Good to be back home!
By Dave Weissman, Columbus Wired (2/27/03)

Ray Whitney scored the first hat trick of his twelve-year career in leading the Jackets to a 3-1 victory over the playoff desperate L.A. Kings.  The win stopped a five-game losing streak by Columbus and extended their home winning record this season to 16 wins.

It was the first career hat trick for the guy known as ‘The Wizard’ and his 17^th goal of the season.  The win came at home in Nationwide Arena, in front of the 14^th sellout of the year, where the Jackets have won 15 contests.  

It looked early like the Jackets would continue their slide as former Jacket Steve Heinze scored his fifth goal of the year just two minutes into the game.  Heinze made a nifty move splitting between Espen Knutsen and Luke Richardson before chipping the bouncing puck past Jackets goaltender Marc Denis. 

"They got a fluky bounce to get the game going and that was about the end of it,'' he said.

That goal seemed to wake the Jackets up from their sleep.  The fourth line of Pronger-Ling-Shelley got things fired up as well.  Ling would keep his heavyweight win streak intact with 3, taking on and decking LA’s Chris Schmidt.

"We kind of regrouped after that”, said Denis.  “I just thought it was a tremendous total team effort.''

“I thought the Shelley, Pronger, Ling line gave us some outstanding shifts, said multi-titled and interim head coach Doug MacLean.  “They gave us eight or nine real quality minutes; a huge shift in the first period.”

The Columbus captain scored a power-play 7:16 into the contest to tie the score 1-1.  He would add an even strength goal 41 seconds into the second period and his final goal was an empty-netter with 28.8 seconds remaining to complete the hat trick.

Whitney's eventual game-winner in the second period was the Blue Jackets' first even-strength goal in eight games. 

He was giddy after the contest not only for the team win, but also over his first hat trick.  "First ever. Believe that? Twelve years,'' a grinning Whitney said.

The Kings finished their road trip 2-3-0 and remained five points behind Edmonton (who Columbus plays on Saturday) for the final Western Conference playoff spot.   They desperately needed the two points, but knew going in that it was not going to be easy. 

"They had something to prove to their fans,'' Kings coach Andy Murray said. "They're a hard-working team and we caught them in their first game back home after a tough road trip. They wanted to make up for it. We had to expect that.''

Marc Denis made 33 saves in the victory including stopping 14 shots in the third period.. He stood on his head all game including fighting off a flurry of 15 second period shots and put up a wall on shots by Mathieu Schneider and Bryan Smolinski during a late third period power play to deny their scoring chances.

The Kings called a time out and pulled goaltender Jamie Storr with just under two minutes left. Jackets forward Grant Marshall almost poked a loose puck into the empty net with 35 seconds remaining, but it bounced off the post. Mike Sillinger would scoop up the loose puck, sending it back to Marshall, who tipped it to Whitney for the empty-netter.

MacLean was proud of the way his team responded.  “That was a real important win for,” he said.  “To bounce back after a horrendous trip against a team that’s fighting for their playoff lives and a team that’s been playing real well lately.”

Our 3 Stars

Ray Whitney – His first career hat trick.

Marc Denis – Stood on his head in making 33 saves.

Jackets 4^th Line – Got the crowd and team fired up even playing with only 8 minutes remaining.  Pronger had 15 shifts while Shelley and Ling had 13 each.