Jenner, Dubinsky lift Jackets past Red Wings, 4-1

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COLUMBUS — Not only is Boone Jenner having a great rookie season, he’s also showing a knack for
describing his goals.
The first-year player and veteran Brandon Dubinsky scored 40 seconds apart in the third period and Sergei
Bobrovsky had 39 saves to lead the Columbus Blue Jackets past the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 on Tuesday
night.
“I just came around from behind the net there, just kind of looking around, and the seas kind of parted
for me and I fired it,” Jenner said of his critical, tiebreaking goal midway through the third period
that seemed to fire up the Blue Jackets.
Jenner, playing in his 55th game, came to the back wall and squeezed out Detroit center Cory Emmerton,
taking away the puck. Jenner then continued to the right dot before snapping off a wrist shot that beat
Mrazek high on the stick side at the 10:08 mark.
It was Jenner’s 12th goal of the year and couldn’t have come at a better time for a club still seemingly
in a trance 24 hours after a traumatic game in Dallas. In that game, the Stars’ Rich Peverley collapsed
on the bench about 7 minutes into the first period. The NHL called the game and no date has been set for
the rematch.
“It was a pretty rough start for us,” said Nick Foligno, who had tied the game at 1 in the opening period
even while the Red Wings were dominating at both ends. “We didn’t come out the way we wanted to but we
battled back. Bob was outstanding in the first to kind of keep us in it. Then we just took over in the
third period.”
Detroit, which scored first on Danny DeKeyser’s blast from the point, outshot the Blue Jackets 18-8 and
had three power plays but still came out of the period deadlocked.
“That’s the way it goes,” said Red Wings coach Mike Babcock. “You’ve got to score — and they pay Bob to
stop the puck. Sometimes when you’re not as good, you expect your goalie to be good. He was good early
for them.”
Shortly after Jenner’s ice-breaker, Matt Calvert won a puck battle in the neutral zone and then fended
off a defenseman while muscling the puck ahead to Dubinsky. He collected the pass, skated to the crease
and also scored his 13th at the 10:48 mark.
Dereck MacKenzie then added a goal. Nathan Horton had two assists for the Blue Jackets, who have won five
of six.
Both teams came in with 71 points and battling for playoff position in the East.
The Red Wings, already heavily hamstrung by injuries, went to third-string goalie Petr Mrazek when Jimmy
Howard couldn’t play because of the flu. Mrazek stopped 33 shots.
Detroit has dropped four of five (1-3-1).
It was particularly troublesome because of the late collapse.
“We can’t afford too many of those,” defenseman Niklas Kronwall said. “(They scored) and then we couldn’t
seem to find our game again. All of a sudden we were all over the place.”
The Red Wings had two early power plays and took the game’s first five shots but Bobrovsky turned them
all away.
After DeKeyser’s goal, Columbus tied it. Nick Schultz, playing his first home game for Columbus after
being acquired from Edmonton in a draft-day trade, got a shot through traffic from close to the blue
line. Mrazek stopped it but the rebound popped into the slot. Foligno spun with defenseman Jonathan
Ericsson on his back and got two whacks at the loose puck while belly-first on the ice before finding
the net.
Bobrovsky made huge saves on point-blank shots by Riley Sheahan and Drew Miller within seconds in the
middle of the opening period.
“We persevered solely in the first period because of Bob. The score easily could have been 4-1 or 5-1,”
Columbus coach Todd Richards said. “We didn’t start the right way, but we certainly finished the game
the right way.”
NOTES: Howard was 10-3-2 with a 1.99 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage against the Blue
Jackets. … RW Cam Atkinson, third for Columbus with 18 goals, was a healthy scratch for the third game
in a row. … A TV weatherman was roundly booed during the first intermission when he appeared on arena
monitors to forecast snow on Wednesday after a 65-degree day on Tuesday. … Detroit RW Tomas Jurco
suffered an upper-body injury in the second period and did not return.ww.twitter.com/RustyMillerAP

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