By the Numbers: Red Wings 9, Blue Jackets 1

I lied. Apparently retribution was in the cards tonight. Wasn’t expecting THAT though.

Maybe it was the 8-2 blowout the Jackets gave the Wings at the Joe last year. Maybe it was Ken Hitchcock’s comments about making the Wings “bleed.” Maybe the Wings were just tired of being doubted and took it out on one of the teams hanging out above them in the division standings. Whatever it was that got the Wings going, it sure as hell worked as the Wings routed Columbus 9-1 tonight. Seven different players scored for the Wings, as they handed the Jackets their worst loss in franchise history while at the same time ruining Hitchcock’s 1,000th game as an NHL coach.

All in all it was a completely dominating performance from the Winged Wheelers, who jumped on the Jackets early and often and never looked back. As dominating as the performance was, it was punctuated even further as the first six Wings goals were scored by six different players and for each of them it was their third goal of the season. I’m sure Columbus’ PA announcer must have thought he sounded like a broken record reporting those goals, but it’s a really good sign for the Wings, especially since they needed the secondary scoring to step up and start contributing. Not wanting to miss out on the party, Justin Abdelkader also netted his second and THIRD goals of the season late in the game, giving the Wings seven players finally hitting the three goal mark in the same game.

As for Jimmah: The jury is still out, but things are looking up. He looked shaky all the way up until the Wings got up by five, but he did play a more solid game and made some key saves to keep the momentum moving forward for the team. The defense looks like it’s finally coming around to his style of play, making sure that the rebounds Howard gave up were harmlessly pushed away and preventing the put-back goals that have been plaguing Jimmah this season. That said, I’m still not sold on the kid, so I won’t be eating my words just yet. Much better performance though.

What does it mean for the team going forward? Well, in terms of the standings it didn’t do a whole lot as the ‘Hawks won and hold a three point lead over the third place Wings. However, with a game in hand over both Columbus and Chicago, the Wings can take control of second place with a win over Vancouver tomorrow night and can cut the Chicago lead to a single point. That said, we aren’t even 20 games into the season, so I’m not going to get too worked up about the standings.

More importantly, the Wings finally have scored more goals than they have given up for the first time this season, upping their season GF to 52 and the GA to 49. The boys are also 5-1-1 in their last seven and, save for the mess in Toronto, really seem to be coming together as unit, which is especially impressive given the amount of players that have been lost to injury so early in the season. But with a win like this come increased expectations, and the excuse about the Wings not having the offensive tools to put points on the board is now complete bunk.

The team won’t have to wait long to try and build on tonight’s effort as Vancouver comes calling at the Joe tomorrow night. In the meantime, here’s your line production breakdown for tonight’s game.

**The season totals are updated here and here.

Line Production

Special Teams Production

Tags: Columbus Blue Jackets