Wings 6, Blue Jackets 0

Wings defeat Blue Jackets in Columbus
Detroit easily beat the Blue Jackets in Nationwide Arena to bring their overall record to 8-1-0. Here's a more detailed look into the game.

First Period
With 14:54 left in the first period, Jason Williams beat Columbus goaltender Marc Denis to notch his first goal after getting 8 assists already this season. Center Robert Lang took the face-off and Brendan Shanahan who pushed it over to Williams where he promptly put it in the back of the Blue Jackets’ net. This occurred right after the conclusion of a four on four play.

27 seconds later, Kris Draper pushes the puck up the ice when Columbus forward Mike Rupp steals the puck behind the net. He tries to pass it up the middle of the ice (to whom, I have no clue because the pass was so far off). Johan Franzen easily intercepts the puck and takes a nice quick shot to beat Denis and get his second goal of the year.

Williams scored again, this time on the power play, with 9:52 left in the first period. Datsyuk passed the puck to Williams who was at the top of the face-off circle to the left of Denis and then put a rocket past him in the top corner.

With 5:12 left in the first period, we peppered Denis with so many great shots, I just couldn’t see how we didn’t score in the bout. Thus far into the game, Denis has faced 16 shots from the Wings.

Tonight is Jason Williams night. With 4:06 left in the first period, Williams scored another goal to make it a hat trick for him. In the first period. Shanny made a nice pass to Williams who was wide open in the middle and again rocketed it past Denis. After Willy’s third goal, Martin Prusek replaced Denis in the net.

To view the interview I did with Jason Williams in November 2004 (when he was fighting to stay up in the NHL instead of being in Grand Rapids with the AHL team), click here.

Second Period
To be honest, nothing happened in this period of value. Sure, there were a couple penalties (Samuelsson for hooking and Fischer for a high stick) and both teams had some opportunities to score (although, Detroit controlled the puck for a majority of the time). Wings goalie, Manny Legace, remained strong in the net and looks like he plans to continue leading the NHL in net.

Third Period
6:40 into the third period, Henrik Zetterberg gets one past Prusek. However, the goal was reversed because Tomas Holmstrom had a foot in the crease. Less than a minute later, Jason Woolley makes a nice pass to Zetterberg, who easily puts the puck in the net. Holmstrom was on the ice but a comfortable distance outside the crease and the goal did count this time. In the middle of the period, Red Wings commentator Mickey Redmond made the following remark (well something close to this): “The Blue Jackets didn’t support the shootout. Because apparently, they like the tie to go with their Blue Jackets.” Haha. That was a pretty weak/lame joke Mickey. I’d hope you could come up with something better than that.

With 5:51 left in the game, Pavel Datsyuk scores off an uncontested rebound from Zetterberg’s shot to lift the Wings to a 6-0 score. His first goal of the game marks his fifth of the season.

Quote of the Game
This quote actually was said before the start of the game during FSN’s Red Wings Pregame. Broadcaster John Keating was interviewing Kris Draper and to end the interview, he said “Draper, you still look beautiful to me.” Draper gave a nervous/awkward laugh and then skated off. I definitely started laughing after I heard that one.

Reactions after the Game
After a scoring a hat trick in a great performance, Williams was pleased with his performance at Nationwide Arena.

"I do like playing here. It's a great rink," Williams said. "I remember the last time I was here I scored two goals. It was in the back of my mind…Everybody seems to be on the right page. When everybody's working together, it makes it that much easier. We're playing good as a team right now and hopefully we can keep it going.”

Head coach Mike Babcock was also pleased with the teams’ performance tonight.

“Obviously our guys got prepared. You have to give our guys credit -- they were real professional,” Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. “We had our 'A' game early.”

Wings’ Next Game
The Wings will face the Blue Jackets on Monday night at Nationwide Arena again before going on to face the Chicago Blackhawks in three straight games. “It's probably a good thing that we get back at them in 48 hours,” Denis said. “We have a chance to make amends and redeem ourselves here. I remember two years ago we went to Detroit and got our lunches handed to us. We came back here and beat them at home.”

Notes
The Wings are now 4-0 on the road and look to make it 5-0 in Columbus on Monday. Mathieu Schneider and Shanahan both have points in the last four games. Woolley kept his assists’ streak alive at five games after assisting Zetterberg’s goal. Legace notched his second shutout of the season and eighth in his career. The three stars for the game were Williams (#1), Legace (#2), and Datsyuk (#3).

Visit ESPN for a different summary of the game.

Boxscore Play by Play

Final Score: Wings-6 Blue Jackets-0