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DETROIT (AP) -- When Vyacheslav Kozlov was surrounded by reporters for the first time in awhile, his teammates hollered, "Yeah Kozie!"
|  | | Red Wings defenseman Aaron Ward knocks Kevin Dineen, left, off-course. |
Kozlov scored twice as the Detroit Red Wings beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-2 Friday night, extending their home winning streak to six games and their unbeaten streak in Joe Louis Arena to 10.
It was quite a turnaround for Kozlov, who had not scored since Dec. 10, a stretch of 23 games.
"I feel very good," Kozlov said. "That was my longest streak with no goals. ... I didn't try to put extra pressure on myself. I just play the game and try have fun."
Steve Yzerman, who had an assist, was one of the many Red Wings
who was pleased to see Kozlov's score after being a healthy scratch
in four of the previous seven games.
"He's had a tough time being in and out of the lineup," Yzerman said. "He's always scored for us; he's kind of a streaky scorer. He's a quiet guy who is very professional and comes to work everyday no matter if he's playing or not.
"Everybody felt for him over the last month or so. I knew it
was just a matter of time before they started to go in for him."
Detroit's Chris Osgood made 16 saves, while Columbus' Marc Denis
stopped 35 shots.
The Red Wings were 1-for-5 on the power play, but they wore down Columbus when they had a man advantage.
"We can't kill that many penalties and still have energy to play a decent game," Columbus coach Dave King said.
Kozlov scored the first goal midway through the second period when he held the puck behind the net, faked a pass up the boards, then attacked the net.
"When I went to the net, they didn't expect that," Kozlov said. "That was a great play by Martin Lapointe because he took the defensemen away from the front of the net."
Brendan Shanahan, playing his 1,000th career game, gave the Red Wings a 2-0 lead late in the second with a power-play goal that fluttered past Denis.
Deron Quint ended Detroit's hopes for a shutout with a power-play goal 2:09 into the third period.
"We got the first goal, then for some reason we didn't take advantage of it," King said. "We didn't keep the pressure on and we had about five or six just average shifts."
Kozlov gave the Red Wings a 3-1 lead on a goal-mouth scramble
with 8:56 left to play.
Steve Heinze scored a power-play goal with 1:35 left to cut the
deficit to a goal, but Detroit's Darren McCarty scored into an empty net with 17.8 seconds left.
Game notes The Red Wings have not lost at home since Dec. 27. ...
Detroit D Chris Chelios, who had surgery on his left knee on Nov. 20, has been cleared to play, but the Red Wings don't plan to use him until Feb. 25 at home against Phoenix. ... Quint's goal was his first of the season. ... Detroit is 4-0 against Columbus this season.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Columbus Clubhouse
Detroit Clubhouse
RECAPS
Phoenix 2 Carolina 0
Detroit 4 Columbus 2
Florida 2 Boston 1
Pittsburgh 4 New Jersey 4
Chicago 6 St. Louis 2
Los Angeles 4 Minnesota 0
San Jose 2 Nashville 0
Dallas 3 Anaheim 2
NY Islanders 4 Edmonton 2
AUDIO/VIDEO

Chris Osgood is stingy in the net for the Red Wings.
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