The Jackets' emphasis on clogging the neutral zone also stifled their own offense, and any sustained offensive pressure was usually derailed by the Jackets desire to make pretty east-west passes instead of shooting at the rookie goaltender at any opportunity. This allowed the Pittsburgh defense to keep the puck in front of them, and sent the CBJ scurrying back to the neutral zone. While the Pens rookie goal tender earned his first shut out, my buddy Bill remarked that a chair placed in goal would have probably fared the same. He was not seriously tested by the Jackets.
The highlight of the night was the announcement that the All-Star Game would be coming to Columbus in January of 2015. It will have been 3 years since the last event of this nature, which should bring a freshness to the proceedings. I'm looking forward to it.
All in all, it would have been highly desirable to not be swept by the Pens. On the other hand, they showed why they were the prohibitive cup favorites last year. We are not in a race with this team, they already have the Metro won. The rest of the Metro remains in reach. As long as we can keep it that way until Christmas, when reinforcements arrive, we should be in OK shape for a playoff run.
Game Haiku:
The Pens gain shut out
The Jackets gain All-Star Game
The Metro is a mess
GO JACKETS!
You're being too kind. The Pens played like an elite NHL team while the Jackets played like a bad ECHL team. It reminded me of some of the "efforts" (And I use the word loosely!) of the Dougie Mac era teams.
ReplyDeleteYay for the ASG. Great for Columbus, perhaps good for the franchise as a whole...but irrelevant to the Columbus Blue Jackets as a hockey team.
ReplyDeleteI take little solace in the (non-Pens) rest of the division being as screwed up as our favorite team appears to be.
When will Jarmo make a move to fix some of his team's problems? Not just as a knee-jerk reaction to the swell Penguins weekend but rather in response to what he's seen across the majority of the first 13 games?