DETROIT -- Even though Columbus Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella didn't think much of his team's play, they managed to get a win.

Cam Atkinson, Sam Gagner and Lukas Sedlak had a goal and an assist each to lead the Blue Jackets to a 4-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings on Friday night at Joe Louis Arena.

"I didn't think we were all that good, but Bob (goalie Sergei Bobrovsky) had another great game," Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. "You are going to need games like that and he's been giving them to us."

Bobrovsky made 32 saves.

"They are a much faster team than we're used to playing, and we didn't do a good job of taking that away," Atkinson said. "Bob saved us though -- he's been doing that all year,"

It was Sedlak's first NHL goal.

Brandon Dubinsky also scored for Columbus (16-5-4), which won its fifth straight. The Blue Jackets were also without captain Nick Foligno because he was ill.

"We needed to step up with the captain out, but we didn't get off to a very good start," Atkinson said.

Dylan Larkin scored for Detroit (13-12-3) and Petr Mrazek stopped 14 shots before being pulled in favor of Jimmy Howard in the second period. Howard, who was returning from a groin injury, made seven saves.

"I talk tons about process and I thought from a process standpoint we did tons of things really good," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "It was unfortunate the way the final result was, but if we play like that over a long period of time we're going to get lots of results over and over again."

Gagner got his empty-net goal in the last minute. It was his 11th goal.

Larkin's power-play goal 4:46 into the second period tied the game at 1-1. Larkin put in a rebound from the left circle for his ninth goal.

Dubinsky gave the Blue Jackets the lead at 8:34 of the period by chipping in a rebound. Mrazek tried to freeze the puck between the crease and the bottom of the left circle but no whistle was blown to stop the play, so the goaltender played it behind the net.

"What I heard, he wanted Petr to play the puck," Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg said. "I don't know if that meant he was going to get a penalty if he didn't play the puck but he did and it ended up in our net."

Said Tortorella: "The goalie's got to move the puck there or he's going to get a penalty, and they were yelling at him."

Sedlak made it 3-1 with 6:30 left in the second by tapping home a loose puck. It was a soft shot from Gagner that Mrazek flubbed with the puck caroming off his glove.

Mrazek was replaced by Howard after that goal.

Atkinson gave Columbus a 1-0 lead 3:08 into the game with a shorthanded goal. Atkinson beat Mrazek with a wrist shot from the top of the left circle off the rush for his ninth goal and second shorthanded tally of the season.

Detroit's Anthony Mantha hit the goal post twice in the first period. His shot from deep in the left-wing corner deflected off the skate of Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones and off the right post with seven minutes left in the opening period. He then hit the left post on a breakaway with 1:19 remaining in the session.

NOTES: Three players returned from injuries for Detroit. D Andreas Athanasiou was back after missing 12 games with a sprained knee, D Alexey Marchenko sat out eight contests with a shoulder injury and G Jimmy Howard returned after an eight-game absence with a groin sprain. Howard dressed as Petr Mrazek's backup. ... Columbus D Zach Werenski is from the Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe and is friends with Red Wings F Dylan Larkin from when they were teammates at the University of Michigan. ... Detroit was still without C Darren Helm (upper body), D Brendan Smith (lower body), F Tyler Bertuzzi (ankle) and LW Justin Abdelkader (lower body). ... Blue Jackets LW Nick Foligno's father, Mike, played part of his NHL career with the Red Wings.