All-Blogs.net directory Light the Lamp - a Columbus Blue Jackets blog: Consider corner turned!

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Saturday, March 1, 2008

Consider corner turned!


Whew...what a win last night!

I think its safe to say now that the deadline has been put in the Jackets rearview mirror.

Everyone...and I mean every last member of the Jackets showed up to play last night en route to an imporbably come from behind 3-2 OT win againt the Canucks.....and that's what its going to take, a full team effort for the Jackets to stay in the mix of this thing.

Wednesday night's loss against the Sharks showed hints of this team falling apart. Friday night's win at Vancouver showed signs that this team just may become an even tighter group.

Just like Wed though its just one game but I can't help but thinking perhaps this "Foote-gate" may just galvanize this group into an us against the hockey world mentality. Lots of work to be done before that statement can be realized.

Lit it up

Team effort. That's what impressed me the most about the win last night. Everyone came ready to play, ready to stick up for teammates, ready outwork Luongo, ready to pay the price to score.

Two goal comeback. That was the first time all year the Canucks have lost taking a 2 goal into the 3rd period. Its happened 23 times.

Secondary scoring. Got it done last night with Murray getting his 6th (this guy has just been so reliable for us) and then Chimera finally poking home the game winner off such a sweet feed from Zherdev.

Z & Nash. Z was great all game long after his worst game of the year. Nash really came alive in the 3rd with his goal scorers goal and what impressed me most was his defensive zone coverage and work along the boards.

Rusty Klesla. Best game of the year for him hands down. He did everything last night and really was great in that shutdown role. He led the team in minutes played with 27 minutes played.

Speaking of defense. Dick Tarnstrom was also amazing last night. He seems to be welcoming as many minutes as he can get. He played over 24 minutes but was just awesome offensively. He had 2 assists and was a +2. He did have one bad turnover that resulted in a 2 on 1 but Leclaire bailed him out.

Malhotra. How hot was this guy in the dot last night? He was 18 of 25 (a whopping 72%). He also played one of his more well rounded games of the season.

Fritsche and Tolly. Both guys got in scraps sticking up for teammates. Fritche got the better of his opponent but Tolly got the worst -- I appluad him for hanging in there and taking some hard shots though.

Dim the light

After allowing soft 2nd goal Leclaire bounced back real strong. He made just a huge game saving stop in the 3rd to keep his team in it....and then for once Leclaire got some goal support to pull out his 23rd win of the season.

Breaks. We got em last night. Two waived off goals. The first one was pretty suspect but Naslund did interfere with Leclaire -- I've seen a lot more not get called however, right Ryan Smyth? I"ll take it!
Jackets PK bounced back last night and killed off all 5 chances from a very potent Vancouver PP. On the flip side the Jackets did not get a PP goal of their own but had better pressure and control than they've had in quite some time.

Busted bulbs

Sounded like a morgue in the Canucks' house last night.

Freddy Modin. Horrible turnover on the 1st goal that a veteran like him should not make. His overall game was horrible as he had some nice shifts but that turnover really sticks out.

Vyborny. Blocked a shot and the returned for a shift...then left the game. Haven't heard a status yet but anytime Jacket goes down its obviously not a good thing.

Me for having doubts this team couldn't come back after they went down 2-0.

3 bright lights on the night

1. Team play - that was a great team effort by everyone on the ice last night
2. Secondary scoring - got goals from some guys not named Nash and Zherdev -- although both of those two figured strongly in the overall outcome
3. Road - this team is now 7-3-1 over its past 11 on the road. I almost don't want this team to come home now

Whelp....they are hangin around and that win was so BIG that its hard to really describe the potential impact. It was needed though, really really needed to help get over the dissapointment of deadline day for to show that this team is just as capable of winning now and making a push as they were before Tuesday.

Next up is Edmonton on Sunday.

Well done boys. As a fan I was damn proud of that effort put in last night.
-LTL

3 comments:

Bethany said...

LOL I was getting ready to put the same picture up on my blog and then I said to myself I should make sure that Light the Lamp doesn't have it up already...and look you do...I will choose a different one. But, great minds think alike.

LTL said...

Yeah.. that was an easy one to pick eh?

Love your site btw!!

Bethany said...

Aw thanks I like yours too!! You always get your stuff up quicker than me!! Partly because I'm a slacker!!