Game 2 in Review: CBJ vs New York Islanders

Columbus Blue Jackets 3- NY Islanders 2 Shoot Out

The Columbus Blue Jackets earned their first win of the 2013-14 season, as well as their first win in the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference in a third period comeback shoot out win.  A character win for sure, because they looked 'stick a fork in 'em they're done' cooked in the second period.  As much as the Islanders skated them off the ice in the middle of the second period, they stopped the bleeding trailing 0-2.  Then at the midway point of the third period, Mark Letestu punched home a power play goal to get the Jackets on the board, and the team gathered momentum throughout the second half of the third period.

Letestu, not Gaborik

Offensive cycling which had been nonexistent in the second period began to emerge, and then the tying goal came on an RJ Umberger rush, where he put the goal on net, and Nick Foligno bumped the rebound back at the net, and it rebounded off an Islander crashing the net, and the game was tied.

The teams traded chances down the stretch, and both teams had power plays in the last two minutes of the game.  The Islanders power play persisted into Over Time, but the CBJ seemed to have momentum.  OT remained scoreless, and the game went to the shoot out.

That's when 'snow-gate' happened.  Fox Sports did a good job of capturing the CBJ bench, as Craig Hartsburg noticed that the zamboni left all the snow in front of the Islanders' goal.  Todd Richards got the attention of referee Paul Devorski, and the officials inspected the ice.  The then made the zamboni come back out on the ice, and a HUGE pile of snow was removed from in front of the Islanders' goal.  Thus, the shoot out conditions were rendered fair.  Matt Moulson scored for the Islanders in the shootout, but Letestu and Cam Atkinson scored for the CBJ to secure the win.

My take is that this was what will be a typical Metro division game, a back and forth affair.  The Islanders scored on a heavily screened Bobrovsky on a power play that they earned with sustained offensive pressure.  On their second goal our weak side defense was mesmerized by Tavares' puck handling, and Moulson came all alone on the backside and Tavares hit him with a beauty of a pass.  But the CBJ shut down the rushes they were giving up at that point, and the game turned for them.  Once the CBJ got some offensive cycling below the goal line started, instead of launching pucks at the net from the perimeter, they eventually drew a penalty, and got the power play goal that turned the momentum.  Dogged hard work paid off in the win.  That bodes well for this team recapturing the spirit they had at the end of the season last year sooner rather than later.

The CBJ are on the  board for the 2013-14 season, with 2 Metro division points.  A good response from last night's disappointment.

Game Haiku:

First win in Metro

Tavares is the real deal

The test tube strikes

GO JACKETS!!