Blue Jackets Find A Way To Win Via Shootout
November 15th, 2009 | by sweetbob |
The Columbus Blue Jackets don’t normally get a lot of national attention on ESPN or other national sports shows, but their 9-1 loss to the Red Wings managed to get a lot of national media attention. Now that the game is over and it’s behind the team, they had to strap up and get a win against the Ducks to get the bad taste out of their mouth. They beat the Ducks in Anaheim earlier this season, but when these two teams play, you throw out the records, it will be a close game.
Mathieu Garon for the start for Columbus, since Mason needed a day off physically and more importantly, mentally. He hasn’t been the same this season and he may just need some extra rest this season, Columbus can afford to do that since they signed Garon this past off-season and he’s been very good. Garon is more like a #1b goaltender than a #2. He’s solid with experience, so he doesn’t appear that he becomes rattled easily, like Mason appears to have trouble with here of late.
Bobby Ryan made the game 1-0 in the first 8 minutes of the game. Garon didn’t give up or shrug, he knows that the team will only be as good as the weakest link and that was not him that night. Rick Nash scored a goal to tie it up, then the Ducks went up against in the 2nd period when ex-Blue Jacket, Todd Marchant, put in a goal for the Ducks. The 2nd period ended 2-2 with a goal by Kristian Huselius. The 3rd period was a battle, but no goals were scored by either team.
Kristian Huselius is back from injury and he had the medicine that helped cure the Blue Jackets. He was one of the stars of the game with 1 goal, 1 assist, and a goal in the shootout. Nash helped seal up the victory in the shootout with a goal. The Blue Jackets won the game 3-2 in a shootout and earned the much needed extra point.
The next game for Columbus is at home against the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers are around the middle of the pack in the Western Conference. Two players that the Blue Jackets need to worry about is Dustin Penner and Sam Gagner. They are explosive players that can get the puck in the net with ease. Nikolai Khabibulin hasn’t had a great year so far, so if Columbus can get to him early and shutdown Penner, the Blue Jackets should come out with the victory on Monday.
Tags: bobby ryan, dustin penner, kristian huselius, mathieu garon, nikolai khabibulin, rick nash, sam gagner, steve mason, todd marchant
By Eric L. on Nov 15, 2009
The Blue Jackets definitely learned something in that loss to the Wings. Hitchcock’s idea of going over the tapes instead of skating them probably wasn’t a bad idea. They weren’t over-committing like they were against Detroit.