Blue Jackets put up a fight but fall to Phoenix 4-2

By Greg Dew, Columbus Wired (10/14/02)

For the first period of last night’s game versus the Phoenix Coyotes, it seemed as if the Blue Jackets had changed their slogan from “Ignite the Night” to “Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee”. Make that “Sting Like a Blue Jacket.” It is a shame it wasn’t a boxing match actually as the Jackets would have rather won than fall 4-2.

The period saw a total of 5 fights erupt. The action started with an uncalled elbow to the head of Rusty Klesla from Darcy Hordichuk.

On the ensuing face-off Jody Shelley and Hordichuk dropped the gloves as Shelley came to the defense of Klesla and earned a quick
knockdown.

The stage was set for the rest of the period.

Less than a minute after the first drop of the gloves, Sean Pronger and Kelly Buchberger squared and Pronger gave the Jackets their second knockdown.

With attitudes getting very testy, the Coyotes’ Dan Focht was called for roughing on Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre. A full ice scrum immediately ensued. Grand-Pierre easily won his fight while a vastly more entertaining one was going on between Jamie Allison and Branko Radivojevic. Spanning the Blue Jackets offensive zone, Allison pummeled Radivojevic until the Coyote succumbed and fell to the ice in the form of a frightened turtle.

At the time of the fights, the Jackets were already down 1-0 on a 5 on 3 power play goal from Ladislav Nagy, assisted by Daniel Briere and Claude Lemieux.

Following the fights a relative calm was restored on ice but not in the stands as the fans were worked into a frenzy at the sight of the Blue Jackets earning what could be considered a TKO.

Unfortunately the scoreboard was not following as the Blue Jackets squandered their own 5 on 3, six minute, power play opportunity and the momentum they had earned.

Before the halfway point of the first period, Shane Doan would add another power play goal for the Coyotes to bring the score to 2-0.

“They got two power play goals really early which gave them lots of momentum, said Columbus head coach Dave King. “For a road team, that’s a perfect scenario, to get out and get two power play goals in the game and grab the lead.”

The period would hold one last fight as Ossi Vaananen instigated a fight with Tyler Wright. The referees this time stepped in after several punches but not before the fans awarded Wright the judge’s decision.

Entertaining as they were, the fights were the only highlights for the Blue Jackets in the period until about two minutes left in the first when Ray Whitney became an omnipresent offensive force.

Four times Brian Boucher was able to stop Whitney but the assault was enough to put Boucher back on his heels and allow Espen Knutsen to cut the lead in half when he was assisted on the power play by Mike Sillinger and Andrew Cassels with 32 seconds to go in the period.

The Coyotes extended their lead to 3-1 in the second period as Landon Wilson went to work in traffic and re-directed a Kelly Buchbergerger shot past Marc Denis.

“We fought back, then we gave up that third goal at the start of the second period, said King. “The power play group was out and got caught tired and they scored to make it 3 to 1 and we never really recovered from that goal.”

Despite the score, Denis was solely responsible for keeping the Jackets
alive during the period as the Coyotes out shot the Jackets 14-5. Truth be told, there was very little he could have done to stop any of the goals the Coyotes scored. Many of the stops he made were magnificent displays of skill as he entertained the crowd with glove saves in traffic and dives through the crease.

Paul Mara scored another power play goal for the Coyotes as they extended their lead to 4-1 in the third period.

The Blue Jackets stayed offensively dormant throughout the period as they squandered another 5 on 3 power play advantage.

The little life they were able to muster did not come until late in the period. Tyler Wright assisted Jaroslav Spacek on an even strength goal to provide the final score of 4-2 and the first victory of the season for the Phoenix Coyotes.