Columbus beat Detroit in OT.. and the Red Wings lost goalie Jimmy Howard

Antoine Vermette had the only goal in a shootout and Steve Mason stopped all four shots he faced in the tiebreaker in the Columbus Blue Jackets’ 3-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings.

Vermette, shooting fourth, slid a backhander between the leg pads of third-string goalie Joey MacDonald(notes), who came on in the first period after Jimmy Howard was sidelined by a bruised knee.

Johan Franzen then had a chance to continue the shootout, but his shot was turned aside by Mason, who had 26 saves in regulation and overtime

Drew Miller and Jiri Hudler scored for Detroit, which found out after the game that Tomas Holmstrom(notes) broke his hand and will be out four weeks.

The teams will meet again Saturday night in Detroit. It was a pair of losses to the Red Wings in a similar back-to-back situation that kick-started the Blue Jackets on a 7-14-3 bad spell.

The first period was a disaster for the Red Wings, who had been given the previous two days to rest after returning from a four-game road trip.

Most important was Howard’s injury.

Howard was untouched by another player as he blocked a shot by the Blue Jackets’ Derick Brassard with 7:17 left in the opening period. He leaned down with his blocker, his legs folded underneath him, and fell to the ice. He lay there for several minutes before he was gingerly helped to the dressing room. The team later posted an update on its Twitter feed saying Howard had bruised a knee and was day-to-day.

MacDonald came on since backup Chris Osgood is already out due to a hernia.

Howard was hurt after the Blue Jackets had already grabbed a 2-0 lead.