Game Effort, But No Breaks

The Jackets put on a game effort tonight, but were just too wounded to bring it home. As Mason has done for us in several games, Bryzgalov won the game for Phoenix tonight. We out shot, out passed, out played Phoenix everywhere except on the scoreboard. Killed them in the faceoff circle, pretty much a draw in hits, and had far more scoring chances. We missed some nets when we needed them on target, and Bryzgalov came through with some great saves.

On the other end of the ice, really very consistent play. Not a lot of good chances, and Mason handled the vast majority of those. One bad rebound and one turnover in our own zone, and that was it.

All in all, tough to be too critical of the team tongiht, with Nash at half speed due to the flu, and the rest of the lines patched together. Still need some shooting practice, but I'll give the boys a pass on this one.

Let's get a few days rest here, then come out smoking on Tuesday night against LA, and the same on Saturday against Philly. Two good home wins before the road trip, combined with hopefully getting Klesla and Murray back, perhaps some good news on the Chimera and Brassard fronts, we will be set to go! Tough stretch coming up, but I think the team has shown they are tough enough to handle it.

In the ongoing saga of the Dallas fiasco, both Puck-Rakers and Light the Lamp feature the following clip of a goal that was allowed against the CBJ. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdouMRIG-go&eurl=http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=585130&page=9&feature=player_embedded If this doesn't get you grinding your teeth, nothing will.

Go Jackets!!