49th Time’s The Charm: Late Foote Equalizer Sets Up Shootout Victory
by Steve Sirk

Minnesota Wild goaltender Dwayne Roloson turned away the first 48 shots he faced on Friday night. Shot 49 was a killer.

Adam Foote continued his inexplicable run of clutch, late-game goal-scoring, beating Roloson with 42 seconds to play to force overtime in a 2-1 shootout victory for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Trevor Letowski scored the game-winning shootout goal in the 8th round.

The first two periods passed swiftly, which is a rarity for the penalty-plagued Jackets. Despite the free-flowing play and lack of penalties, the Jackets found themselves trailing 1-0 at the second intermission. Pierre-Marc Bouchard gave the Wild the lead at 5:15 of the second period, finishing a 2-on-1 by easily tapping in a give-and-go return pass from Randy Robitaille. Meanwhile, the Jackets peppered Roloson with 25 shots and had nothing to show for it.

“Minnesota, all they do is play five guys in front and make you take those outside shots,” said Foote. “That’s the way they’ve always played and they seem to get away with it. They get a few odd-man rushes and they capitalize. We just stayed positive and stuck to it.”

The third period saw the ice tilt heavily toward Roloson’s goal. The Jackets set a club record by firing 24 shots in the period. Nikolai Zherdev and David Vyborny, who combined for six shots and countless chances, did much of the damage. On a line with Manny Malhotra, the forwards routinely pinned the puck deep in the Minnesota end, controlling the puck and befuddling the Wild defenders with dazzling passes and slippery skating.

“They had the puck on a string,” said Foote.

Zherdev has taken a lot of heat in the early part of the season for lackadaisical and/or self-centered play, but in the third period, he became the rally personified. There was electricity in the building every time the puck found his stick. He was passing. He was back checking. He was slamming his stick on the ice in frustration with each Roloson save. The kid wanted it.

“He has showed us in the last two games and last two practices that he cares,” said Foote. “He’s starting to understand that sometimes you don’t have to do it on your own. It’s just that, sometimes, he has so much skill that he tries to beat too many guys. I think he’s really trying to show his teammates that he cares about winning.”

Another way of looking at it-- as soon as Zherdev stopped trying to do everything on his own, he was able to put the team on his back and carry them to victory. Ironic, eh?

“It was by far his best game of the season,” said Jackets coach Gerard Gallant.

The longer the Zherdev-Malhotra-Vyborny line stayed on the ice, the more apparent it became that a goal would be inevitable. It finally happened in the closing minute. Malhotra won the face-off to Zherdev, who dropped the puck to Bryan Berard. The defenseman’s slap shot from the point ricocheted off of a Minnesota defender, and the rebound fell to Foote between the circles. His shot beat Roloson to the stick side, and 59 minutes’ / 48 saves’ worth of frustration was washed away in the roar of the crowd.

“I was lucky,” said Foote. “The defenseman was concentrating on someone else, the puck fell to me, and I whacked at it. Luckily it went in.”

It was the second one-point goal in as many games for Foote. His overtime winner on Wednesday earned the Jackets a second point that night, and his equalizer guaranteed at least a point on Friday.

After a scoreless overtime, thanks in large part to an amazing desperation stick save from Jackets goaltender Martin Prusek, the game headed to a (lengthy) shootout. Poor Roloson-- after facing 53 shots, he was then subjected to eight breakaways in the tiebreaker.

Letowski netted the winner for Columbus.

“I’m a big fan of shootouts now,” he said with a chuckle. “I had goosebumps. To be out there by yourself, when all eyes are on you, is quite a feeling. It’s nice to shoot when you have a chance to win it.”

JACKETS NEXT HOME GAME IS NOV 9TH AGAINST ST. LOUIS