Gallos' Six-Pack for Game 42: Wild

YEEEEEHHAAAAAAAWWWWWW!  Ahem.  Sorry.  The Columbus Blue Jackets prevailed tonight over the host Minnesota Wild 3-2 in a shoot out win to keep pace in the hunt for the playoffs.  The CBJ came out flat Bob in the first Bob period, but Bob the Wild couldn't solve Bob until they finally Bob bounced one in the goal off of one of our defensemen.  Did I say Bobrovsky was dominant tonight?  The CBJ came out steaming in the second period, scoring their two goals for the game in bang-bang fashion early in the second period.  After that it was holding off the Wild.  Finally, late in the third period the Wild went on a power play off a Setoguchi dive, err, I mean a Dalton Prout cross check (the official explanation).  The Wild got a rebound in to tie the game, and regulation time ended with the score tied 2-2.  OT was fun to watch, but had no scoring.  The CBJ owned the shoot out, and came out of this game with the coveted two points of the winner, leaving them tied with Detroit and Dallas with 45 points for 8th place, but trailing in tie breakers.

Victory Beers are sweet!

Sergei Bobrovsky is on top of his game

1. My first cold, well deserved beer, obviously goes to Sergei Bobrovsky.  Bob made great saves throughout the game, took on several shooters that got behind the defense mano-y-mano and stoned them all.  The two goals scored were one that bounced in off our guy and another that was a greasy re-bound goal on a power play.  If Bob could see it, Bob was stopping it.  Finally it came to the shoot out, and Bob stoned both of their shooters to preserve the results of the CBJ shooters.  This was an outstanding performance, and a well deserved win.

2. My second beer, an Adirondack Black and Tan, goes to former Ranger Brandon Dubinsky.  He was a dominant force in the second and third periods, assisting on both second period goals.  Dubinsky was not available for much of the first period because he jumped the Wild player who delivered a shoulder and an elbow to the head of Artem Anisimov knocking him out of the game.  Dubinsky collected an instigator penalty, 5 minutes for fighting, and a 10 minute misconduct, and the admiration of his teammates.  Making up for his absence in the first period, he sent a blind behind he back pass into the slot right on the tape of Vinny Prospal who one-timed the puck home for the Jackets' first goal.  On his next shift, he screened the Minnesota goal tender giving FedorTyutin a clean look for the second goal.  Dubinsky was all over the ice tonight, and played a great game.

3. My third beer of the game, a nice tasty Yuengling, goes to Mark Letestu.  He has been an extremely steady player down the stretch and tonight played well in filling a short bench caused by the loss of Anisimov.     Then he promptly scored as the first shooter for the CBJ in the shootout, giving Bob something to work with.    Playing all over the line up this year, Letestu has been a glue player, helping to hold stuff together when everything turns to crap.  He had a really good game tonight.

Camsanity!!

4. My fourth cold frosty beer (of indeterminate make because I'm getting tired) goes to Camsanity himself, Mr. Cam Atkinson.  These kind of games are tough for a guy like Cam, since on the road the other coach can put some big guy on the ice to lean on the smaller guy.  But Cam fights his way through it all, and he ended up scoring a real nice goal to win the game in the shootout. I think he is still hampered by the high ankle sprain, and will be until there is some off season to fully heal.  He looked great in the shootout, confidently scoring to put the game away, and get the coveted two points.

5. My fifth ice cold beer goes to the concept of Vinning!  Vinny Prospal scored his 11th goal of the season , and assisted on the other goal.  I think Vinny is the ring leader of the crazy mojo this team has, and is helping to keep them loose in a crazy stretch run to the playoffs.  Live long and Prospal Vinny!

6. My sixth beer goes to Fedor Tyutin, for scoring that all important second goal while Minnesota was off balance.  That quick strike held up well later in the third period, providing a buffer that we used when the Wild tied it up late in the third period.  Way to go Toots!!

Wow!  Just a big huge monster win tonight for the CBJ.  They are keeping their noses firmly in this playoff race, and if they win their games their task becomes easier.  There is a lot of resiliency in this team, and is should be fun to see how this turns out.

Were the CBJ outworked tonight?  In the first period, yes.  In the second period, no, in the third period, maybe.  However, they were not outworked in the shootout, which is where it counted in this game.

Up next is a pesky Colorado team on Monday that has won 3 straight since being called out by their goal tender for a lack focus.  We tend to get in trouble with Colorado's speed, so this will be a challenging game. But I won't think about that just yet.  I think I'll sit here and bask in the glow of victory for a few moments, before turning my sights to the Avalanche.

GO JACKETS!!