Trailing 2-1 to the Columbus Blue Jackets in the third period on Tuesday night, the Detroit Red Wings appeared to be in serious danger of not only losing a fourth straight game, but having the losing streak grow at the hands of the NHL's worst team. As good as the Red Wings looked over the course of the month of February, closing it out with a four-game losing streak would have obviously been less than ideal.
Thankfully for the Red Wings, they turned things around shortly after the Blue Jackets took a 2-1 lead early in the third period on a shorthanded goal. Detroit responded with a Niklas Kronwall power-play goal a minute and a half later to tie things up. Then, five minutes later, Henrik Zetterberg somehow snuck the puck into the net from the short side to put the Red Wings on top 3-2. Jan Mursak added a goal less than a minute later, and Valtteri Filppula put the nail in Columbus' coffin with a goal of his own at the 13:52 mark. The Red Wings went on to win 5-2.
Despite not having Jimmy Howard, who had the night off, as well as Nicklas Lidstrom, Pavel Datsyuk and Kyle Quincey, who were out with injuries, the Red Wings played a pretty good game. Granted, it was against the league's worst team, but Joey MacDonald especially was impressive. He recorded 28 saves for the Red Wings and picked up his seventh straight win. Not bad for a goalie who was in the AHL up until this month.
The Red Wings' next game is on Friday at home against the Minnesota Wild. It will be the first of back-to-back home games, as the Red Wings will host the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday afternoon.
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