Indians Spring Training: Lewis Gets Roughed Up
April 1, 2009Cutler to Cleveland Doesn’t Make Sense
April 1, 2009Blue Jackets 2, Predators 1
(Box) – Highlights
Record: 40-29-8 (88pts – 6th place)
Sports Club Stats Rank: 6th, 97.2%
CBJ “Magic Points” Number: 7
“This is how you confront your worst fears as a sports fan.” Imagine if Raffi Torres was the Browns’ quarterback in December of 2007 instead of Captain Fourint (that’s 4 INT) Derek Anderson. Imagine if the Browns had won that ONE GAME againt Cincinnati that they needed to win to get into the playoffs. Can you picture it? That’s basically what last night’s win over the Predators felt like for Jackets fans.
A couple of 5-Holes ago, we ran a few “Quotes of the Week” about Raffi Torres, and talked about how Scott Howson called him a “game changer” when he was acquired via trade last summer. Torres was up to the task again last night, as he notched his 12th goal of the season (fifth since 2/26), and sixth game-winning goal, which leads all Blue Jackets players. The biggest stat: he’s scored a goal in 11 different games on the year (he scored two in the Florida win two weeks ago), and the Jackets are 11-0-0 when he scores. “To be honest with you, I think it’s a fluke,” Torres said afterward. “I didn’t even know about it. I’ve just got to keep doing what I’m doing and hopefully we’ll keep going.” Keep doing what you’re doing, Raffi: being a Game-Changer.
“Raffi scores big goals all the time,” coach Ken Hitchcock said. “These are the games, right here, where he’s able to get centrally focused and really have a big effect. He has just had a huge impact on a lot of our games during the last month.” Torres was not the only hero of this game, however. In what I thought would be a battle of goaltenders, neither goalie disappointed. Pekka Rinne stopped 31 of 33 shots, and Steve Mason—after giving up an early goal—slammed the door on the Predators and stopped 21 of 22 shots himself, and was flawless after Nashville scored on a rush with about 11-and-a-half minutes left in the first period.
Fedor Tyutin got caught cheating forward from his defenseman spot, and despite the valiant effort of Jared Boll to get back to help, Nashville’s Steve Sullivan made a beautiful pass across to Cal O’Reilly, who was crashing in on the left and was able to poke the puck past Mason. Prior to that rush, Columbus all but dominated the action. And, frankly, they all but dominated the action the rest of the period, as well: the Jackets outshot the Predators 17-6 in the first period.
As the period neared its end, the Jackets looked like they would have nothing to show for outworking the Predators. Pekka Rinne was equal to every shot along the way. With just under a minute, however, RJ Umberger and Antoine Vermette had a little something extra. Both players worked to keep the puck deep in the zone, and managed to work it free to Umberger in the right corner. He charged the net unimpeded, fired a shot that Rinne was able to stop but not control, and then poked the rebound past the Preds goalie to tie the score with 45 seconds left. It can’t be overstated how huge that goal was.
The Jackets kept that intensity right off the bat in the second, as Jared Boll got a solid chance and pinged the crossbar not more than 12 seconds into the period. Despite the shot total of 9-to-5 in favor of Nashville in the second, at times the ice was tilted in the Jackets’ favor. They got pucks deep and worked their offense. Nashville countered toward the end of the period, getting some solid chances of their own. Neither team was able to solve the goalies again in the second, but the table was set for a key third period. As AP put it in the blog link above: “This is how you confront your worst fears as a sports fan. Twenty minutes left in a tie game, with your nemesis in the building, looking to dash your playoff hopes. Has there ever been a more meaningful period of hockey played in Nationwide Arena than the third period last night between the Blue Jackets and Predators? Score at 1-1, and the Blue Jackets trying to escape the throes of a two-game losing streak with the playoff bar suddenly too close for comfort.”
So it was about 4 minutes into the third period, when on a nifty play in their own zone, Michael Peca was able to chip it over a Preds defenseman to himself, starting a two-on-one with Raffi Torres against Predators defenseman Shea Weber. Peca did a masterful job in getting both Weber and Rinne to commit, and fired a shot that Rinne blocked but could not control. The rebound trickled left to Torres, who was streaking in down the left slot, and Torres buried it for the game-winner.
But, it would not be that simple. The Jackets relied on their defense and their goaltender the rest of the way, and neither let down. The Jackets took a couple of penalties in the third, and it’s always dangerous to give desperate teams extra chances with the man advantage. On the second Nashville PP of the period, Steve Mason made what was the save of the game (2:40 of the highlights video linked at the top): with 12:30 to go and about 30 seconds left on the man advantage, the Predators cycled the puck around to the left point, and Shea Weber fired a shot on net. Mason made the initial stop, but the rebound trickled to his right, where Mike Santorelli was all alone for what looked like an easy put back goal to tie it. But Mason, who offered himself up as the main reason the Jackets lost on Sunday, would not let it happen. Mason threw his glove out, and snared the puck off of Santorelli’s stick. That was all she wrote.
The Jackets rebounded in the best possible way, and coach Hitchcock definitely saw dividends on the lineup changes he made. RJ Umberger was a machine, and his line with Jason Williams back on the off wing was much improved over some recent games. Michael Peca played probably his best game in recent memory, back up with Torres and Jared Boll. Both Peca and Boll laid the wood to the Predators, getting back some of the physical edge they didn’t have against the Blues over the weekend. Mason was stellar once again, atoning for his sub par performance on Sunday: “It’s disappointing to make a mistake like that. Everyone makes them, and there will be more down the road,” he said. “It’s just how you respond that makes you who you are.” The Jackets not only limited the Preds’ PP chances to two, but killed both penalties, including 28 seconds of 5-on-3 for Nashville. They’ve looked solid on the PK over the past few games, and that unit has definitely been bolstered by Antoine Vermette. As Hitchcock said, the Jackets “played the right way.” And they were rewarded.
“We approached this as the biggest game of the year,” Umberger said. “We set ourselves up the first two periods. The third period, we said, ‘This is the biggest period right here. We’ve got to find a way to win this.’ We outplayed them. And we can’t let it slip.” At this point, each and every game for as long as they keep playing this spring can be considered “the biggest game of the year”. And they have to keep playing like it. Last night was certainly a step back in the right direction. “It’s a huge win,” Mason said. “We weren’t happy with the way we played (against the Blues), but we knew it wasn’t the end of the world. The key was how we responded. And we responded tonight. We played a smart game. We stayed calm, played our game and it turned out OK.”
In other news, the Jackets will bring rookie Nikita Filatov back up from AHL-Syracuse, though whether or not he will play is yet to be determined. Much like Major League Baseball, teams can expand their rosters for the stretch run. It’s possible that Filatov won’t see any playing time, but he will get a chance to be a part of the team as they make a playoff stretch run, both in training and in preparation. The experience would be invaluable for the young Russian, even if he doesn’t see any ice time. In addition to Filatov, rookie centerman Derick Brassard was given medical clearance to practice on a non-contact basis with the team. GM Scott Howson preached caution, however, saying that there were no circumstances that would have Brassard back in the lineup before May 1, which would mean the Jackets would have to win at least one playoff series before he could be expected to play at all.
Other Important Scores
Thanks to the great people at Sports Club Stats, we have started looking at Jackets games in the context of the rest of the conference and who the Jackets are fighting with for those playoff spots. Picking up from the “Who To Root For” section of the preview, here are the “Other Important Scores” from around the Western Conference last night:
Nashville at Columbus – CBJ wins, 2-1
Anaheim at Edmonton – ANA wins, 5-3
Vancouver at Minnesota – VAN wins, 2-1 (OT)
A mixed bag for the Jackets. Obviously, winning their game was the most important thing. The Minnesota loss helped them a bit, but not a lot as the Wild earned an overtime point. It would have been nice for Edmonton to have won, as that would have dropped the CBJ’s “magic points number” to five instead of seven. But, at the end of the night, it was still good news for Columbus: in SCS’s morning sims, the Jackets’ percentage jumped up over 5.5%. They now have a four-point lead over seventh place, a much better position than before last night’s slate of games.
Five games to go, including one more with Nashville. The Jackets have a chance to effectively seal up a playoff spot with a win on Saturday, but Nashville has been a house of horrors for Columbus throughout their history. Each game truly is the biggest game of the year.
4 Comments
I enjoyed reading that whole article DP; it’s hard to deny that 11-0 stat when Torres scores. I was at the game last night and I think you touched on every thought I had about the jackets. I can’t say enough good things about Mason, for obvious reasons. There was a point in the game where it was 3 on 5 and we came out of the penalty not only stopping Nashville from scoring but getting a 2 on 1 break for a nice opportunity; and after that Nationwide arena exploded in cheers… I hope that the team and the fans can carry that energy into the playoffs.
“Mason threw his glove out, and snared the puck off of Santorelli’s stick. ”
That was amazing to watch – even from section 214. I keep thinking back to those two games earlier in the season against the Stars and the Wild, where the calls were overturned by the almighty war room. How great it would be to have those games in the win column right now…
Well, the Wild goal was a game-tyer, so you could only count on 1 point, but your point is well taken. Those two extra points would be huge right now!
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