Blue Jackets Drop Game Two

April 20, 2009 by J. Justin Boggs

DETROIT - Detroit Red Wings goaltender Chris Osgood followed a sterling outing last Thursday with another on Saturday in a 4-0 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets in front of a sold out crowd in Joe Louis Arena.
 

The Wings now have a 2-0 lead over Columbus in the best-of-seven Western Conference quarterfinals. Game three is at Nationwide Arena on Tuesday. Winning Tuesday is a must win for the Blue Jackets. It is very rare for a team to win a series after being down 3-0.
 
“I thought we played better today than we did in game one,” Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock said. “Especially five-on-five, we competed harder and played better but they scored three power-play goals.”
 
Detroit outshot Columbus 39-25 on Saturday. Despite allowing four goals, Columbus goaltender Steve Mason was not bad. It was Columbus’ penalty kill that really cost them a chance at winning. Detroit had three power-play goals, and 14 shots on net while on the power play. Osgood on the other hand was spectacular making saves when he needed to. He survived a flurry of shots late in the second as Blue Jackets Fedor Tyutin and Antoine Vermette had excellent opportunities robbed by Osgood.
 
Detroit’s Brian Rafalski opened scoring on a power-play goal 13:33 into the first period as he shot one past Mason who was screened by Detroit forward Marian Hossa. Mason surrendered a pair of goals in the middle of the second; one by Pavel Datsyuk, the other by Henrik Zetterberg.  Jiri Hudler added his second postseason goal 3:38 into the third.
 
The Red Wings were by far the most disciplined team as Columbus had 14 penalties, nine of which were in the third period compared to four committed by Detroit for the entire game.
 
“Even before the third, we can’t take penalties,” Blue Jackets captain Rick Nash said. “Their power play is so good. They have so much skill. We got to stay disciplined.”
 
“You have to got to play a hard, aggressive game,” Columbus forward R.J. Umberger said. “But you have to play smart. We just found ourselves in the box the whole game.”
 
Both Umberger and Nash said bringing the series back home to Columbus on Tuesday will make a big difference and Nash added that the fans need to be there behind them. One nice advantage Columbus has being at home is that they will be the last team to change their lines during timeouts. This means the Blue Jackets can work on getting more favorable matchups; something the Red Wings had the advantage on in Detroit.
 
“Are we going to learn what it is like to play 60 minutes,” Hitchcock said. “Even if we play 50, we can’t beat this team… There is pressure on us.”
 
The top line of Kristian Huselius, Manny Malhotra, and Nash has struggled through the end of the season and have been held scoreless in the first two games of the series.  Expect Nash and Huselius to be joined by Vermette to jump start the top line. Vermette practiced with the top line in Monday’s practice.  Malhotra was paired up on the third line.