That was a focus point for us,” Red Wings forward Austin Czarnik said. “We wanted to get started well. To be able to do that was huge, and we just kept on building off it and we held the lead.”
After the Red Wings built a 3-0 lead in the second period, the Blue Jackets rallied on goals from Marcus Bjork and Kent Johnson in the middle and third periods to cut the deficit to 3-2.
“Mentally we were not plugged into this one and you could tell,” Columbus coach Brad Larsen said. “It snowballed the wrong way most of the game for us.
“Most of the night there were a lot of guys who had tough nights. Some of the mistakes we made, holy smokes. … We found many ways to hurt ourselves tonight.”
Columbus dropped to 8-13-2.
“The third period, when it got to 3-2, was exciting for us as a staff,”Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said. “I thought, 3-2, we had a really good six, seven minutes of hockey. We got the fourth one, the difference in the game. It was a little sign of maturity. I don’t know in the past if we’ve handled that situation as well.”
Czarnik and Dominik Kubalik scored in the first period to give Detroit a 2-0 advantage.
Detroit extended the lead in the middle frame on a 5-on-3 power play strike form Lucas Raymond .
“We need the power play,” Lalonde said. “We’re not built to score four or five. You see at times we struggle at 5-on-5 offense. Now we turn a 1-0 first period, which we played pretty well, into a 2-0, probably a big difference in the game. Obviously, we have a 3-0 lead with the 5-on-3.”
Joonas Korpisalo made 31 saves in the Columbus loss.
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