The Detroit Red Wings spent most of Saturday night chasing the game, and even after a push in the third period, they couldn’t finish the job in a 4-2 preseason loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets at Little Caesars Arena.
Columbus jumped ahead 3-0 before Detroit finally found some life late. The Red Wings got goals from Ben Chiarot and Michael Rasmussen in the third period, but Cole Sillinger sealed it with an empty-netter.
The Blue Jackets opened the scoring on a play that started with Kiril Marchenko sending a cross-ice pass to Charlie Coyle, who gained inside position on rookie defenseman Anton Johansson and redirected it in. Coyle struck again later in the period, this time jumping on a Moritz Seider turnover and feeding Valeri Nichushkin, whose one-timer beat John Gibson high on the glove side for a 2-0 lead.
Jack Williams made it 3-0 early in the second period with a snap shot past Gibson.
Detroit’s offense stayed quiet through the first two periods, but Chiarot got the Red Wings on the board at 6:39 of the third. His wrist shot from the point, after a faceoff win by Marco Kasper, worked through traffic and got past Jet Greaves. Rasmussen then pulled Detroit within one when his shot slipped through Greaves with 5:41 left in regulation.
That was as close as the comeback got.
One of the night’s early turning points came on the Columbus power play. With 5:34 left in the first period, Justin Faulk was called for delay of game after shooting the puck over the glass, and the Blue Jackets needed just 14 seconds to score.
There were also some notable lineup looks for Detroit. RFA defenseman Simon Edvinsson remains unsigned, and the Red Wings tried Albert Johansson in Edvinsson’s spot on the top pairing with Moritz Seider.
Anton Johansson and Justin Faulk formed the second pair, while Ben Chiarot and Axel Sandin-Pellikka were together on the third pair. Sandin-Pellikka also saw time on the penalty kill.
Todd McLellan shuffled his bottom-six centers in the second period, moving Marco Kasper down to the fourth line between Keegan Kolesar and pushing JT Compher up between Viktor Arvidsson and Emmitt Finnie.
Seider was active from the blue line, finishing the first two periods with six shots. The rest of Detroit’s 12 forwards combined for 12 shots.
The Red Wings open the regular season at Little Caesars Arena on Friday against the New York Rangers. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.
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