All-Blogs.net directory Light the Lamp - a Columbus Blue Jackets blog: Jackets find a way

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Saturday, October 11, 2008

Jackets find a way


The roller coaster ride has officially begun.

The good news, if the 1st and 3rd periods are indicitive of how the Jackets are going to play this season then we are all in for a real treat. The bad, if the 2nd period is any inditaction than this game could be a nasty trick.

Bottom line though is despite big time penalty trouble in the 2nd and despite blowing a two goal lead with less than 4 minutes remaining in the game, the Jackets found a way to win this game in OT off a nasty Rick Nash snap shot.


STOPLIGHT GAME REVIEW


GREEN
* Even though he didn't show up on the score sheet I though Kris Russell played absolutely lights out. He was all over the ice. He finished with a +2 and over 18 minutes of ice time. If he can sustain tonight's level of play its going to be a great year watching this kid.

* The kids were indeed alright. They didn't get as much ice time as I would have liked but its a start and they continued to show up on the score sheet. Brassard had a goal with 12+ minutes of ice time. Voracek notched a goal and an assist with just 9 minutes of ice time. Was nice to see Hitch give Brass some time in OT....but I would have liked to have seen Voracek out there as well.

* 5 goals.....for real? If you think for a second that this team only scored 5 goals just 5 times last season that should excited you. When you think that this team did it against an elite goalie like Turco and against a seasoned team like Dallas on their home opener it should thrill you.

* Commodore's hits. The one on Ribeiro was a sweet one but that one on Avery was priceless. Even though he showed up as a -2 I thought he played a real solid game. He's going to be just find filling the deserter's role. This dude does need to hold onto his stick better though.

* I thought Pascal Leclaire was phenominal. In that 2nd period this game could have easily turned into blood bath but he kept us in it. Sure he gave up a suspect goal in the 3rd but we aren't in this game without him. Must be a nice feeling to get goal support.

* Nash comes through when his team needed him the most... Hell of a way to cap off his first game to his first full season as captain. He led all forwards in ice time and played major minutes in every situation. He seemed fairly quite until then but he was doing a lot of the little things that win games.
* Two Jacket fans behind the away bench. Way to represent folks!!

* The Jackets got some nice bounces tonight. Notably Brassard's goal that caromed off a Stars d-man and in the net and Umberger's blocked shot went right to Huselius who then scored. We also can't forget that post save on Morrow's wide open net in the 1st.

* I wonder what that loud mouth Brett Hull thinks about the Jackets now? I haven't forgotten him dogging this team and franchise on national TV a couple of years back.

* Jackets were excellent at even strength.

YELLOW
* I know Peca got tossed but quite frankly the display of emotion tells me alot about his comittement to this team... and he was right, he got slew footed by Morrow...everyone saw it but the guys who make the calls.

* Huselius was pretty quite but then comes out of nowhere and scores a big timely goal for us. Umberger was the same way but made the initial play.

* I thought both Tyutin and Klesla were just okay tonight. Tyutin had a really bad turnover early but then played okay but I expect better. I thought both had trouble with the breakout passes.

* Jason Chimera was all over the map. He had some bad turnovers but also had two great assists and finished a +3. I liked the way he got up in Avery's grill after he agitated Leclaire with his stick after he covered the puck.

* Considering all the penalties and 2-man disadvantages...the Jackets only gave up 1 PP goal. They were hemmed in after a penalty in which Dallas eventually scored though.

RED
* Rick Nash said in the post game what probably most of us are thinking... he's glad they got the win but you cannot give up a two goal lead at the end of the 3rd period. We did something similar in preseason as well. This team has to learn quickly how to shutdown games.

* Waaaaay to many penalties and 2-men down siuations. It was a problem in the pre-season and it was in this game as well. The penalty trouble put the Stars right back in this game.

* My boy Boller did not have a good first game. A couple of ill advised penalties which hurt the Jackets and I didn't really like the timing of the fight -- speaking of, what gives with those linemen not breaking that sucker up sooner?

* PP had a flash here or there but lots of work to do.

3 BRIGHT LIGHTS ON THE NIGHT
1. Strong play on the road. This was the first game the Jackets ever won on the road to open a season. This used to be a game that was DOA.
2. Kris Russell. I thought he was just unbelievable last night. He could be a tremendous asset for us this season.
3. Pascal Leclaire. This game is 3 or 4 to 1 if Leclaire doesn't play the way he does in that second period.

While it was a bit dissapointing to give up that 2 goal lead and subsequently give Dallas a point they shouldn't have gotten to come out of that game with 2 points is absolutely huge. Especially when you consider Phoenix and San Jose are next on the docket. It was also a very good sign that the new faces in Huselius, Umberger, Brassard and Voracek factor into the scoring.

The boys are right back at it tonight in Phoenix. Can the make it two in a row? On paper the Coyotes aren't as strong as a Dallas but the Jackets have a tendancy to play down to their opponents so they certainly can't take them lightly.

-LTL

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Big night for the Jackets!!! They have to keep that attitude of not giving up to get that winning road record.

To all the naysayers last season about Peca...his emotion last night should tell you about his commitment to this team. Also, the PK didn't look quite as sharp without him.

LTL, Great Job!!! Keep up the good work!

Anonymous said...

Some notes from a die-hard Jackets fan:

Way to stand up for Leclaire, Chimmer! I thought his penalty was undeserved...

Commodore's big hit on Avery was priceless. Great timing, too!

Congrats to Jakub!!! Even though he had to wait a few minutes to celebrate. And in front of his parents? How proud were they?

The two man down situations were unacceptable. You've gotta be careful when you're a man down.

Morrow was a slew-footing machine last night! After he got Peca, he did it to Rusty, too. After the play, though Rusty blasted him.

Boll's fight and subsequent roughing penalty was bull. At one point there were 4 Stars on him. Whatever happened to mano e mano?

The bounces were going our way last night. Dallas had a ton of chances, many with the puck dancing in the crease. How Leclaire stopped them is beyond me!

The defense needs to get better. Everyone kinda gave up in the end of the 3rd.

The "Goat Line" was good.

I'm excited for the season now. Like I'm totally pumped. Next Friday can't come soon enough!

Anonymous said...

Another "die hard" fan loving the prospects for this year

LTL - Absolutely love the blog!!! great information and loads of passion

As Max said, why does Boller get roughing when 4 Stars grab him first and he responds... When will the Refs ever give the BJs respect and equal calls

I LOVE the Goat Line... with 2 kids and an old goat who is playing with more fire than we any time in the past few years.

It is great to see that Nasher and the leadership team has everyone playing to the end. They easily could have given up after the 2nd or after being tied in the 3rd (as they have done in past years) but they instead continued to fight for the win... and I LOVE IT

He came to us as Jakub and became Jake, and after his 1st goal last night Danny called him Jake the Snake. LTL you need to create a list of the nicknames the players have gotten, identifying which nicknames the player prefers so they will know we are cheering for them specifically.

GO JACKETS ... Let get another one tonight!!!!

tom said...

Huselius didn't look "quite" as "quiet" as you say to me. I thought that the Umberger line was yooooge and possessed the puck more often than not by 2-1.

Great win to start the season! Hell Yeah! Bring on Gretzky's kids!

Anonymous said...

I was so very impressed with the aggressive, never backing play last night. Yeah, the 2nd period blew, and giving up a 2-goal in the final 4 min is never good. And we absolutely must stopped taking so many penalties. But you could tell this team never gave up. Never stopped fighting. Not the same old Blue Jackets!

Anonymous said...

this is my first post... ( by the way i LOVE this blog you do a killer job for us jackets fans ) i dont know how i never knew about this blog... anyway...

during the second intermission i was thinking to myself... man huse rj and modin have got to hit the sheet if were are gonna come back in this... and they all did i was very happy about that...

balanced scoring WOW

im very happy for jake ( my fave description comes from the jackets site... ( THE BABY FACED ASSASSIN ) LOL... i love that one...

why in the hell was boller given a roughing call...?

and why didnt they stop that fight...? i was telling my girl as i was waiting and waiting for it to be stopped that this is how these guys get hurt... and sure enough boller took a couple after it should have been stopped minutes earlier... i hope hes ok ...

and nasher comes thru !

great start...

im very happy...

kev-

Anonymous said...

I was thrilled with the energy of the young guys, and Hitch giving them lots of ice time.

2 Points!!!!!

LTL said...

Thanks for the great comments everyone. I absolutely love to read them!!

..and hey, cut me some slack on the spelling/grammar will ya.. This is all for phun!! :)

-LTL

LTL said...

Oh and "THE BABY FACED ASSASSIN"... hahah.. that's beautiful!

That is a great idea about the nicknames... I'll fit it in here somewhere.

-LTL

Anonymous said...

Excellent work LTL, as always. I noticed in one of the pre-game interviews with Hitch, he mentioned how Columbus fans analyze and study the game a lot more than fans in Philly and Dallas ... I wonder who he was talking about.

Anonymous said...

I'm way impressed with Commodore & Russell. Mike does not mess around and Kris was just so smooth. Both had really great play... But the way Turco plays the puck, it's easy for a team to get caught off guard like we did, or for a line to get stuck out on the ice. With too many flubbed attempts to clear... They had the CBJ pinned down and the opportunities to change lines just weren't there. I don't expect Hitch to tolerate that kind of play and I haven't seen too many goalies with stick skills like Marty's...

Pascal could learn a thing or two. He had some ugly puck handles.

Above all... I've had a jaded opinion of the Jackets. All too often, I've seen them get comfortable, and lazy, and just let a game slip away. What I saw last night was them dominate, struggle, regain their composure, and then lay it all out... I'm very excited to see them develop and find out if this team is for real!

Anonymous said...

By the way, I find it ironic that there were so many naysayers about the C/B/V line. They accounted for 40% of the goals... :-)

Anonymous said...

Great game by the jackets (except for the second period and about 30 seconds in the third).I can understand the refs not calling the penalty on morrow when he slew footed Peca. What I did not understand was the game misconduct Peca got after he argued the goal and non call. I heard he bumped the ref but seriously? A ten minute and a game misconduct?

On a cheerier note, the so called "Goat line" of Brass, Jake the Snake, and Choo Choo Chimera really looked good. I wish hitch had given Voracek a chance in OT though. The top line also looked pretty good out there. Umberger was a bit sloppy at times but alltogether the were dominant for major stretches (especially in the first)