Lucky Ducks Bounce Jackets 3-2 In Final Minutes
By Steve Sirk,  Columbus Wired (11/14/02)

In a darkened Nationwide Arena, with the crowd buzzing in anticipation as time was winding down on the scoreboard clock, Columbus Blue Jackets mascot Stinger fell flat on his butt during his pre-game skate. That freakishly-green uniramian arthropod planting his abdominal exoskeleton on the ice with little time showing on the clock is a classic example of what is known as “foreshadowing.” Two-plus hours later, it was the team itself replicating the feat against the Mighty Ducks.

The Blue Jackets lost a boring, aggravating game to the Insipid Corporate Tie-Ins of Anaheim by allowing the tying and winning goals in the final 108 ticks of the clock. The Ducks got the bounces when they needed them most and swiped two points in the process.

Things got off to a promising start for Columbus. Ducks star Paul Kariya took a stupid tripping penalty some 170 feet from his own goal barely two minutes into the game. When Geoff Sanderson scored a power play goal from an acute angle on assists by Andrew Cassels and Ray Whitney, it made for an interesting game of Media Notes Bingo. “Blue Jackets special teams in top five.” Check! “Cassels continues hot hand & moves into 2nd in NHL in assists.” Check! “Whitney ties team record with assist in fifth straight game.” Check! (He now surpasses Espen Knutsen’s record.) “Sanderson nets goal in fourth straight game & can tie team record tonight.” BINGO! (He now ties the record set by Whitney last year.)

2:28 into the game and all was good. And then…well…things went not-so-good. The second period in particular was brutal for the Jackets, as they surrendered 17 shots to the Ducks. After watching Denis make save after save, the Jackets finally succumbed with just 45 seconds remaining in period number two. On an Anaheim power play, Steve Rucchin came streaking up the middle and ripped a shot into traffic in front of Marc Denis’ net. Paul Kariya tipped the puck past the besieged goaltender to tie the game at one goal apiece.

“I didn’t like our game in the second period,” said coach Dave King, providing a minimalist summary of the middle frame.

The beginning of the third period appeared to swing the momentum Columbus’ way when Mike Sillinger apparently scored 29 seconds into the period. But after conferring with the video replay judge, the goal was waved off when it was determined that Sillinger kicked the puck past Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

“It was a good call,” said King. “It was redirected with the skate.”

The Jackets would eventually grab the lead anyway when Tyler Wright continued his torrid scoring pace by notching his 8th goal of the year at 11:14. Rookie Rick Nash dispossessed a Duck defender in the right corner and made a nifty spin-o-rama move before dishing the puck off to Matt Davidson, whose rebound was chipped in by the goal-crashing Wright.

Wright’s goal didn’t stand up though, thanks to some freaky circumstances. With under two minutes to go and trailing by a goal, the Ducks turned to the sixth attacker. That extra attacker turned out to be the linesman, who redirected a harmless Pavel Trinka dump-in into open ice where Matt Cullen pounced on it. Cullen’s shot was saved by Denis, but an unmarked Jason Krog did a roof job on the rebound.

The death blow would come with 31 seconds left and it would be delivered in a similar fashion. A puck redirected out of a crowd to an unmarked Steve Rucchin at the far post, who beat Denis for the game-winner.

“The breakdown was zone coverage behind the net,” said King. “We thought we were going to get the puck and we once again had two players come off the near post and leave a man wide open at the back door and the puck squirted right over to him. That replay has been seen over and over again with our team. That’s not the first time we’ve had someone unattended at our back door.”

King was especially dismayed that Marc Denis wasn’t rewarded for another stellar game in goal. The young goalie followed his 46-save performance on Tuesday with a 41-save effort tonight, some of them spectacular.

“I think the guys have got to understand that when you get goaltending like that, you need to get wins and get points,” said King. “Marc played his heart out tonight.”

Denis was upset after the game, but not because he’s faced 95 shots in the last two games.

“This one is hard to swallow,” Denis said glumly. “We managed to come out on top after 58 minutes and that’s how it should have been after 60 as well. It’s frustrating for our hockey team to lose two one-goal games. It doesn’t matter if I face 95 shots or 25 shots. If we come out empty-handed it is worthless.”

King feels the reason the Jackets came out empty-handed was because they did a poor job containing Anaheim’s rushes. Richardson agreed.

“You need to use your positioning and experience against a team like this,” said the big defenseman. “Anaheim really runs the lanes and they squirt guys through on the transition. We let them gain zones on us and in the end it cost us.”

Maybe Stinger should stand some people up at the blue line during his pre-game skate next game.