Uhh...did he really just do that?

Lets just get right into it:

Lit em up

In case you missed it... Rick Nash scored a high-light-real, sick, nasty, spectacular, unreal, awe-inspiring between the legs goal last night as the Jackets pitched (another) shut out against the St. Louis Blues in a 3-0 victory. The picture on this post is this goal in action.

So in case you missed it...just go to http://tsn.ca/nhl/ --> scroll down to the "TSN Broadband" section and click on page 2 and you can watch it (I'll post the youtube of it once it becomes available).

ESPN ranked this goal #1 on its top 10 plays last night and we all know how much time ESPNquirer dedicates to hockey so you know this one was special.

As far as all time CBJ great goals, I would rank it right behind Z's coast to coast goal against the Blackhawks as the most spectacular Blue Jackets goal to date. I'd put Manny Malhotra's "diving goal" against the Blues a few years ago at #3.

..and lost in all the goal hoopla of course was Pascal Leclaire pitching his 4th shutout in 6 games. Just to put that in perspective, the Jackets had 4 shutouts the entire year last year. Leclaire only had 1 in his career coming into this season. He has four already in just 8 starts - that just crazy talk! He leads the league in shutouts with 4, he's second in GAA with a 1.34 and is 2nd in save % with a .950. This guy is so hot right now that he could jump into a fire and burn it. The best part about it to me is that he really earned this one stopping 36 shots and this performance came off a loss his previous start when he gave up two soft goals. A lot of credit goes to the team in front of him and coaching, but Pascal is making the stops he should and coming up with the big saves when needed. He also looks to be in great health (knock on wood!).

The PK...still #1 in the league!

Jiri Novotny. Well how good is this signing looking early on? Guy has 7 points in 9 games thus far and its basically playing everywhere up and down the lineup... To the PP, to the PK to a line consisting of Jared Boll and Jody Shelley... and he's still raking up the points. Hitch has given Novotny of a bigger bite on this team and he's responding.

How bout this team limiting the penalties overall against. I'm not sure on average how many penalties we took last year but that stat has got to be much lower this season. I guess when your not constantly hemmed in running around in your own zone like a headless chicken and playing within an organized system your going to have fewer penalties. The team only took two penalties last night.

How can anyone not love Jared Boll? Kid collected his 2nd goal of the season last night and really cracked this nugget of a game open in the CBJ's favor. He only played 6:40 second but he makes an impact every time he's out there. He also drew one the few penalties for the Jackets last night.

Dim the light

Loved the way the Chimera-Manny-Fritsche line competed last night. Now all they have to do is actually convert on their chances. That line should have potted a couple last night. The good news though is that they are generating chances and Fritsche seems to be regaining some confidence and playing the way that was effective last season. Oh and Chimera - need to work on a new move brah!

Gilbert Brule played hands down his best game of the year after being moved up to a line with Vyborny and Fedorov. Really its a crime this kid didn't get a goal. He was hitting, skating very well, carrying the puck and generating scoring chances. He keeps up that kind of game and the points will come for this kid.

Jan Hejda and Adam Foote did a pretty good job last night of shutting down the Kariya-Tkachuk-Boyes line. These two are counted on to be out shutdown defensive pair and have been delivering. They were a combined +2 on the night and both played over 21 minutes.

Nice to see Vyborny get on a little bit of a modest streak. He collected his 3rd assist and 2nd in as many games last night. I'm still not overly excited about his game as I think he's been invisible a lot this season but perhaps this is a sign that he's breaking out of his slump.

Attendance was still bad but their was noticeable increase as the team almost broke 13,000 on a Thursday night. Keep winning boys, and they will come back....and take this to the bank, these numbers being reported now are as accurate as your gonna get - no more MacLean fluff to save his own skin.

Busted Bulbs

I'm proud to report that all the bulbs stayed relatively lit last night on the ice anyways.

Off the ice a couple of issues. First what was up with the in-arena video replay crew cutting off the Nash goal replay before he even scored - wake up folks - those types of goals don't come around very often. Second - big thumbs down to 1460thefan's putrid coverage of the Jackets this afternoon the Spielman Show - not even one mention of the game in the show's introduction. What a "flagship - home of the Blue Jackets" station we've got.


So now the Jackets have won two in a row - that is a big step. They have held the lead now twice going into the 3rd period and seemed to have learned from the breakdown against Dallas a few games ago. The challenges don't go away Saturday when the Jackets take on Western Conference power San Jose who has an identical record to ours at 5-3-1. Here again is another great opportunity for the Jackets to add another win and really build some momentum.

Its a Saturday start at 5:30 -- so come on out and watch and support a team that we can really be proud to call our own the season.....and not to worry Ohio State fans, plenty of time to catch the football game after -- heck, they will even be showing it in the arena after the hockey game concludes!

-LTL