Pro Sports Blogging

After being pulled on Wednesday night after two periods Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard rebounded with a solid outing against the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight leading the Wings to a 2-1 victory in Columbus.

Howard stopped 34 of 35 shots, and helped his team with a couple great saves on the penalty kill. He also stopped a penalty shot from Blue Jackets forward Jared Boll with 11 minutes to go in the second period.  Howard is 6-0-1 against the Blue Jackets in his career.

Johan Franzen started the scoring with his tenth goal of the season in the second period when he beat Blue Jackets goalie Steve Mason on an odd-man rush pass from Todd Bertuzzi. It was Franzen’s first goal away from Joe Louis Arena this season.

The game-winner came from Valtteri Filppula who drove home a power play goal with 11:54 to play in the third period. The goal was Filppula’s fifth of the season, and extended the Wings streak of power play goals to seven games.

Less than one minute later Antoine Vermette netted the Blue Jackets lone goal when he knocked in a rebound after a turnover by Henrik Zetterberg. Howard shut the Blue Jackets down for the remainder of the game to give the Wings sole possession of the top spot in the Central Divison at 14-4-2.

The Blue Jackets had the league’s worst home power play coming into play tonight at just under 6  percent, and did themselves no favors by going 0-5 with seven shots with the man advantage.

The Wings ended their streak of allowing three or more goals at four with tonight’s stellar defensive performance. The win also ended the Blue Jackets win streak at five games.

Red Wings center Mike Modano left the game in the second period after getting hit on the wrist by a skate. He is listed as day-to-day.

The teams head north for a Sunday evening game at Joe Louis Arena with the puck dropping at 5:00pm.

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Written by Jeremy Klumpp
I am a graduate of Eastern Michigan University with a degree in Electronic Media and Film. For two years I wrote a baseball blog, "Ground Rule Double," and have contributed to a book on the 1968 Detroit Tigers. If you want to read my non-sports thoughts head to jklumpp1.posterous.com.