Jackets Win Ugly, 2-1, Over Predators
By Steve Sirk,  Columbus Wired (1/30/02)

First, the good news. On the strength of goals by Tyler Wright and Espen Knutsen, plus the usually superb goaltending of Marc Denis, the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the vile Nashville Predators 2-1 tonight at Nationwide Arena.

In the process, the Jackets vaulted out of the Central Division cellar and leapfrogged both the Preds and Kings in the Western Conference. Now the bad news...witnessing such an ugly display of hockey all but forced those in attendance to numb their wearied minds with alcohol, be they the schmoe in the last row of the upper deck or the coach of the winning team. Err...what?

“I felt so bad about that one that I had to drink a beer before coming out to talk to you guys,” said Blue Jackets President/GM/coach/zamboni driver Doug MacLean, who spoke without audibly hiccupping. “When you’re the president, you’re allowed to have beer before the press conference.”

Heck, if your team keeps winning, you can have beer on the bench.

The game started out promising enough for the Blue Jackets. Shortly before faceoff, the scoreboard noted that Denis has handled more rubber this year than quality control at an eraser factory. 1,576 shots faced. 1,430 saves. This, naturally, meant that Denis could have strung a hammock between the pipes in the first period. During a much deserved in-game vacation, Denis faced only four shots in the opening 20 minutes. (By comparison, Geoff Sanderson alone took five shots Columbus.) It took almost nine minutes for the Preds to register their first shot of the game. Nevertheless, the period ended scoreless, despite the Jackets getting significant time on a 5-on-3 power play.

Columbus wasted little time grabbing the lead in the second period. Before three minutes had elapsed, Tyler Wright won the puck in the neutral zone and barreled in on Tomas Vokoun’s net. On his way toward goal, Wright fell flat on his face, sliding toward the net as if he were Pete Rose heading for home. Wright didn’t give up on the play though. He hopped back onto his skates, faked a forehand, switched over to his backhand and slid the puck right though the legs of a sprawling Vokoun.

“I think I scored because I didn’t have time to think,” said Wright of his slip-n-slide approach. “I just tried something and it worked.”

The goal came against the run of play though. The Preds were picking up the pace, so much so that it took them a little over three minutes of period two to eclipse their entire shot total from period one. The pressure would build and build until the Jackets finally caved. At 12:27, both Sean Pronger and Jody Shelley were sent off for tripping and cross-checking, respectively. When a team gets a full two minutes of 5-on-3 hockey, they are abso-freaking-lutely dangerous, even if that team is the Nashville Predators. The Preds patiently worked the puck around and finally found the opening they needed. Andreas Johansson camped out between the circles and one-timed an Andy Delmore feed past a defenseless Denis to tie the score at one goal apiece.

“The 5-on-3 swung the game around,” observed MacLean. To wit, the Preds outshot the Jackets 14-4 in the second period, and duplicated their dominance in the third period with a 16-5 edge.

Yet it was the Jackets who would grab the third goal of the game. Like the previous period, Columbus scored early on a great individual effort after a turnover in the neutral zone. This time it was Espen Knutsen picking off a pass at center ice and skating straight ahead toward Vokoun. Upon entering the offensive zone, Knutsen patiently waited for the right time before firing a low shot that whizzed under the Nashville goalie.

“I was terrible tonight,” said Knutsen of his big score. “I was awful. The only good thing was the goal.”

It’s all anyone’s going to remember, Espen. Enjoy it.

From there on out, the game was mostly about watching Denis getting pelted with pucks.

“We got exceptional goaltending from Marc tonight,” said Wright. “He was the difference in the hockey game.”

MacLean also sung Denis’ praises, but the coach also wanted to make sure everyone understood the effect Sean Pronger had on the game. “Pronger really did a yeoman’s job for us in the last five minutes. Winning faceoffs, winning battles along the wall...I thought Sean gave us some exceptional late shifts.”

When the yeomen play like yeomen, and the yeomen are singled out as a bright spot, it usually means one of two things: a.) You’ve lost ugly and need something to praise or b.) You’ve won ugly and the yeoman deserve the credit.

The latter, of course, is always preferable to the former.

“We got an ugly win tonight,” said MacLean. “I like ugly wins. We’ve had some ugly losses, so we’re entitled to some ugly wins.”

I’ll drink to that.