Red Wings defeat Blue Jackets to end three-game skid

COLUMBUS -- Ville Husso made 32 saves for the Detroit Red Wings in a 4-2 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Sunday.

Dominik Kubalik scored, and Olli Maatta, David Perron and Filip Hronek each had two assists for the Red Wings (12-7-5), who had lost three straight.
Detroit was playing the second of a back to back after losing 4-1 to the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday.
"That was a focus point for us," Red Wings forward Austin Czarnik said. "We wanted to get started well. To be able to do that was huge, and we just kept on building off it and we held the lead."
Marcus Bjork and Kent Johnson scored, Boone Jenner had two assists, and Joonas Korpisalo made 31 saves for the Blue Jackets (8-13-2), who are 1-4-1 in their past six games.
"Mentally we were not plugged into this one and you could tell," Columbus coach Brad Larsen said. "It snowballed the wrong way most of the game for us.
"Most of the night there were a lot of guys who had tough nights. Some of the mistakes we made, holy smokes. … We found many ways to hurt ourselves tonight."

Czarnik gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead at 6:24 of the first, redirecting a pass from the left wall by Jonatan Berggren. Czarnik, who has two goals in six games, was recalled from Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League on Thursday after Tyler Bertuzzi (hand) was placed on injured reserve.
Kubalik extended the lead to 2-0 at 17:36 with a one-timer off a pass from Hronek in the right circle on the power play.
Lucas Raymond made it 3-0 at 7:03 of the second, banking a shot off Korpisalo from a sharp angle with eight seconds left on a 5-on-3. The goal was his first since Nov. 10 (10 games).
"We need the power play," Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said. "We're not built to score four or five. You see at times we struggle at 5-on-5 offense. Now we turn a 1-0 first period, which we played pretty well, into a 2-0, probably a big difference in the game. Obviously, we have a 3-0 lead with the 5-on-3."
Bjork cut it to 3-1 at 16:10 on a wrist shot from the high slot on the power play. Johnson then made it 3-2 at 1:58 of the third when Johnny Gaudreau found him with a wraparound pass at the right post.

Prior to the goal, Larsen moved Johnson up to play right wing with Jenner at center and Gaudreau at left wing. Laine was moved to a line with Jack Roslovic at center and Gustav Nyquist at left wing.
"Anytime I'm on the ice with him it's exciting," Johnson said of Gaudreau. "I just try to get to the right spots. I know he'll find me, it's pretty easy."
Andrew Copp scored on a shot under the crossbar at 6:08 for the 4-2 final.
"It's a smart play, but it can't go in when we're trailing by one and trying to get back into it," Korpisalo said. "It kind of killed our game there."
Lalonde liked the way the Red Wings played under pressure.
"The third period, when it got to 3-2, was exciting for us as a staff," Lalonde said. "I thought, 3-2, we had a really good six, seven minutes of hockey. We got the fourth one, the difference in the game. It was a little sign of maturity. I don't know in the past if we've handled that situation as well."
NOTES: Detroit forward Oskar Sundqvist had an assist and has four points (three goals, one assist) in a three-game point streak. … Gaudreau has eight points (one goal, seven assists) during a four-game point streak and 17 points (three goals, 14 assists) in his past 10 games.