Columbus — Usually playing a second game in two nights doesn’t prove successful for teams.
There’s often travel involved, that much hockey in 48 hours (or less) is tough on the body, and things seem to get compounded when you’re the road team.
But bring it on, say the Red Wings.
For the third time this season, the Wings went on the road of a back-to-back and came with a victory, Sunday 4-2 over Columbus.
More:BOX SCORE: Red Wings 4, Blue Jackets 2
“It’s the guys, a huge credit to the guys,” coach Derek Lalonde said. “It’s a mindset. I don’t know how many teams in this league are going to go 3-0 in back to backs. It’s one thing to sleep in your own bed and play a back to back, but play at home and fly out and turn around and play the next day at 6 p.m., that hour does make a difference.
“Our guys handled it well.”
Dominik Kubalik and Lucas Raymond had power play goals, Austin Czarnik opened the scoring, and Andrew Copp had a crucial third period goal, while goaltender Ville Husso, who got both starts over the weekend, stopped 31 shots.
The victory ended a three-game winless streak for the Wings (12-7-5), who opened a four-game road trip.
“It was a real good start for us,” Husso said. “Exactly what we wanted. When they came back, we still had energy to push and make it 4-2. It was a big goal (Copp’s) for us.”
Columbus cut the Wings’ lead to 3-2 just 1:58 into the third period when Johnny Gaudreau wheeled behind the net and found former Michigan star Kent Johnson near the hashmarks for Johnson’s sixth goal.
The Wings appeared to restore the two-goal lead thanks to Dylan Larkin. But Larkin’s goal was nixed for the Wings being offsides, keeping the score 3-2 Wings and maintaining all the momentum toward the Blue Jackets.
Copp did regain the two-goal lead, 4-2, though soon after, scoring his third goal on a bad angle shot past goaltender Joonas Korpisalo at 6:08 of the third period.
Lalonde liked the way the Wings handled the final 20 minutes.
“When they got to 3-2, it was exciting for us as a staff, we had a real good six or seven minutes of hockey and we got the fourth goal,” Lalonde said. “It was a little sign of maturity. I don’t know in the past if we’d handle that situation as well. Our game was fine, we got a little open in the second (period), they got to 3-2 and we did a pretty good job with it.”
Czarnik got the Wings rolling with his second goal as a Wing. Olli Maatta made a good play to keep the puck in the zone, and fed Jonatan Berggren along the boards. Berggren skated down and snapped a shot toward the net that Czarnik, skating through, deflected past Korpisalo at 6:34 of the first period.
“Anytime you can keep the play alive it helps out,” said Czarnik of Maatta’s key play. “Bergy got the puck and I went to the net, and he made a good pass to me. We needed a good start and we did, so it was good.”
Husso made a fine save, frustrating Boone Jenner on a redirect right in front of the crease, keeping the game 1-0 shortly after Czarnik’s goal.
The save proved beneficial as the Wings quickly built on the lead, with Kubalik scoring his 10th goal, a one-timer from the right dot on a feed from Filip Hronek, at 17:36 of the first period.
The power play kept humming in the second period for the Wings. With Columbus on an endless parade to the penalty box, on a Wings’ two-man advantage, Hronek fed Raymond near the post, who redirected the puck past goaltender Korpisalo for Raymond’s eighth goal (and first in 10 games) at 7:03.
“We need the power play, we’re not built to score four or five goals,” Lalonde said. “You see it at times, we struggle with five-on-five offense, but now we turn a 1-0 first period which we played well, into 2-0 (with a power play goal)> It was a big difference in the game.”
Columbus narrowed the lead on its first power play.
Marcus Bjork notched his second goal with a blast from the high slot at 16:10, cutting the Wings’ lead to 3-1.
The victory was the second this season for the Wings over the struggling Jackets (8-13-2), continuing a trend of the Wings having success against teams outside of the playoff picture but struggling themselves against playoff caliber teams.
The last three games of this road trip, against Tampa, Florida and Dallas, are against teams with playoff aspirations.
“You look at our track record, and it’s only a small sample size, but there is a cutoff statistic getting to those seven, eight, nine elite teams, we haven’t fared well against them,” Lalonde said. “We want to take some steps forward and that’s the next step, being able to compete with, and against those teams.”
ted.kulfan@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @tkulfan