Blue Jackets rally to beat Red Wings, 3-2

The Columbus Blue Jackets turned a bad start into a good finish.

The Blue Jackets spotted the Detroit Red Wings an early two-goal lead but rallied to tie the game before Vinny Prospal capped the comeback by scoring with 24.7 seconds left in regulation for a 3-2 victory Thursday night.

The Blue Jackets' joy at beating their archrivals at Joe Louis Arena was tempered by the loss of center Artem Anisimov, who was taken from the ice on a stretcher early in the second period after his head hit the ice following a check by Detroit defenseman Kyle Quincey. The team said Anisimov never lost consciousness and was taken to the hospital as a precaution.

"He's alert and stable," Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards said. "Obviously, that's great news.

"It's scary for players when somebody gets hurt like that," Richards said. "Injuries are part of the game and that starts to creep in a little bit, but I thought our guys refocused."

Quincey also left the game with an injured left ankle and did not return.

Columbus trailed 2-0 2:40 into the game and entered the third period down 2-1, but tied it at 5:03 when Derek Dorsett beat Jimmy Howard for his second goal of the season.

"It was a 2-1 game going into the third, we were in good position," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "I actually thought we had some good play, but the bottom line is they scored on their opportunities and we’re not scoring. So if you don’t score you can’t give anything up."

Prospal won it when he finished a superb passing play with Dorsett and James Wisniewski by beating Howard with a spinning backhander from just outside the crease to give the Blue Jackets their second victory in three meetings with the Red Wings this season. It was their first win in four games on a six-game trip, and their first road win since a 3-2 shootout victory at the Nashville Predators on opening night.

"We were all in the positions where we were supposed to be and we made a good play," Prospal said. "The puck bounced my way, just a give-and-go with Dorsett. It was a clear-cut, 3-on-2 (rush) and we played it the way you are supposed to play it. When you get an odd-man rush, it should end up in the net."

The Red Wings have lost five in a row. They've also lost three of the six games this season in which they've led 2-0.

"When we got up 2-0, I thought we started fooling around a little bit," Babcock said. "It’s just the idea of taking care of the puck and staying on top of them."

Detroit's power play continues to be a problem. The Red Wings are 1-for-16 with the extra man during the losing streak.

"We felt we created chances, had a lot of shots, but we couldn't really find a way to get the puck in there," said captain Henrik Zetterberg, who collected his team-high 17th assist. "If we get one goal there, hopefully we get going. We did a lot of good things today in the PP but it's still not good enough. We can't score."

Detroit needed less than three minutes to grab a two-goal lead at even strength. Rookie Damien Brunner beat Sergei Bobrovsky 18 seconds into the game, and Valtteri Filppula scored at 2:40.

But the Blue Jackets capitalized after Jordin Tootoo received an instigator penalty after a fight with Dorsett at 3:57 -- R.J. Umberger scored his second of the season at 4:23.

"That power play gave us some life and got us back into it," Richards said.

Material from team media was used in this report