No heroics this time

Unfortunately my worries concerning Columbus taking Minnesota to lightly proved true last night. The Jackets came out flat again and this time were unable to mount a comeback against a tired but defensively dialed in Minnesota Wild team. Nik Zherdev collected his 4th goal in 4 games as the Jackets were beat 2-1 in front a close to 16k in Nationwide Arena.

Lit it up

Zherdev played a strong game collecting his 4th goal in as many games. He carried the puck well and tried to create out there. He did try to get to cute a couple of time giving the puck away twice however.

Leclaire and Backstrom. Both goalies played well enough to win this game. As is usually the case, a redirected shot from the point was the difference in this one.

Minnesota deserved to win this game. The Jackets turned it on in the third but to little to late. Despite playing their 3rd game in 4 nights the Wild stuck to their system and it payed off. Really the score *should* have been 3-1 as they got robbed on a goal by the refs.

Congrats to David Vyborny on his 500th game played.

Dim the light

Nash was completely bottled up last night. Unfortunately there was nobody there to pick up the slack...again.

Secondary scoring. As mentioned above. The secondary scoring was again a no-show last night. Someone asked Hitch if this team just doesn't have the horses to play his system. I'm beginning the wonder the same. If this team is gonna make the playoffs this year I think its becoming pretty obvious, Rick/Nik/Pascal are gonna have to carry them.

Beech. I love this way this guy is playing. Best pure passer on this team and isn't afraid to use his body. I hope they keep playing him with Nash.

Nice to see Boll challenge Voros to a fight for his hit on Novotny...and nice to see Voros oblige. I heard the post game interview with Voros after the game....like Boll, that guy "gets it" and knows his job. Really seemed like a class act.

I liked Glencross tonight. He seemed to really be the only Jacket forward hitting on the forecheck. In fact he led the team in that category with 4 -- and those weren't 4 soft hits either, they were board rattlers.

Crowd was decent - close to 16k. Still a far cry from what used to be a guaranteed sell out for Sat night games. At least the Jackets made it a game and didn't get blown out but they also didn't see what this team can be capable of when they want to play hard.

Busted bulbs

Again, the Jackets failed to win a game they should. They were flat, tried to win on skill and were outplayed save the 3rd when it was to late. Until the Jackets can get up for these games they should win they we are going to continue to see this "win 1, lose 1" pattern this entire season and *that* pattern will not be enough to get us into the playoffs. They need to put some streaks together -- especially here in December where so far this team is 1-1-1 <<<---- not good enough.

Refs. As mentioned, terrible call on that disallowed Wild goal. The Jackets catch a break on that and still can't use it to their advantage.

Chimera. This guy is really playing like crap lately. He's not alone either, what exactly has Michael Peca done lately?

Terrible turnover by Ron Hainsey on the Wild's second goal.

If its not Zherdev or Nash -- this team cannot handle drop passes. Don't even try them at this point -- just get it deep.

SOMEBODY please wake the game ops up. Boll has that great fight...crowd is roaring...momentum could change...and what do they do? They play a damn video which completely sucks any life out of the building. STOP killing the crowd game ops! Play the crap when its already silent or after the opposing team scores.

3 bright lights on the night

1. Pascal Leclaire - 24 saves off 26 shots, some of the spectacular variety

2. Nik Zherdev - 4th goal in 4 games

3. Boll / Voros fight - nice bout

Jackets fall to 13-11-1. Next game is against a resurrected Anaheim Ducks team. They missed out on a glorious opportunity to put a little streak together last night. They'll look to start a new one tomorrow evening but they could quickly find themselves in a losing streak if they don't play the way we all know they can. Remember December is to critical to their overall season success to get caught sleepwalking through this month.

-LTL