The Blue Jackets needed a solid, composed effort against a Red Wings team coming off a brutal loss on home ice. They did not get said performance Tuesday night and lost 5-0.
Detroit scored first – a Tomas Tatar goal at 10:17 of the opening period – and never looked back. Jimmy Howard earned a shutout with 28 saves including a handful of stops that left the Blue Jackets scratching their heads, but what left Todd Richards scratching his head was his team’s play in the third period.
Trailing 2-0 and very much in the game, the Blue Jackets took themselves completely out of the game with a rash of undisciplined penalties and the Red Wings made them pay. Tomas Jurco scored eight seconds into a Ryan Johansen roughing penalty at 4:49 of the third period, and 72 seconds later, Riley Sheahan deflected in Detroit’s fourth goal on a play that ended with Scott Hartnell getting penalties for cross-checking and unsportsmanlike conduct.
Just like that, it was 4-0 for the Red Wings and they cruised to the final buzzer.
“It’s a 2-0 game (heading into the third period), and we were in it,” Richards said. “We self-destructed in the third period. There are certain penalties that you can live with because it’s part of the game. Others are undisciplined…and we took a couple of undisciplined penalties in the third period.”
And if not for Sergei Bobrovsky, this one could have been out of hand early. He made 35 saves, including 23 in the first two periods, to give the Blue Jackets a chance in the third period. He was called upon often and came up big numerous times, particularly in the second period when the Red Wings had a pair of chances on the power play to pull away.
“At the end of the day, a loss is a loss,” defenseman Jack Johnson said. “We have to be better. We tried to open it up in the third period and it didn’t work.”
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