Red Wings help James Reimer score shutout against Columbus

The Detroit Red Wings celebrate a second period goal during a game against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on October 16, 2023 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Ben Jackson/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Red Wings tied another victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena Monday night. James Reimer celebrated a shutout with Detroit, who defeated their opponents 4-0. The penalty killing took its toll through 60 minutes, giving energy to the defense that made improvements in their second game this season.

Detroit’s home win Saturday was a good one, but defense was an issue early on. The offense got the team through the Lightning in the late stages to be in the positive before going into Columbus. Reimer earned a spot between the pipes after Ville Husso played the first two. As DeBrincat performed well on the first line, he and the 11 other forwards and six defensemen would go for broke against the Blue Jackets, who won at home against the Rangers.

In an effort to have another good start, Columbus came out attacking the Detroit defense. Their determination didn’t result in a goal, and instead watched the Red Wings fight to clear the puck out. After nine minutes of dealing with their opponent's push, they got a good play rolling with Joe Veleno skating up with the puck on the left side before he found Shayne Gostisbehere coming up dead center. The 30-year-old defenseman got the shot in behind Spencer Martin for his first of the season.

Columbus turned up the heat on a power play opportunity, only to see Reimer handle a good scoring chance. Detroit had four shots through the elapsed part of the game, while Columbus notched nine, making it another challenging time for Reimer. The Red Wings went on the power play with four minutes to go, but very little room was there for them to notch another to their bottom line.

Returning to even strength, Detroit found more time with the puck, but couldn’t get back in place to take shots at the Columbus net. They finished the period shooting five on net but made the lone goal count through 20 minutes. Detroit came into the second, notching their first shot on goal at Martin, hunting a chance to go up further. Detroit also saw a consistent improvement in their defense, stopping the Blue Jackets from leveling through seven minutes.

A good steal for J.T. Compher in the Columbus zone ended with Michael Rasmussen, who regained control of the puck and backhanded it into the net to make it a 2-0 score. Columbus suffered a setback when Boone Jenner went into the box for cross-checking Gostisbehere. No more than 20 seconds into the man advantage, Mortiz Seider connected with Red Wingd captain Dylan Larkin, who took the puck between the pads of Martin to make it 3-0.

Columbus was back in the box for a slashing call, and Detroit took advantage. Lucas Raymond fired the puck that went off the pad of Martin until Andrew Copp got the puck and scored to make it four straight. With 7:33 left, the Red Wings evened up with Columbus on 13 shots each, but the gap was huge.

Detroit gained full leverage of the game, spending the remainder of the period wreaking havoc against Columbus, who at one point took a timeout to regroup the squad. After 40 minutes of play, Detroit had a dozen scoring chances in the books and outshot the Blue Jackets 13-4 in the period, with one to go.

There was a lot of inactivity between the teams as Detroit had a comfortable lead, and the Blue Jackets were left restless and frustrated. Eight minutes into it, Klim Kostin and Erik Gudbranson decided to throw down near center ice and throw punches. The fight went for more than two minutes, with referees breaking things up. It was all the action seen by the teams until a power play for Columbus arrived. Detroit killed the penalty and soon caught a chance to go up more. Copp got hooked going for a shot and received a penalty shot. His attempt went right into the glove of Martin, having very little leverage in his attempt.

The Red Wings spent the remainder of the game holding off Columbus and continued to shoot. When the horn sounded, Reimer celebrated the shutout while his team shot 28 on the night. The 35-year-old became the third Red Wings goaltender in franchise history to record a shutout in his debut. “It feels good,” said Reimer during his interview with Trevor Thompson of Bally Sports Detroit.

“I thought the boys battled, and the PK was dialed tonight. Maybe it didn’t start the way we wanted it to, but the way we buckled the last 40 was pretty special, just to sit back there and watch your boys go to work.”