The Jackets got some nice help last night.
Chicago took care of Anaheim on their home ice by a regulation score of 3-2.
Then the Nashville Predators knocked off the Canucks on their home ice 5-3. That is something like Vancouver's 7 straight loss at home. So much for the Sundin spark...but I digress.
After it shook out, Columbus still sits in 9th with 51 points which is tied with Minnesota (7th), Anaheim (8th) and Vancouver (10th).
The even better news is that Anaheim sits in 6th with just 53 points but has played 3 more games than the Jackets. Heck Phoenix is in 5th also with 53 points and has played one more game.
This home stretch grows bigger and bigger for the CBJ. Now is definitely the time to make a move.
Complete standings are updated on the right hand side of this blog.
-LTL
Thursday, January 29, 2009
West watch
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Tie-berakers:
- Most wins.
- Most points in games against each other among the tied teams.
- The greater positive differential between goals scored for and against among the tied teams
These look like they are going to be very important at the end of the year. This log jam isn't going away any time soon.
The march to our first playoffs has begun...
Cool blog, just browsed it for the first time. I am an avid jackets fan. the question I want to debate with you is, do you think Mason is the real deal? He came out very strong but over these last couple weeks hes looked lack luster. Is he getting burned out with having 16 straight starts, or did he have a good streak that just turned cold? Just curious on your thoughts.
-Chris Ritchie
Hey thanks Chris.
To take a shot at answering question.
I do think Mase is the real deal. I think he level of play dropped off for a couple of reasons:
1. First and foremost, Mase was definitely burnt out. To jump to this level from Junior and play the way he has for such a long stretch has got to be exhausting both mentally and physically.
2. The league has had some time to study this guy now. Its kind of like a picher in baseball who gets traded to the other league -- first time around you could catch some folks sleeping but eventually they are going to figure you out. Teams have started to go high on Mase and really work those cross ice passes to get him moving post to post. Areas I'm sure he's aware of and working on.
3. He wasn't going to keep that superman streak going forever.. At some point he had to come back to earth a bit.
He's the real deal though. He's gifted with the size GMs dream about in goalies...and the agility to copmliment it. He's got the demeanor needed to shrug off goals and get refocused quickly. He's also just so technically sound -- he plays the percentages and has a very good ability to track pucks through traffic. As we've seen he can also make the unorthodox game saving save.
We saw him get away from a lot of those strengths on the West Coast trip... I don't want to make excuses for him, but I really believe a lot of that was exhaustion but neither the CBJ or Mason had much choice.
Mase will spoil you. I have to remind myself that this kid is just a rookie. To do what he's done thus far is really amazing even w/ the drop in play.
Its been really nice to see this squad get him some goal support lately as well.
-LTL
LTL,
I guess you silenced my Mason questions after tonight's shutout lol. But I do agree with you, I am very anxious to see how he improves and how he can handle the ever growing weight that seems to be put on his shoulders. Only time will tell.
-Chris Ritchie
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