Jackets Stop The Bleeding With A Solid Effort

With grumblings of fan discontent echoing loudly in their ears, the CBJ responded in resounding fashion with a 3 - 0 shutout of the Florida Panthers, a team equally desperate to end their current slide.

Tonight's game featured a resurgent defensive effort -- sorely needed after surrendering more goals than virtually any other team in the league through 29 games. Mike Commodore and Fedor Tyutin played their best games of the season, and Marc Methot was also a solid contributor.  Kris Russell continued his excellent play -- being responsible in his own zone, and leading transition with sharp passing and elusive skating. 

However, the most notable contributor of the evening was Steve Mason.  Dubbed the #1 Star for his effort, Mason invoked images from last season with some stellar play.   He stood tall, aggressively took the top of the crease as his own, and was more active with his stick than at any time this year.  While Florida did not exert extended period of high pressure, there were several flurries of activity, and Mason responded with aplomb.  He appeared energized by the revitalized defense around him, and may also have been motivated by some rather harsh public appraisals of his attitude by goalie coach Dave Rook.  Rook implied that Mason might have allowed last year's Calder Trophy success get to his head a bit.  While Mason has not been the primarily culpable party for the recent failings, he has also not been the exceptional netminder of last year.   With a shutout under his belt, he could be poised for a run. 

The Jackets came out of the chute strong, dominating possessoin in the first period, but proving unable to convert on their opportunities.  Chimera made a nifty forehand/backhand move on Vokoun, to no avail, then somehow managed to miss the net entirely from an unmolested position about 6 feet dead on to the goal.   Nash, Huselius and Vermette put on a clinic of puck possession and scoring opportunity at the 13 minute mark, but failed to convert.  Given Vokoun's history of success against the Jackets, more that a few were wondering if these squandered chances would come back to haunt the squad.  Chimera, however, vindicated the effort as the first period wound down, following his own backand shot and stuffing home the rebound, with just under two minutes left in the first.

The second period brought a dreadful sense of deja vu, as the CBJ allowed Florida to dictate the early tempo.  The familiar littany of failed clearing attempts, turnovers and defensive gaps emerged once again.  On this night, however, Mason was there to stem the tide, and the Jackets righted the ship by the midway point of the period.  They displayed a frustrating knack for firing pucks into the bodies of defenders, as Florida blocked an amazing 20 shots over the course of the contest, but surrendered nothing at their own end. 

Given recent history, entering the third period with a one goal lead was not exactly a cause for jubilation.  However, the club came out with a strong forecheck, particularly by Nash, Voracek and Umberger, and appeared destined to take control of the period.  Unfortunately, the referees had other ideas.  Kristian Huselius was called for a very questionable delay penalty, and Andrew Murray was nailed for hooking shortly thereafter, giving Florida 23 seconds of 5-on-3 advantage.  The penalty killers knocked off the two man deficit, and the subsequent 5-on-4 with aggressive play and solid puck management.  Immediately afterward, Derick Brassard coralled the puck along the left wing, and roofed a beautiful short sided shot over Vokoun to extend the lead to 2 - 0. 

To provide some indication as to how desperately Florida was seeking the win, Vokoun was pulled with over two minutes to play.  Pahlsson deposited the empty netter directly off the center ice faceoff, and the final margin -- plus chili for all -- was secured. 

The victory serves as a benchmark for several reasons.  First, it should at least temporarily quell the rising tide of negativism that had begun to dominate the debate, ranging from calls for Hitchcock's firing to calls for massive trades and restructuring.  Secondly, Steve Mason was truly superb  -- quite possibly signaling a turning point in his season.  Brassard may be catching fire, and Chimera scored in his third consecutive game.  Overall, they appeared like a much looser, more confident group on the ice.

The trick will be for Hitch to capture this energy, allow the mometum to carry into Nashville on Thursday and beyond.  Hitch needs to keep the reins a little looser than he has in the past, as these colts need to run a bit.  He can keep them on the ranch, but can't squelch the spirit.   This is a young, talented group of players, and they showed what they can do when they are loose. 

Nashville preview and other goodies later today.  Go Jackets!!!

He's Baaaaack!!!

OK, so my penalty for not doing this last night, instead of today, is that everybody else got to the whole Jason/Friday the 13th bit before I did. My bad . . . However, to hear the Red Wings talk after last night's 3 - 2 loss to the CBJ, the Jasons (Chimera and Williams) aside, Steve Mason is enough to give them nightmares for awhile.

Because of other commitments, I couldn't be on hand in person last night -- only the second time this year that I've missed -- but caught the end of the second on the radio and all of the third on the tube. The difference in Mason is stark and mind-numbing. Compared to the NW Canada trip, when he was unknowingly suffering from Mono, he is now much smoother, much more aggressively dominant in the crease. His athleticism was fully apparent last night, and the team reacted to it.

After every game, and on the days in between, I scour the Canadian websites and catch NHL On The Fly on the NHL Network, as well as any other broadcasts I can get my hands on. After last night's game, NHL Network was wrapping up the Calder and mailing it to Mason's house. Now, what about the Vezina? LIkely will take 30 wins and continued statistical dominance for him to earn it, given the league prejudice in favor of "established" players. How beautiful would it be, though, for him to win the Calder and Vezina, and then let the league explain why he wasn't an All Star?

Since I don't do the +/- deal when I haven't personally seen the whole game, I'll make just a few observations. First, gotta love that Chimera, Williams, Voracek line. Wow! Voracek was huge last night, all over the ice, Chimmer scores a classic Chimera-style goal, and Williams plays sniper with the game winner. What's not to like?

Strongly disagree with those who are dissing Nash right now. First of all, my bet is that he has played through a bout with the flu. Secondly, he is doing tons of the dirty, nasty stuff that is making things possible for other guys. Watch him in the corners, moving the puck, being a force at the blue line on the PK. Missed another breakaway, but he had been on a real roll, and the fact that we are winning with Nash and Huselius in a bit of a scoring lull is really good. When Nash is on defense, on the PK or otherwise, other teams are having to change their passing up high, as with his long stick and reach, he is always a threat to go deep. That sort of influence doesn't show up on the scoresheet.

All the credit in the world goes out to Backman, who is looking more and more comfortable and in charge at both ends. He has taken a load of crap this year, much of it deserved, but has refused to simply go through the motions. That, folks, is character.

Total team effort last night, and another big psychological step by taking the tying goal in the 3rd, and simply stuffing it back at them. At the beginning of the season, we are looking at that three game stretch of San Jose, Colorado, Detroit and hoping for 3 points. We get 6. Wow!

Mase is back, the team is playing well, and big things are ahead. 18 days to the trade deadline, and Howson has more magic up his sleeves, I am sure. First things first -- Carolina preview is next!

Go Jackets!

Avalanche Fall Hard!

Look carefully at the picture at the left -- almost 1 year ago, LaCosta leads Syracuse over the Avs affiliate, Lake Erie, with the help of Mark Methot.

Fast forward 1 year, and LaCosta cashes his 1st NHL shutout against the Avalanche, completing a season sweep of an opponent that has historically bedeviled the franchise. The 8th shutout this year, all of the coming from players that were in the AHL when the year began. Wow!

In many respects, this was the type of game Jackets fans have come to expect this year, and in other ways not. As we have in many games, we dominated the first period, 16 shots to 4, had an overwhelming advantage in possession, but had nothing to show for it. Budaj made some nice saves, and other opportunities we just missed. As in some previous games, we went catatonic in the second period -- taking penalties, getting outhit, etc., and were outshot by almost as large a margin. Starting the 3rd, we again dominated, and once Murray scored, there was no turning back. This was different from past games. Tonight, we got them down and then stepped on their throat. The intensity went off the chart after the first goal, and we went for more -- and got them. That is learning how to win, and how to beat a team that they should. No backing off, no protecting the lead. We gave up a few rushes toward the end, but 1 post and a couple of nice saves preserved the shutout.

Here are the +/- for the night:

++LaCosta -- Labrador City is drinking heavily tonight! What an effort by this young man. Though not nearly of Mason's stature, his movements in goal are very similar, and his style of movement is closer to Mason than Leclaire. The team also responds well in front of him, which is huge. Where would the CBJ have been this year without the efforts of Mason and LaCosta?

++Defense --Not the stifling display we saw against San Jose (we were outshot 31-30), but somehow watching the game you never felt that imminent threat from the Avs. Sure, they rang one off the post after it didn't matter, and LaCosta made some great saves, but much of their effort was kept at the perimeter and we did a nice job of poke checking and clearing the slot.

++Special Teams -- Penalty kill was perfect, even after some ticky tack calls against us. No goals on the two PP attempts, but I sure like the look of it a lot better.

++Players -- Hejda, Commodore, Tyutin were just huge all night. Russell was a single handed puck moving machine, and Klesla showed some energy. Murray was strong, and got a crazy goal from no angle, after his one-handed spike was disallowed (properly) by the on ice officials and Toronto. Torres had his best game as a Jacket, and Modin and Chimera both worked hard. Voracek turned in what is becoming a normal strong effort. Williams continues to prove that Howson is a genius.

--Puck Handling -- When we get in trouble, it is because we get too fancy and/or careless with the puck. Our top line can crisply move the puck back and forth, but they did not click tonight, though they generated lots of chances. Turnovers in the neutral zone and near our own blue line robbed us of chances and gave the Avs the few chances they had.

--Fans -- 14+ K at the game on a beatiful night in Columbus was a weak showing, and the crowd was unduly quiet. Sure, it was a measured game, but we dominated the first and you would have thought that we were at a chess match. Guess the blood alcohol took awhile to reach therapeutic levels, as enthusiasm returned in the 3rd.

A necessary win that we did not let get away, and one that moves us up the line. We need to keep the pedal to the metal as we go up against the Wings and Carolina, but watching that confidence and effort, you have to have a good feeling about this club. Go Jackets!!

St. Louis Preview

The St. Louis Blues come to town tonight, fresh on the heels of a SO loss against Detroit, 4 - 3. Get used to the Blues, as this is the first of 5 meetings between now and the end of the season, with 3 of them being at home.

The Blues have been bitten hard by the injury bug this year, somethingt CBJ fans can relate to. Despite their position at the bottom of the Western Conference standings, they handed the Jackets a 5-2 loss at the Scottrade Center in the middle of our extended road trip. They are 5-3-2 in their last 10 games, and backup Chris Mason has pitched 2 shutouts in that stretch, including a recent 4 - 0 blanking of the Philadelphia Flyers.

The Jackets, 6-3-1 over their last 10, are busy erasing the memory of a 7 - 3 home loss to the Stars, a game where everything that could go wrong did go wrong. These are going to happen, and it probably came at a good time, as St. Louis will come in with an edgy, up tempo approach to try to catch us off guard. After the Dallas fiasco, Hitch will make sure that doesn't happen.

St. Louis is 18th in NHL in Goals per Game, while the CBJ are close behind in 21st. The differences come in defense and special teams. The Jackets are 10th in the league in Goals Against, while the Blues are near the bottom, in 26th.

The Blues rely on special teams to a large extent. Over 1/3 of their goals (50/141) have come on the PP, which ranks 8th in the league. The two squads have comparable penalty killing units, with St. Louis ranking 15th in the league and the Jackets 18th.

Boyes has carried the bulk of the offensive load this year, with 20 goals and 21 assists for 41 points. Tkachuk boasts 32 points, as does Berglund. Backes chips in and serves as the prime agitator. Chris Mason has been hot in goal of late, and has a GAA of 2.72 and .912 save percentage for the year. He was called in to replace Manny Legace in last night's game, after Legace gave up 3 goals on 8 shots in the 2nd period, and after the game called himself "the worst player in the NHL."

Mason is likely to go for them tonight, and Hitch has confirmed that our own Mason will be in the net as well. Klesla also likely to be back on the ice for us, paired with Russell. Both Tollefson and Backman will sit. Fortunately, the Chimera experiment at center is over. He returns to the wing opposite Voracek tonight, centered by Jason Williams. That line could really light it up! Alexandre Picard also cleared waivers and was assigned to Syracuse.

Keys For The Game:

Two Way Intensity - We need to get back to complete Hitch-Hockey, with the forwards getting back and closing the gaps in our own zone. Hit hard, pass precisely, and move the puck decisively out of the zone. In our end, put lots of pucks on net and cash in on our chances. No missed one timers!

Patience & Composure -- St. Louis will come out hard, despite it being the back end of a back-to-back, trying to disrupt us the way Dallas did. Backes will agitate and they will try to leverage the revenge factor for the Huselius hit in St. Louis to get us to lose our cool and take unnecessary penalties. We can't fall into that trap. There will be plenty of opportunities to deliver some good, clean, vicious hits to Backes tonight -- but keep the eye on the prize. Staying out of the box will deprive them of one of their key weapons.

Traffic In Front -- The last couple of games, our forwards have been staying away from the blue paint. The lone exception was Voracek, who got the only goal against Ottawa. We can get some pucks past the St. Louis goaltenders, but need more traffic in front, and the ability to get the stick on the rebounds.

Pick Up Mason -- Stevie has carried the team a lot this year, so let's return the favor tonight. Keep Tkachuk, Boyes & Co. on the perimeter, open up lanes for vision, and clear the puck from in front. Don't wait for the puck to come to you in our own zone!!!

Should be a chippy game, and I expect the boys will be loaded for bear, proving that the Dallas debacle was just a fluke. Big win ahead! Go Jackets!