Anything But Wild: Jackets Bounce Minnesota in OT, 2-1
By Steve Sirk

On the excitement scale, the Columbus Blue Jackets would be hard-pressed to top Thursday’s 6-4 loss to Nashville. The game had everything…an abundance of good goals, brutal fights, and swirling controversy. But there are more important things than excitement. Take winning, for instance. With that in mind, the Jackets toned down their game and grinded out a 2-1 overtime win against the Minnesota Wild in a contest that was largely dull, although it compensated with a fantastic finish, courtesy of Anders Eriksson’s golden goal.

After a string of lackluster starts, the Jackets came out firing to open the game. Just six minutes into the contest, the shots were 10-0 in favor of the home team. Despite dominating, Minnesota narrowly missed on two chances. On the first, Rick Nash gave the puck away leading to a shorthanded breakaway, but the NHL’s leading goalscorer hustled on the backcheck and dived to swat the puck away from Richard Park as we was winding up to shoot. Two minutes late, Filip Kuba clanged one off of the left post.

Undeterred, the Jackets pressed on and finally broke the ice with a David Vyborny power play goal at 10:24. It was a beauty. After a pass to Nash was broken up in the slot, the youngster hustled all the way out to the blue line to hold the puck in the zone. He then made a nifty, line-hugging, cross-ice pass to Jaroslav Spacek, who appeared as though he was going to fire on net. Instead, Spacek deftly “shot” well wide to the left, hitting Vyborny in stride as he came bursting up the left channel. Vyborny skillfully redirected the pass/shot with precision, putting the puck between the legs of defenseman Willie Mitchell, leaving goalie Dwayne Roloson with no chance.

The Jackets almost doubled their advantage in the final minutes of the period when Nash found himself one-on-one with Roloson. Nash went high to the stick side, but his shot clinked the innermost section of the near post, causing the puck to ricochet across the goalmouth, but not in.

The play capped a wonderful first period for Nash. Unfortunately, there would not be a second. Nash left the game with a deep foot contusion. With their scoring ace out of the game, the Jackets seemed to lose direction.

“We played a great first period and then fell back in the second period when Nasher got hurt,” said coach Gerard Gallant. “It was a big letdown for our hockey club.”

Defenseman Anders Eriksson agreed. “Losing Nasher was huge,” he said. “Heck, he’s got 34% of our goals!” (Actually, it’s 28%, but the point is equally valid.)

With Nash gone, the second period was a snoozer. Columbus mustered two shots on frame, and although Minnesota registered eleven shots, they were not of the dangerous variety. Columbus was content to sit back and keep Minnesota away from the goal. The Wild had some perimeter shots, but little traffic for rebounds.
“I think we played a bit of a grinder style tonight,” said captain Luke Richardson. “I don’t think we were trapping on purpose, but I think we pulled back and just tried to keep them on the outside.”

Columbus’ offense had definitely stalled without Nash, but this was also due in large part to the fact that the Jackets were forced to kill off five straight penalties late in the second and early in the third. After getting torched for three power play goals by Nashville, the penalty kill was revved up and ready for the challenge, killing all five chances.

“We hung on and dug deep and killed off five straight penalties,” said Richardson. “Tonight, I think we did a good of jumping in and not letting them get set, and then dumping our clearances all 200 feet.”

After the second period, the Jackets also lost defenseman Duvie Westcott to a hand injury, forcing Gallant to shorten the bench in the third period. The Jackets continued to battle, and goalie Marc Denis made the big saves when called upon. With 3:34 to play, Denis made three acrobatic saves in rapid succession on a flurry in front of the net. The shutout was within reach.

Or not. Just 22 seconds later, the Wild tied the game on a goal by Sergei Zholtok. Andrew Brunette was working behind the net, and as he popped out to wrap the puck around, he instead played the puck to Zholtok in the slot. Zholtok shoved a low shot through several bodies to light the lamp.

“I didn’t see it,” said Denis. “There was a bit of a scrum behind the net, and Zholtok came circling around while Dowd was in the crease. He wasn’t interfering with me, but Dowd was in the crease, tangled up with Lachance. So there was a lot of traffic. Zholtok shot it low to the wide side and I couldn’t see it.”

And just like that, it looked like another result squandered away. Overtime got off to an auspicious start, as Minnesota dominated possession, holding the puck in the Columbus end for what seemed like an eternity. The Jackets finally cleared, and not only that, they went down and won the game.

Spacek played the puck to Malhotra, who carried into the zone. He laid the puck to Eriksson at the right point. Eriksson unleashed a shot that bounced off of defenseman Bobby Chouinard and redirected past a helpless Roloson. Nationwide Arena trembled.

“Turk (Gallant) really emphasizes getting the puck to the net,” said the game’s first star. “Not necessarily a slapshot, but finding a seam and putting it on net, so we can go for the rebounds. On my shot before that one, Turk asked me if I had a seam, and I said no. But that time Manny made a great pass and I had a seam. It hit their player in the shin and went in. It looked good, didn’t it?”

The bounce gave a happy ending to a dreary game, and, according to Denis, it was fitting given the circumstances.

“Losing the league’s leading goal scorer is never fun,” he said. “Luckily for us, it was a defense-first type of game. In these types of games, you expect the goals to come from unexpected sources. Tonight it came off the stick of Bubba Eriksson, who’s not exactly the most prolific goalscorer, but we got the bounce and it got by the goalie. We’ll take it.”

And although it was nowhere near as exciting as the Nashville game, it was definitely more rewarding.

“I don’t care if it is not as entertaining for the fans, or if there aren’t a ton of pucks behind the other team’s goalie,” said Denis. “It’s two points. Thursday night we score four and have nothing to show for it, and tonight we get two, including a fluky one, and we win. That’s the important thing to me.”


Three Stars

Anders “Bubba” Eriksson (CBJ): Scored the game-winning goal, and then held court in the locker room afterward. When asked about the strain of losing both Nash and Westcott, Eriksson scoffed. “Who are they?” he joked, before breaking out into raucous laughter. Low-scoring defensemen seem to relish their rare time in the limelight. (As an aside, I am willing to bet $10 that Eriksson is the only “Bubba” on earth whose real name is Anders. Joe-Bob? Yes. Billy-Joe? Yes. Anders? Highly unlikely.)

Marc Denis (CBJ): Once again came tantalizingly close to a shutout. It’s been a theme throughout his time in Columbus. Denis isn’t bothered by it. “Whether they score on the first shot or the last shot, it doesn’t matter,” he said. “It still counts as one past you.” Denis, however, was open to the idea of the NHL awarding half-shutouts. “The NFL awards half-sacks,” he quipped.

Dwayne Roloson (MIN): Matched Denis to the point that it looked like he wouldn’t be beaten again. It took a lucky bounce to do the trick. “Rolly was really good on them,” said Wild coach Jacques Lemaire.