COLUMBUS - The Blue Jackets went into tonight’s game 2-1-0-0 in its
first three preseason games. What once held hope of a preseason
victory against the defending Stanley Cup Champions quickly turned
into a tale of lost momentum and missed chances.
The much ballyhooed debut of Curtis “Cujo” Joseph as the Red Wings’
new No. 1 proved little, as Columbus was only able to amass 3 shots
on goal during the first period. Cujo’s departure during the second
period in favor of a cold Joey MacDonald turned out to be one of the
few bright spots for the Bluejackets.
Momentum, Anyone?
It goes without saying that this is not the team that will be taking
the ice once the season starts. However, this was not a team that
was playing as if they had anything to prove to themselves, their
teammates or the fans. Passes to no one, passes to the other team,
failure to position and failure to defend with any consistency were
but a few of the problems in last night’s game.
These problems will need to be addressed with the final roster if
the Blue Jackets are expected to improve over last season’s
performance.
Lost Chances
“Lucky
Number Seven!” is a phrase one might expect to hear in a casino.
Rarely is it heard when speaking of Power Plays – as in, “this has
got to be lucky number seven!” The Bluejackets found themselves with
8, yes 8, power plays. A mere 12.5% power play conversion rate. It
was only on the seventh power play (while Red Wing Kuznetsov was
serving 2 minutes for holding) that the Blue Jackets were able to
take advantage of the power play. See lack of momentum for
“root causes.”
But the Good News
New acquisition Andrew Cassels (acquired from Vancouver) scored his
first goal as a Blue Jacket. The sole Blue Jacket goal scored during
the power play was assisted by Duvie Westcott and Lasse Pirjeta.
This was a rare moment of momentum and play that should offer a hint
into the mettle that this team is really made of.
Oh, yeah…
Red Wings goals were scored by Datsyuk (assisted by Hull and
Dandenault), Williams (assisted by Fischer and Draper) and Brown
(assisted by McCarty and Williams). Attendance at Nationwide arena
at last night’s game was 15,734.
Photo gallery. Please click on the
picture for a larger view.
