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!!

Commodore "Lays It On The Line" -- TSN

In an attempt to quantify some of the intangibles that make some players so valuable, despite perhaps not showing up on the scorecard, TSN has put together a list of 75 players who meet the "lay it on the line" standard through blocked shots, hits, takeaways, faceoffs, etc. Our own Mike Commodore ranks 3rd in this compilation, behind only Brooks Orpik of Pittsburgh and the Predators' Greg Zanon. Congrats, Mike!

No other Jackets are cited in the top 75, but Manny Malhotra gets the nod as the forward on the team leading in these categories. Take a gander at the full list here.

Go Jackets

Improbable Victory!!

Hitch had it right ----in his post game comments, Hitch noted that it was "games like this that make coaches go into scouting." In an exhausting, gut-wrenching, insanely schizophrenic effort, the CBJ outlasted the Canucks, gaining a 6 - 5 shootout victory and 2 very big points in the last road trip before the All-Star break.

Make no mistake, this was an ad lib performance, one where the script got thrown out early on. Instead of Hitch-Hockey, it became a track meet, a dizzying up and back affair that seemed destined to be decided only because rules say these things eventually have to end. There were moments of pure elegance, when you could swear our team was composed of Hall of Famers -- the tic, tac, toe passing leading to Malhotra's first goal. The precision of the Rick Nash to Kris Russell to Jason Williams power play goal. Commodore's beauty from the point. There were also tons of moments that made you wonder where these slow footed, jet lag laden guys came from. In between, there were ludicrous moments, such as the floater that Mason kicks appropriately toward the corner -- except that Nash happens to be skating by at that moment, and it hits his thigh and goes in. Vancouver fans booing Roberto Luongo. Yep, lots of bizarre goings on at the 3,000th game in Canuck's history.

Most of all, this win was one of character, of toughness, of refusal to lose. The Malhotra goal to tie it in the first. Two great goals at the end of the second to come back from a two goal deficit to tie it. Read that last sentence again -- two goal deficit. On the road. Against Vancover. This ain't your father's Bluejacket team. Having gotten into Luongo's head with those two goals to cap the second, they proceed to score 2 quickies from Torres and Commodore at the start of the 3rd, to go up 5 - 3. The celebration is on, right? Nope. The fluke goal off of Nash and a nasty power play shot from one of those pain-in-the-neck Sedin twins, and we are tied at 5. Two All Star goalies, and the game has more points than the Steelers-Ravens game . . . Again, past Bluejacket teams fold up their tent at this point, graciously thank their hosts, and move on to the next town. Not this bunch. They dusted themselves off, dominated the rest of the third and the OT, got beautiful SO goals from Williams (great choice to lead off, Hitch!) and Nash, Mason shuts down Wellwood and Sundin, and you walk away with 2 points. Whew!!!!

Here are the +/- for the game:

+ Nash -- Give this guy a week off more often. A beautiful wraparound goal, two nice assists, and overall domination of the ice when he was there. That line with Huselius, Malhotra and Nash is scary every time they cross the blue line.

+ Attitude -- This is probably the 3rd or 4th time I have awarded a + for attitude, which in itself says volumes about this hockey club. These guys had every reason to quit, and didn't. They had dead legs (see below), were in a hitting contest, got some bad breaks, some non-calls, fell behind, came back, fell behind, came back, took the lead, lost it -- and then dominated. That is the mark of a winning club, folks.

+ Power Play -- Yes, you are reading this right. Due to a rash of coincidental minors, and a lot of non-calls, we only had two power plays all night, and one of those was a 4 vs 3 in OT. However, the one PP we did have in regulation was so pretty, I had to give it a plus. We created space, we moved the puck quickly -- we used the width of the ice, not just the perimeter, and Jason Williams converted a one-timer from Russell into a wide open net. Well done! Honorable mention to the PK, which was great, except for an awful kill attempt that gave the Canucks their 4th goal.

+ Players -- Besides Nash, you have to give the + sign to Jason Williams, who scored the PP goal, made a beautiful shot in the shootout, and generally showed speed, puck handling and an ability to take control. Imagine what he will look like when he gets to know his line mates. + signs also for Boll and Torres, who were tenacious on the puck all night, and created lots of opportunities. Tyutin continues to get shots through from the point, Russell is just fun to watch with the puck, and Commodore has turned into a scoring machine. Modin also played a heavy game. Not sure what to say about Huselius. On the one hand, he created lots of opportunities and had two assists. On the other hand, he failed to convert some beautiful opportunities. He is great, but frustrates the heck out of me at times.

--Defense-- We looked slow, tentative and generally clueless in our own zone much of the night. Tollefson was befuddled by the Vancouver forwards. Methot had his second awful game in a row. He let his man go, leading to the first goal, and got himself trapped with the puck, made turnovers, just generally bad. The All-Star break is coming at the right time for him. Canuck forwards coming down the middle were either left alone or just harassed with some feeble attempts at poke checks.

--Legs -- As I noted above, while at times we clicked, at other times we looked like we had just gotten off the flight -- from China. Come on guys, it's not that long of a flight, and you have had a day to get over it. They almost looked at times like some of our younger guys were awed by the 3000 game hoopla and the whole Sundin mystique. Get over it --- soon!

This was a victory engineered by veterans -- Nash, Modin, Commodore, Tyutin, Williams,Huselius. The kids provided energy at times, and their never-say-die attitude is becoming contagious. 2 huge points on the road, in the type of game we have historically never won. We came to Mason's aid (and he was far from bad) and did what needed to be done for the victory. That is 4 out of the last 5, 8 out of the last 11, and 5 for 7 on the road. Great job. I'm exhausted . . .

Out Of Gas . . .

Remember that purring car I wrote about last night? Well, it ran out of gas tonight in a 5 - 2 loss to St. Louis. Zero even strength goals by the Blues. We were a step slow all night, and the Blues came out with high intensity (and a substantial number of cheap shots). That led to 10 Blues power plays, and they cashed in on 4 of them. Add a shorthanded goal, and voila -- 5 goals on special teams.

We were clearly fatigued, and were sloppy with the puck, particularly in our own zone. St. Louis moved the puck quickly on the power play, and we couldn't keep up. Legs were dead.

Here are the simple +/- for the night:

-- Discipline -- The one thing we could not do tonight was spend much time on the box. The one thing St. Louis has done well all year is the power play, and we handed it to them on a silver platter.

--Puck Control -- Our fatigue showed up in sloppiness, bad decisions and missed connections. As sharp as we were last night, we were bad tonight.

- Special Teams -- We scored one goal just as penalty expired, and gave up one just as PP started, so not quite as bad as numbers, but we needed to be on top of our game, and we weren't.

+ Individual Efforts -- Despite taking a few penalties, Commodore was a huge presence. Dorset played solid, for the most part. Peca was active, but missed some golden opportunities.

Disappointing, but the stars were aligned for this kind of thing. Unlike some prior games this year, we had the desire, but just had nothing left in the tank. No point in recriminations. We are still 3 - 1 on the trip, get a couple of days of rest, and will come out strong against Detroit on Tuesday night.

Go Jackets!!