Tag Archives: Columbus

All-Star Break: Five Pleasant Surprises.

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Let us all catch our breath, re-charge and enjoy a fun weekend ahead in Ottawa at the 2012 NHL All-Star Game. Then, a few days later, we get set for the unofficial second half of the NHL season. For the Blue Jackets, it has been an eventful first half of the season, but we’re starting to see glimpses of improved hockey and a lot of credit goes to interim head coach Todd Richards for, as he put it, “restoring some joy” to the locker room.

So far this season, we have seen the hard work and tireless preparation of a true professional be rewarded with a starting goaltender role in the NHL once again. We’ve seen a future franchise center grow into his skates and show he can be an impact player at this level, and the players recalled from Springfield (AHL) have shown us that the organizational pipeline contains kids who can make a difference. That’s what every team strives for.

Read more for my five pleasant surprises of the first half.

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Post-game: Blue Jackets 1, Kings 0

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Hopefully by the time I’ve finished penning this blog, Curtis Sanford will have caught his breath.

And boy, he was nothing short of spectacular in goal for the Blue Jackets today in Los Angeles. He made 31 saves and was a rock for Columbus during a third-period penalty barrage, earning his first NHL shutout in over three years – the last coming Oct. 28, 2008 against the Ottawa Senators.

Grant Clitsome scored the only goal for the Blue Jackets, and it was beautifully set up by Derick Brassard. Though both teams earned several power-play chances on the afternoon in what could best be described a sloppy game in the early going, neither could establish a sense of momentum given the man-advantages. Just as a Columbus power play expired, Brassard feathered a backhand pass across the dots to Clitsome, who slid down from the left point and one-timed it over Jonathan Quick’s blocking arm.

It was a huge goal for the Blue Jackets – one, because it stood as the game-winner – and also because it rewarded them for a much better second period. Their first-period game was erratic at times and lacked flow, but they were improved in the middle stanza and forced the Kings into some mistakes. All it took was one miscue to win this game today.

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A different royalty

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I vividly remember the Los Angeles Kings’ last visit to Nationwide Arena. And it’s a good thing I do, because it was less than a month ago, and I’d be troubled if I forgot about it.

They were reeling, struggling to put pucks in the net and looking over their shoulders after GM Dean Lombardi fired former head coach Terry Murray. What followed next took me back to the Barry Melrose/Tampa Bay Lightning saga from a couple years ago: it seemed like everyone in the league knew that Darryl Sutter would be the next Kings coach, and it ended up being a week or so before it was officially announced.

There Lombardi stood in the bowels of Nationwide Arena, talking to reporters and answering the same old questions about his coaching “search.” He said he was moving closer to a decision, but “that’s all I got for ya. I told ya I didn’t have an update!” he said with his thick Massachusetts accent. But now that he has made the decision and it’s had time to simmer, Lombardi is the one looking like a genius.

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Practice quotes: Scott Arniel

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Hope everyone had an enjoyable, safe and healthy turn of the new year. We’re back at it this week as a lengthy roadie awaits the Blue Jackets in California. In their first trip to California last year, Columbus went 3-0-0 and dropped a shutout on the Sharks.

Blue Jackets coach Scott Arniel ran a detailed, 60-minute practice this morning at Nationwide Arena prior to departing for San Jose. Their four-game road trip begins Thursday night at HP Pavilion, then continues with an afternoon game in Los Angeles, a Sunday meeting with the Anaheim Ducks and ends with the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center.

Here is the full transcript of Arniel’s comments following practice today.

Arniel on the game plan vs. San Jose: “They’re a team that’s offensively very strong, and they’re led by a couple of key players in Thornton and Marleau. Especially their power play – they’re very dangerous and have people that can certainly score. They’ve added (Brent) Burns from last year. They’re a dangerous team and have had their struggles. They won a big game last night against Vancouver. Like any team, you’ve got to keep them off the power play and can’t let them create energy off of that. You have to face them straight-up, five-on-five.”

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Pre-game quotes: Scott Arniel

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Blue Jackets coach Scott Arniel held his pre-game media scrum today prior to tonight’s game against the Washington Capitals. Here is the full transcript of Arniel’s comments.

Arniel, on the loss of James Wisniewski: “He’s a guy that logs somewhere in the low-to-mid 20s (minutes) ice time, a power play guy and a guy that played a lot of special ice for us. Other people have to step up…it’s a situation where the other night when we were down to five (defensemen), I thought they did a great job. Our forwards helped an awful lot with making the game a little bit easier for them. Tonight will be the same thing – AJ will go in, and we have to make sure we’re keeping the game simple. It’s tough to fill a hole like that, but I feel we have a good group that can go out and do the right things.”

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Nash: “We kept the pedal down.”

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Well, that was fun.

I used Blue Jackets captain Rick Nash’s quote as a headline simply because it sums up tonight’s game so perfectly and succinctly. After so many disappointing third-period losses this season, they pieced together a textbook third period and beat the Dallas Stars by a 4-1 final. It was Columbus’ first regulation road victory of the season, and Steve Mason’s first win away from home as well.

There was a lot to like about the Blue Jackets’ game tonight, and first and foremost, you have to look at their resolve. They knew their record in third periods, they knew their record at American Airlines Center — but they kept going and kept the pedal to the floor. Nash’s goal early in the third period gave them a 3-1 lead and that was enough for Mason, who made 36 saves.

Click the link below to get more analysis, notes and potentially lame jokes.

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Game night in Big “D”

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Lots going on today, but hey, there’s a hockey game tonight at American Airlines Center in Dallas. The Blue Jackets and Stars meet for the third of four this season, and the home team welcomes back its No. 1 goaltender from a groin injury. Finnish netminder Kari Lehtonen (13-4-1 this year) will be back between the pipes for a Stars team that desperately needs its stability in goal back.

That’s no slight to young Richard Bachman, who was very good in Lehtonen’s absence, but the man they simply refer to as “Kari” is the Stars’ backbone. In two games against the Blue Jackets this season, Lehtonen was flat-out awesome. The game that comes immediately to mind is a 36-save performance in late October at Nationwide Arena, when the Blue Jackets kept coming in waves in a wild third period — but Lehtonen was there every time.

Read more pre-game material after the jump.

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Travel day notes

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The Blue Jackets held off-ice meetings and workouts this morning at Nationwide Arena, before departing to Dallas this afternoon. Just a couple of tidbits to pass along before we get into the coach’s media scrum, and the full transcript is included in the next update.

Coach Scott Arniel said it’s likely that Steve Mason starts tomorrow against the Stars, and that Curtis Sanford isn’t yet back to 100 percent health. This stretch of games allows Arniel to use Mason — who has played well of late — and get Sanford healed at the same time. Mason was good last night vs. the Flames, making 27 saves and was only dented once in the shootout by Jarome Iginla.

Here’s a brief breakdown of the news items from today at the rink.

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Quotables: Arniel, Nash, Mason

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Read below for full transcripts of comments from Blue Jackets coach Scott Arniel, captain Rick Nash and goaltender Steve Mason following a 2-1 shootout loss to the Calgary Flames at Nationwide Arena.

ARNIEL: “I thought (the third period) was pretty good. We did a lot of good things…obviously, they were the fresher team than we were. I thought we did a real good job of not giving up much. We created a couple of chances, but I liked a lot of what we did tonight for the 65 minutes or whatever. We played a lot better as a group, and with the back-to-back game we used the whole bench and got contributions from everybody. They went out and played for each other and played hard for each other, and did the little things together. You could tell on the bench there was energy, and I just said to Scott (Howson) that I wished to see them get rewarded with two points because it was a real good team effort. Right from our goaltending on out, d-to-forwards, everybody helped. That’s kind of what the shootout is sometimes. It looked like Kiprusoff might have got a piece of his stick. I knew I was going to go with four lines, and where I had (Brassard) him there tonight it helped with our matchups. That power play unit had some real good looks. His game has certainly got a lot better.”

Follow the link to read full post-game remarks from Nash and Mason.

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Post-game: Flames 2, Blue Jackets 1 (SO)

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Tonight’s game looked like a game post-holiday break, in both good ways and bad. Columbus and the Calgary Flames started slow, ramped it up in the second period and played a dandy of a third period and overtime before a crowd of 16,985 at Nationwide Arena.

The not-so-good: the game took a while to get started, figuratively speaking. Though the Flames were waiting for the Blue Jackets as they returned from Chicago, neither team got off to a fast start and there were turnovers-a-plenty in the opening 20 minutes.

The good: the Blue Jackets warmed to the task after the Flames tied it up early in the third period, and had more than a fair amount of chances to take the lead late in the proceedings. They dominated the faceoff circle (won 66.1 percent overall) and worked hard to get the puck back if they didn’t have it, Steve Mason was excellent in goal and unfortunately, Miikka Kiprusoff was one save better.

The loss was the sixth in a row for the Blue Jackets. Calgary, starting its road trip in the Buckeye state, won its fourth consecutive game and is right back in the Western Conference playoff race.

Other nuggets out of tonight’s game after the jump.

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