WaitingForNextYear

(AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jimmy Jeong)

Blue Jackets 1, Oilers 0
(Box) – Highlights

Record: 31-25-6  (68pts – 6th place)
Sports Club Stats Standings:
7th place, 58.1%

Man, did Columbus need this one in the worst way. They went into the game Thursday night only one point in front of Edmonton in the playoff standings, and though they peppered him with shots, Oilers goalie Dwayne Roloson was definitely standing on his head all night. It took a break-away from former Oiler Raffi Torres to notch the only goal of the hockey game coupled with some stellar, timely goaltending by the league-leader in shutouts (padding his total to eight, now) for the Jackets to prevail. For Torres, it was a sweet celebration in the midst of constant pain from a season of struggling through rehab from various injuries and surgeries. For Mason, it was yet another big step forward in a tremendous rookie season that has him helping lead a team someplace it has never been: legitimate playoff contention.

One could argue (and probably wouldn’t find much real legitimate argument) that Roloson played better than Mason. Roloson stopped 31 of 32 shots, including a barrage of 17 in the second period alone. Mason only faced 19 total shots, himself. But, the night belonged to Mason in the end. He achieved another mark to add to his star-studded rookie resume, as his eighth shutout not only leads the league overall, but tied a 37-year-old record for shutouts by a rookie goaltender set by Ken Dryden. “That’s a pretty good name to be associated with,” Mason said. “But this one was like a lot of my shutouts, where I didn’t really have to be great. The guys in this (dressing) room deserve a lot of credit for that number, too.”

Mason looked like the “Mason of old” if you will, making the tough and spectacular saves he just hasn’t been making since his mononucleosis diagnosis. He made an insane toe-save toward the end of the second period (click the “Highlights” link above and watch at 1:40) that robbed Erik Cole, who has been red hot. Honestly, I think that was a save that Mason would not have made the majority of the time over the past few weeks, even during the Jackets recent winning streak. He just hasn’t had the same burst of movement in the crease of late, and last night was the first time I’ve seen it again since the whole “mono” thing was made known. Mason’s coach recognized the significance of that save: “It’s really the only significant odd-man rush we allowed them,” coach Ken Hitchcock said. “But we needed a big save right there.”

(AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jimmy Jeong)

For Raffi Torres, it would be hard not to call this one his best game since joining the Blue Jackets. He skated with an edge, and his energy was contagious. He mixed it up in the first period with Jason Strudwick (“Ralph Wiggum lost his shin guard! Hack the bone! Hack the bone!!”), and though Torres got worked pretty good, his energy level seemed to rub off on his team. Winger Jared Boll, who set Torres up on the break-away 7:45 into the third period that resulted in the game-winning goal, had this to say about Torres: “It’s great to see Tico come back to this building and have a big night. We were an energized club tonight. We feel like we got our game back.” Boll sent a nice pass through two Oilers defensemen, and allowed Torres to skate in uncontested from the left wing, fake a slap-shot, and then poke the puck through Roloson’s 5-Hole (woo!) as it opened up.  “My shoulder, my knee it’s just going to hurt,” Torres said. “But there are other ways I can contribute. This feels great. This is the kind of thing that makes it all worthwhile.”

The biggest difference in the Jackets last night from their past two games (both losses) was that they punished Edmonton’s players. I only got to watch the third period (listened to a good chunk of the second period in the car), but what I watched was a team that was out there dictating the tempo of the game and being physical. The had two guys on Oilers winger Ales Hamsky at all times, which meant that the Hamsky who single-handedly beat Columbus the last time they played was unable to do so again. In the Anaheim and Calgary losses, they allowed the other team to dictate, with bad results. Columbus had their forecheck back last night, and it was a noticeable improvement. With about six minutes to go in the third period, I was nervous at first because the Jackets looked content to simply try to clear the puck out of their zone and skate short shifts, and to not keep the pressure on.

But, rather than play passive and back on their heals while skating short shifts and keeping the puck out of their zone, they did so by forechecking and blocking passes and shots, instead of the team that flails at and ices the puck. They didn’t push it offensively, but at that point they didn’t have to. It’s no coincidence that Mason only saw 19 shots the entire game. Columbus is a tough team to beat when they play defense that way. A huge key to that, according to Ken Hitchcock, is having contribution to the system from all four offensive lines: “When other teams play three lines, we can play four,” Hitchcock said. “We can really wear teams down and be hard to play against.” They certainly had that last night.

That’s not to say there wasn’t a cause for concern. While Roloson was definitely stellar for Edmonton, a disturbing trend has emerged the past three games. The Jackets are getting tons of shots on goal, and just aren’t putting pucks in the net. Granted they’ve played three tough goalies in a row (Anaheim’s J.S. Giguere, Calgary’s Miikka Kiprosoff, and Roloson), but when you get 32 shots on goal (and have such a lopsided shooting edge) you need to score more than one goal. A win is a win, and the two points combined with denying Edmonton ANY points is obviously a good thing. But, the offense needs to get back on track if they hope to continue on their playoff run… unless, of course, Mason truly is “back” and can continue to carry them. Counting on that, however, is not a solid strategy going forward.

Again, though, a win is a win, and this particular win was not lost on the young star goalie:

It’s the same situation for [the Oilers]. We’re trying to create some breathing room and they’re trying to get back into the playoffs. Every point that we can gather that Edmonton can’t, it’s going to benefit us.

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. Though I was unable to write up a preview and/or a “Who To Root For” section, here are the “Other Important Scores” from around the Western Conference last night:

Columbus at Edmonton – CLS wins, 1-0
St. Louis at Dallas – STL wins, 3-1
Anaheim at Boston – BOS wins, 6-0
Phoenix at Nashville – NSH wins, 4-1

In SCS’s morning projections, the Jackets were the biggest mover-upper, jumping up 12.1%. A HUGE win for Columbus, and they got some much-welcomed help from St. Louis and Boston.