Cavs Offbeat: The (Hopeful) Death of the Dribble-First Offense
November 18, 2010Charting Mangini Via ESPN Power Rankings
November 18, 2010Blue Jackets 5, Kings 3
(box) – Highlights
CBJ: 10-6-0, 20 pts
As bad as the Jackets looked on Friday night—and have looked in four of their six losses on the season—the silver lining is that going into last night’s tilt at the Staples Center they had not lost two in a row on the season. That streak was put to the test, as the Kings had not lost at home in eight games at Staples (8-0-0) and possessed a perfect Penalty Killing record (31-for-31) on home ice. Not an encouraging sign for a Jackets team that sits last in the league on the man advantage.
Much like the Avalanche who have dismantled the Jackets twice on the young season, the Kings are a hard- and fast-skating team who basically owned the Jackets most of last season, including a combined 12-2 goals advantage in LA. Sounds like the end of the Jackets’ “not lost two in a row” streak, right? Think again.
The first nine minutes belonged to Columbus, more specifically to their grinders on the third and fourth lines. The Jackets came out fresh (and why not? They hadn’t played in five nights…) and generated some chances with the offense. The Power Play was awful, but that was to be expected. Special Teams aside, the Jackets’ persistence finally paid off 7:40 in. On a great forecheck, Andrew Murray sent his man hard into the boards, which freed him up to skate to the net unchecked. Derek Dorsett intercepted a Kings’ clearing pass on the half-wall, and fed it low to Murray who was wide open. Kings goalie Jonathon Quick stopped Murray’s first chance, but gave up a juicy rebound. Both Murray and Dorsett got to the loose puck, and Murray was able to send it home over Quick. The goal was originally credited to Dorsett, but upon further review it was Murray who got the shot off. It was Murray’s first goal of the season in just his second game back from IR.
The lead wouldn’t last long, though. The Jackets were down a skater, and the Kings were in the middle of a solid cycle on the Power Play. They reversed flow at the blue-line and caught the Jackets in motion. The puck came to Drew Doughty who then fed it to the right point and Anze Kopitar, who blistered a shot on Steve Mason. The puck somehow trickled through Mason and was laying in the crease just by the goal line. Michal Handzus was camped out to the right the goal and was unmanned, and reached behind Mason to poke the puck home to tie the score at 9:06.
The teams then went to the locker room after the first tied at 1. Considering the last time the Jackets played in Staples Center and went to the first intermission down 4-0, this was decided improvement. The second period began with the teams ratcheting up the defense. Neither team would pot anything until 11:22 in, when the Jackets would string together a nice stretch. After taking a silly bench-minor penalty for too many men on the ice, the Jackets killed off the penalty. As the penalty expired, the Jackets were moving up ice. Mike Commodore—serving the bench minor—came out of the penalty box and joined the rush, carrying the puck over the blue line. He dropped it to Derek Dorsett, who wisely pulled up and waited for the fresh skaters coming over the boards. In a defensive lapse, the Kings let him sit near the left point with the puck for a full second or two, and he fed it to Rostislav Klesla who was skating into the zone. Klesla took the pass in the high slot and blistered a slap shot past Quick, off the right post, and into the back of the net to make it 2-1 Columbus. This was Klesla’s first goal of the season, and first since last October as he missed most of last season with a torn groin and abdominal muscle.
Sadly, the Jackets couldn’t make it to the locker room with the lead, as the Kings’ offense was able to rally and tie it up once again with just 1:22 left in the period. LA won a clean face off deep in the Jackets’ zone, and started to cycle the puck at the right point. As Ryan Smyth camped out in front, a shot from the point came in and rebounded to the right of the cage. Smyth grabbed it, looped around the net, and deposited a wrap-around under Steve Mason. The puck trickled over the line just before the net came up in the back, and after review the goal stood. 2-2 tie, second intermission. The Jackets were still in the game despite getting no production from their two scoring lines.
It looked bleak for Columbus, as the Kings came out and immediately took the lead in the third. Justin Williams—hot as anyone in the league right now—scored a go-ahead goal 1:25 into the third. It was yet another rebound that could not be corralled, and Williams was behind the defense at the left side of the goal, and with Mason down he was able to grab the puck, move it past Mason, and tap it home. It was 3-2, the Jackets looked down, and the Kings hadn’t lost at home. Jackets are done, right?
Wrong.
It was again the grinders that would buck the trend. The line of Andrew Murray, Kyle Wilson, and Jared Boll would again pick up their team. Murray fired a spinning shot from the right of the goal that sailed over the net, but Boll and Wilson both hustled to gather the puck and outskate the Kings’ defense. Wilson brought the puck through the slot and tried to get a shot on net that was blocked. But, the hustle was there: the puck slipped to the left slot where Boll was waiting, wide open. He fired a shot, and Murray—who had set up shop right in front of Quick—provided a great screen as the puck zipped by the Kings’ netminder and into the net at the 3:48 mark. All of a sudden, this year’s Jackets proved they have a little bit of resiliency. If you’d told me that the Jackets would get literally no production from their top two lines but would be tied 3-3 with 16:12 left in the game, I’d not have believed it. So, it was a bit poetic that the top line was the unit that finally broke through for Columbus.
The next 13 minutes of the game were scoreless and tight. At the 16:48 mark, however, it was the combination of the Jackets’ top line showing the chemistry they’ve developed of late. Derick Brassard brought the puck up through the neutral zone and drew all the attention with him to the right. Rick Nash snuck into the zone on the left boards. Brassard fed a purely SICK pass all the way across to Nash, which caught the Kings’ D off guard. Nash brought the puck in, faked defenseman Davis Drewiske out of his entire suite of equipment, and wristed the puck high past Quick to put Columbus ahead 4-3. It was a beautiful goal from The Captain and an equally beautiful pass from Brassard. “We battled with the puck all night,” Brassard said. “It was a chip and chase game. At the end, [Jakub Voracek] made a great play on the board and I found Nasher on the back door. We have to make a difference like that, like we did. It’s not going to be pretty every game. But if we’re effective like that and we go get the win, we did our job.”
And, it showed that when this top line gets some space they are dangerous… even when having been shut down for the first 56+ minutes of a game. All it takes is one mistake by the defense and they can make you pay. The Jackets haven’t ever really had that ability on their top line. “They shut us down,” Nash said. “Usually our game is battling in the other end, and they played well against us. They cut off our cycle and kept us contained in the neutral zone. Each game (with the top line) gets better. You look around the league, and some lines have been together for a couple of years. We’ve been together for weeks. To have this much chemistry early I think is a good sign.” Here’s hoping it can continue.
The Kings would have a couple of last chances, but Nash got the puck just inside his own blue line and fired it the length of the ice into the empty net with 37 seconds left to ice it. For Nash, the two goals were his seventh and eighth of the year, and for the Jackets it was a huge win on the road against a really, really good team. Aaron Portzline’s stat of the day/night: the Jackets are now the only team not to have lost two in a row. The only other team going into last night? The Kings, who have now lost two in a row.
A big win, indeed. The next step for this team? Bring this kind of effort every night. This was one of the first times this team has fallen behind in a tough spot in the game and immediately rallied back. If they can learn the lesson that they’re not out of games just because they fall behind, it will go a long way toward removing some of those blowout losses from the ledger. The consensus surrounding this three game trip is that 3 or 4 points would be considered a success. Well, Columbus has two points in what is probably on paper the toughest of the three games. Definitely a good start. The Jackets continue their trip through the So Cal corridor on Friday night in Anaheim. Puck drops at 10:00 PM EST.
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Photo Credits:
First: Noah Graham/NHLI via Getty Images
Second: Harry How/Getty Images
7 Comments
Thanks for the recap, DP. I hate west coast games. Too late for me to stay up with work the next day.
I’m very happy that the Jackets were able to win this one in the third period, something they had a lot of trouble with last year. If they could just pull it together and be consistantly good every game – instead of good, then OK, then horrible – this team can play with anyone.
BTW, is there a reason that Garon didn’t play last night?
No reason. I had Garon in my preview because Porty in the Dispatch was saying his hunch was that Garon would start. The team hadn’t really named a starter prior to the game.
Kept waiting for them to do their usual, get blown out, so I could go to bed! Was up till 130!! Great finish, hope they can keep it up!
BTW, of their 6 losses, 4 of them are on Fridays. This needs to end!!
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