Jackets fail to capitalize on opportunity and fall to Caps
By Greg Dew,  Columbus Wired (11/05/02)

It is November in Columbus, a dreary time of year. A chill returns to the air, clouds dominate the skies and even so called morning people have trouble getting out of bed when the sun rises.

Could this phenomenon be affecting the Blue Jackets as they leave their cozy locker rooms prior to the first period?

On Friday November 1st, the Blue Jackets and Marc Denis withstood an early barrage of 23 shots against the Dallas Stars yet managed to leave the ice up 1-0 after the first on the way to a 4-2 victory.

Then on Sunday they were out shot 16-4 by the Buffalo Sabres in the first period and fell behind 2-0.  In a stirring remainder of the game they were able to claw back and win
3-2.

Which brings us to last night’s 4-3 heart-breaking loss to the Washington Capitals.

The Jackets gave up 15 shots on goal although Denis really was under siege more than the numbers show. Once again they fell behind 2-0 although this time they were able to gather themselves a bit before the end of the period when Geoff Sanderson whacked home a power play goal to cut the lead in half with less than two minutes to go in the period.

“We’re going to have to not get behind the 8 ball early in the games the way we’ve been doing,” said Denis.

For the second straight game, however, the challenge didn’t seem to discourage the Blue Jackets, at least not at first.

Buoyed by Sanderson’s goal, the Jackets came out in the second period as if their morning coffee had just taken affect. Denis was forced to make only 1 difficult, yet
brilliant save for the period. The Capitals power play was rendered ineffective while the Jackets power play roared to life. Tyler Wright and Ray Whitney each scored power play goals in the period to give Columbus a 3-2 lead to end the 2nd.

“We’re showing our resiliency here,” said head coach Dave King. “We’re showing the ability to come from behind and get back into a game.”

Funny though, entering the game tied for 5th in the league in power play efficiency at 20.6 percent and in a game when the Jackets improved on that percentage by going 3 for 7, it was the failure of the power play unit that hurt the most.

The Blue Jackets allowed their first short-handed goal of the season on the Capitals second goal of the night. Then, entering the overtime period Columbus had a 4 on 3 man advantage and failed to connect.

“Certainly a few lost opportunities early in the overtime period with the 4 on 3 power play,” said Denis.

Still, even after allowing Washington to tie the game at 3 seconds into the 3rd and after failing to convert on the 4 on 3 advantage, it seemed the Jackets would send the fans home content with a tie against an offensively talented Washington team. Peter Bondra had other ideas. With 3.3 seconds
to go in overtime he added his second goal of the game to give the Capitals the 4-3 win.

“When you lose it does take a little bit off a good effort,” said King.

“It takes a lot to get back two goals,” added Sanderson. “By the time we got them back, we just ran out of it a little bit.”