ch, ch, ch, ch, ka, ka, ka, ka, kill, kill, kill, kill......

It was Friday the 13th and the Blue Jackets' "Jasons" left a trail of carnage in their paths.

After Raffi Torres got the Jackets going early (thanks Chelios) both "Jason" Chimera and "Jason" Williams finished the job with goals off their own to lead the Jackets to a 3-2 heart pounding victory.

Not to be forgotten of course was the play of rookie sensation Steve Mason whom looked sharp, rested and ready for the stretch run.



STOPLIGHT GAME REVIEW

GREEN
* Well so much for Monday morning QBs!! Mase was terrific.... definitely looked to have the energy back and wow what a save at the end there on Zetterberg.. just put his name on the Calder.

* PK was just as big as Mase. They killed off all 4 Detroit PPs which we know is the best PP in the league. That's not even including the short handed chances Nash and Umberger had. Great job boys!

* Secondary scoring stepped up again. Williams, Chimera and Torres -- nice to see some different names on the stat sheet.

* Jakub Voracek... there were a few shifts there where I thought he was actually fired from the cannon instead of coming off the bench... dude, was a all over the place in a great way. He also collected 2 assists.

* RJ Umberger. Even though he didn't get on the stat sheet I thought he had an outstanding game in all 3 zones. Took pucks to the net hard.. was strung on the puck.. didn't lose many battles -- a real contributer out there.

* Lots of little things done well... won a lot of key faceoffs (Manny won 21 of 29)... a whopping 18 blocked shots (Detroit had just 7).. boys were hitting when they should.. coming back strong on defense.. its the way you have to play to beat Detroit.

* Commodore and Hedja played some good tough minutes. Same w/ Fedor "I'll clean up your mess" Tyutin and Methot... the backend is doing such a better job w/ those first passes.

* Packed house... I know there were a lot of Wings fans but the Jacket fans were loud... nice to finally play with this team (I still remember those back to back ass kickings at home from a couple years back...ugh).

YELLOW
* Nash looked a little gassed tonight. He did draw two penalties though.

* Huselius... you've got to bury some of those chances dude!

RED
* Tough game for Kris Russell. Bad turnover on the Lidstrom goal. He and Boll combined for a turnover on the Samuelson goal. On the plus side he did collect an assist on Chimera's tally.

* The Jackets PP... ugh, looked awful. Somehow they survived it yet again. If that thing ever heats up.. look out.

* How is that not goalie interference on Meech when he ran over Steve Mason. The Jackets cannot let something like that go on.... was nice to see Methot (yet, again) respond although Meech was too much of a panzy to stand up for himself.

* Some questionable calls both ways.. so I guess it equals out.

3 BRIGHT LIGHTS ON THE NIGHT
1. "Jasons"
2. A-mase-ing
3. Standing room only crowd
HM: Sending those turncoat fans home with another loss.

The win moves the Jackets to a 27-23-5 record good for 59 points as well as extends their winning streak to 3 games. They currently sit 9th in the West just 2 points behind Dallas for 5th place.

Up next are the Carolina Hurricanes tonight at 7 p.m. EST. The 'canes have an identicle record to the Jackets. They also sit 9th in the Eastern playoff race but are 5 points behind 8th placed Buffalo.

Yeah.. just another big game with playoff implications to go around.. ho hum.

Hopefully some of the Jackets fans making the trip getting a better show than what they saw in Pittsburgh.

We've got ourselves a team here folks.. .ain't it fun!!!!

GO JACKETS!!

-LTL