Game 58/Chicago: My Take

[Pardon the over 24-hour delay in getting this posted.  I've been struggling to get some schoolwork done on deadline (done), fighting yet another apparent sinus infection (sigh) and ended up hosting a friend's child while she ran down to the hospital to deliver a baby (wow).]

In a string of "must-win" games, none have been bigger than Friday night's Columbus Blue Jackets visit to the United Center to take on the Chicago Blackhawks, who were only one standings place and two standings points ahead of the CBJ.  While by no means dominating from wire to wire, the Blue Jackets fought it out and emerged victorious, 4-3, in regulation.

Start with this:




Everything else is gravy.

Who stays? Who goes?

Interesting little tidbit from the Dispatch guys today on Twitter:

[The Columbus Blue Jackets] said the magic words to MacKenzie and Wilson: "Get a place." On 2-way contracts, but told they'll be staying w #CBJ.

First, and let's not minimize this, let's congratulate Derek Mackenzie and Kyle Wilson.  Both guys are former AHL lifers who have busted their tails off to stick in the NHL and, for both guys, it's the first times in their careers that they will actually do so.  I waxed (reasonably) eloquent about Wilson after his shootout winner on Monday night, and my "Time to Step Up" piece on MacKenzie says all I need to say on him.  Presuming that the two guys perform at an NHL level, more power to them.  It's great to see merit getting rewarded, something that both Scott Arniel and Scott Howson are doing despite the strange world of the NHL collective bargaining agreement, with issues involving waivers, one-way/two-way contracts, salary caps, etc.

Pleasantries aside, let's get to the heart of the matter.  Why is the front office telling these two guys to plan on sticking around for the season at this specific moment?

Game 17/Anaheim: My Take

The Columbus Blue Jackets stared down the grim face of history on Friday night, never giving in (or giving up) against a tenacious Anaheim Ducks squad at the Honda Center.  The Blue Jackets won, 4-3, marking their first Friday win of the season.

Or was it Saturday?  I mean, the victory wasn't sealed until after midnight Columbus time.  Curse these West Coast trips...

Anyway, onto the game.  It seems like only yesterday that I wrote this:

All the CBJ will do is come into your house, track mud onto the carpet, empty your fridge, eat your chips, turn on all the lights...and send your fans home unhappy. 

That's what the Columbus Blue Jackets do this year.

And again, it rings true.  Those plucky Blue Jackets just don't seem to realize that they're supposed to lose their way through these West Coast trips, that it's the Los Angeleses and San Joses and Vancouvers who are supposed to threaten the Detroit/Chicago (but certainly not the rest of the Central Division) hegemony in the West.  This crystallized for me in the final 1-2 seconds of the game, where Corey Perry realized that his team was going to lose to Columbus and, in a fit of exasperation, hauled off and sucker-punched Antoine Vermette.

Game 5/Anaheim: My take

(Yeah, I went there with the graphic.  It was either that or George Parros' mustache.)

In an oddly satisfying game, a banged-up Columbus Blue Jackets squad beat a banged-up Anaheim Ducks squad, 3-1, in regulation.  The CBJ could reasonably be expected to beat the Ducks.  The JacketsBlog called it a "must win," an assertion with which I initially agreed until The Hockey Writers' Jeff Little tempered the language to be a "should win."  "Should win" -- I like that.

The CBJ should have won tonight's game, and they did.

Game 3/Chicago: My Take

OK, so there apparently ARE days where it's better to be stuck in class than in Nationwide Arena.  When your beloved Columbus Blue Jackets get shellacked by a depleted Chicago Blackhawks squad, 5-2 on 40 (!) shots, this probably fits the bill.

I was only able to catch just a few minutes of actual action, so I can only go off what I've seen on Twitter and the scoresheet.  Perhaps that allows me a little necessary distance to discuss this rationally.  For had I been in the arena, I probably would get a tad strident.  So let's step gently through this minefield and try to understand what happened.

Time to step up: Marc Methot

• Defenseman
• 25 years old, 5th year in National Hockey League
• $1,012,500 cap hit 
• 1.7% of Columbus Blue Jackets salary cap
• Contract expires at end of this season
• 2009-2010 numbers: 60 games played, 2 goals, 6 assists, 8 points, -8, 51 penalty minutes, 19:31 avg. time on ice

Can Marc Methot prove that he deserves to be part of
the Columbus Blue Jackets core of emerging talent?

Like every other player who has a contract expiring at the end of the season, Marc Methot has a pretty simple reason to step up his game in 2010-2011: To get re-signed and continue advancing his career as a professional hockey player.  

The challenge for Methot, however, gets more interesting when you look beyond the obvious.  First, you need to consider that while he's entering his 5th year for the Columbus Blue Jackets, his first two years included appearances in 20 and 9 games, respectively.  On the Jimmy Howard Calder Trophy Scale, that means that he's only entering his third year in the league.  And it's safe to say that, had it not been for injuries on the blue line over the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 seasons, he probably wouldn't have seen anything approaching the 20-odd minutes a game that he was working.  

Game 70/Edmonton Oilers: Happier Thoughts

Here are your highlight's from last night's 5-3 win against the Edmonton Oilers:

Although this game wasn't on Fox Sports Ohio or Versus, maybe you caught the CenterIce feed. If not, the Dispatch always has excellent game wrap-ups that give details of how the goals were scored and such.Check out the one for last night's game here (honestly, I prefer the ones not written by Arace, but I'll take what I can get).

The worst part of the game last night was that Hejda was injured after playing only four shifts. He apparently sprained his right knee and will likely be out for the rest of the season. Because of Hejda's injury, Paetsch switched from playing LW to D. He somehow managed to finish the night an impressive -3. Brassard, Pahlsson, Umberger, and Voracek were tied at -1. Paetsch bounced around pairings and made me worry every time he was on the ice. [Update: Apparently Paetsch was also frustrated with his play. I didn't notice is but one #CBJ twitter says that he broke his stick after an Oilers goal. Lots of stick smashing going on: after the empty netter, Ryan Whitney smacked his stick against the glass.]

The most exciting part of the game (for me) was that Marc Methot got his second goal of the season. As leeauer on twitter says... "you don't leave Marc Methot uncovered"! With his goal the Jackets were up 3-1, but then goal scoring went back and forth between the two teams. With 12:15 left, I admit, I was worried that "Jackets time" would begin and somehow the Oilers would come out on top. I am pleased that that didn't happen.

All sorts of significant/notable milestones were reached last night, including Fedor Tyutin, who has now played in 400 games. He also tied his career high for assists with 25, the number he had last year in 82 games. Last year he had 34 points and right now he has 30, so look for him to set a record there, too. Derek Dorsett had the first multi-point game of his career last night with his two assists, on the fourth and fifth goals, scored respectively by Huselius and Vermette. Those two men had a heck of a night last night. Vermette now has 55 points after getting three last night with his empty-net goal and two assists. His previous season high was 53 during the 2007-2008 season when he was with the Ottawa Senators. He had 5 shots on goal and won 16 of 26 faceoffs. Huselius had a four point night with one goal and three assists, four shots on goal, and finished +3.

Jared Boll fought Theo Peckham, and even though Boll went to the ice first, he definitely won that fight. Thankfully Boll seems to be okay despite smacking the back of his head against the ice.

I do feel a bit bad for Oilers goaltender Devan Dubnyk, who is 0-8-2 in his NHL career. He is huge though! 6'6". But the Blue Jackets did bring his goals-against average down!

Thanks to Dispatch Writer Aaron Portzline who found out who the hard hat winner was for last night's game. Mike Commodore received the hat, who protected Mason's net when Mason himself couldn't. Also, Garon got the hard hat after the 2-1 win over the Thrashers on 3/11 and Vermette got it after the 5-2 win against the Ducks on the 9th. Here's the video of Commodore's sweet moves in case you don't feel like watching the entire highlight reel above!

Next up: the Minnesota Wild on Friday. Yours truly will be in Nashville on Saturday for the Blue Jackets game, so be sure to check back here for a report on how that went, or at least some photos!

Methot goal photo: Jamie Sabau/NHLI via Getty Images

Photos of Boll and Huselius: AP Photo/Jay LaPrete

Game 69/St. Louis Blues: (Sad) Thoughts

Here are some highlights from last night's game, a 5-1 beating by the St. Louis Blues, if you want to call them that.

It was a hard game to watch. The first period may have been boring but the Blue Jackets weren't getting outplayed, so I had hope going into the second period. The Blues also had hope and scored three times in the second. At points it looked like the Blues owned almost all the ice, skating right on through the neutral zone. The Blue Jackets had 11 shots on goal until the third period, when they took 14 more. It pays off to take shots, obviously... Voracek put one in off of a sweet pass from Brassard to prevent a shutout (thank goodness).

Noel made the interesting choice of pulling Mason with what, three minutes left? And three goals back. That led to an empty netter for the Blues, sealing the Blue Jackets' fate. It is getting annoying to watch them play well one night, with want, and then give up the next game because they are down two or three goals. I understand that the team has a good sports psychologist that works with the guys, but I don't know how much s/he has been around as of late. This team has talent, passion, and grit - they just throw it all away too quickly because, it seems, of that pattern of bombing in the third that emerged earlier this season.

I will give the honorary loser hardhat to Marc Methot, who led the team by far with seven hits. He has been looking great out there, and I hope he is one of the defensemen they choose to keep around.

Hoping to see more of an effort in the next game, but good for the Blues, who continue their push toward the playoffs. The Oilers come to Nationwide tomorrow night. The game won't be televised, which may be a good thing.

This is a tough one to write about. I'm going to forget it. Let's hope the Blue Jackets do too and they get the W tomorrow!

Photos: Jay LaPrete/AP Photo

Game 68/Atlanta Thrashers: Thoughts

Here are some highlights from last night's game, a 2-1 win over the Atlanta Thrashers. Notably missing from the Blue Jacket's line-up was captain Rick Nash, along with the newly acquired Nathan Paetsch. Chris Chelios also played in his first NHL game of the season last night, previously having played with the Thrasher's AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves.

Blue Jackets goals: Umberger from Huselius and Tyutin; Huselius from Russell and Dorsett

Thrashers goals: Oduya from Kozlov

I had the pleasure of going to this game. I got the tickets originally because I wanted to see Kovalchuk play... but we all know how that turned it! It was nice, though, that Chelios played (maybe nice isn't the right word. Perhaps "interesting"?).

But there was this man, #80: Nik Antropov. During his first shift I thought, "dang, this guy is huge". That thought quickly changed to "wow, he is a jerk". Jerk may not have been how I originally described him. But, it seems that he can't take a hit: he apparently didn't appreciate Boll so he elbowed him in the face. The ensuing power play, along with a sweet move/failed shot block by Chelios, led to the Blue Jacket's first goal. Throughout the entire game Antropov was tangled up with Boll and Pahlsson. At one point Pahlsson and Atropov fell on top of each other along the boards, and Antropov proceeded to give him a little extra shove with #26 was down. Pahlsson then laid a hit on him - and Antropov, once again, showed why I dislike him. He looked at the ref, as if he was expecting a penalty to be called. Ugh, please. Antropov later at the end of the second period got a minor for cross-checking Pahlsson (Boll in turn got two minutes for roughing Antropov, so there was no powerplay).

I was excited to see the top line start off as 18-16-93. I would like to see Brassard stay as the #1 center for the rest of the season. Instead, Brassard bounced around lines all night. There were a ton of other line changes as well and I just couldn't keep them straight. At one point, Dorsett was on the top line.

I thought the defensive play was much better in this game, comparatively. I was especially impressed by Marc Methot who led the team with seven hits and three blocked shots. IHC Claude Noel had this to say about Methot's play:

I thought Methot was real good, really good. I think he's playing really well, really playing with passion, playing physical. He's a good skater [and] he's playing with a lot more confidence.

Although I didn't notice the faceoff that Noel referred to as to why he benched Mayorov (Noel said Mayorov basically ignored his responsibilities after the faceoff) I did notice Mayorov leave a play to wait at the point for a breakaway opportunity. He did get the puck and carried it down the ice, but lost an edge behind the net and fell on his butt. I have liked watching him play though so hopefully he gets a talking to. It looks like they will need him the next game because Portzline has tweeted that Huselius and Nash will both be out for tomorrow's game against the St. Louis Blues.

The Blue Jackets had one shot in the third period. The Thrashers had 17. In his post-game presser Noel said, "we had one shot, gimme a break". Yeah.

Is the hard hat no longer being awarded? If it was - I didn't notice (please let me know). I would have given it to Vermette. He didn't have any shots but won 13 of 20 faceoffs, and was all over the place, making things happen.

What did you think of the game? I am especially curious as to what others think about Huselius' play last night. He finished with two points (one goal and one assist),  so his stats look okay, but I thought he was infuriating to watch, especially on the power play.

An "interesting tidbit," as our favorite writers at the Dispatch might say: last I checked, the O'Clitsome St. Patrick's Day themed jersey was going for more money than Nash's.

Also, here is a fun interview with RJ Umberger about the first time he skated, his pregame rituals, and who he would like to put a big hit on:

Probably Ryan Kesler. He plays real hard, he plays in your face, he's got a nasty edge. We have a little bit of a history, too. It's fun to compete against someone like that because it brings all that out.

Photos: Jamie Sabau/NHLI via Getty Images

Game 59/Dallas: My Take

The Era of Square Pegs and Round Holes is gone. It has been replaced by the Era of Group Hugs.

They say that every sports coaching change is like a pendulum swing for a club, going back and forth between the harsh taskmaster and the players coach.  There's no question that Ken Hitchock was the former, and now Claude Noel is trying his hardest to be the latter.  He's chosen to play the nice guy, the cheerleader...and maybe that's what the Columbus Blue Jackets need right now.

Sure didn't hurt tonight, as the CBJ won, 2-1, over the contemptible Marc Crawford and the Dallas Stars (and, no, I'm not forgetting NHL-designated cheap shot artist James Neal, who was remarkably quiet tonight.  He must not have known that Derek Dorsett went on injured reserve.).

The team played a little ragged, which stands to reason when your (interim) head coach Noel proclaims that he's going to stop the over-thinking and ditch the X's and O's at the door.  Again, part of the post-Hitch decompression.

10 Thoughts about Game 33: Nashville

1. After everyone in the Columbus Blue Jackets' locker room piped in with comments about the "serious," "critical" and "urgent" nature of tonight's game, the Jackets proceeded to play the exact same type of game that they've been playing recently in losing to the Nashville Predators, 5-3.

1a. The Jackets have lost 11 of their last 13 and currently sport a record of 14-13-6 (34 points).

1b. Here are your highlights:

10 Thoughts about Game 8: Edmonton

1. After giving up a goal in the game's first minute at Edmonton's Rexall Place, the Columbus Blue Jackets settled down, regained their composure and dropped 4 straight goals on the Oilers over the back half of the 1st period and the front half of the 2nd.  They then forgot that it wasn't Eastern Standard Time and went to sleep.  The team awoke to find that they lost the game, 6-4.

2. The league's number one penalty killing team gave up two goals on power plays tonight.  The streak of consecutive penalty kills died  at 29, apparently only 2 short of a team record.

3. Marc Methot apparently has come down with the flu and played like it when letting the first goal past him.

3a. The rest of the team would be well-suited to use the flu excuse for last night's performance.

3b. Methot's illness makes me think that Mike Commodore, who warmed up as Methot was a game-time decision, will get playing time in one if not both games in Southern California over the weekend.

3c. Mike Commodore's intermission interview on Fox Sports Ohio makes me wonder why the Blue Jackets didn't loan him to FSO as a second analyst during this injury break.  Mike's got great camera presence and would offer a terrific insight for the Blue Jackets fans.  I bet he would have enjoyed it, too.

4. I'm not sure what's more surprising: Raffi Torres scoring a goal and the Jackets NOT winning the game, or Kristian Huselius scoring at all.

4a. Huselius scored twice, by the way, clearly celebrating his move to the second line.  He seemed to have decent chemistry with Jake Voracek, who had assists on both goals.

5. Nikita Filatov played 5:42 on the right wing.  He had one near-breakaway that was stuffed by an open-ice hit around center ice.  He played no worse than Jared Boll in my estimation, and his upside is infinitely higher.  I'd keep playing him.

6. As the Jackets only showed up for half a game, I'm only doing half of my 10 Thoughts this time.  Jackets, go sit in the corner and think about what happened last night.  AND NEVER LET THIS HAPPEN AGAIN.

7. Ever.

8. Ever.

9. Are you hearing me?

10. That was Edmonton for Pete's sake!

Next game is Saturday night on the Pond in Anaheim.  If the Jackets are to go .500 on this road trip, they have to win both weekend games in Southern California.

This effort would be helped immeasurably if Captain Rick Nash actually took a shot on goal, something he didn't do in Edmonton.