St. Louis Sullies Fedorov’s Debut
By Steve Sirk

The only way the Columbus Blue Jackets could have had a more eventful 24 hours would be if Jack Bauer ran the team. Since Tuesday afternoon, Columbus traded a local icon for a first-ballot Hockey Hall-of-Famer, placed one of their prized pre-lockout free agents on waivers, and then out-shot the St. Louis Blues (and their 11-game losing streak) by a margin of 36-16. 
And they lost 2-0.

Sorry, Jack. Disaster not averted.

“It’s the same story,” said Jackets’ coach Gerard Gallant. “It was a disappointing loss, but we played a pretty good hockey game.”

Sergei Fedorov’s Columbus debut had the all the makings of victory. The Jackets limited the Blues to ten unmemorable shots through two periods. At the other end, the offense routinely pinned the puck in the St. Louis zone.

The Jackets had their chances. In the second, Fedorov hit the post, and Trevor Letowski and Jason Chimera each missed golden opportunities on the rush. In the third, Chimera had a breakaway, Letowski nearly had a bad-angle goal, Zherdev was robbed on a snapper from the right circle and a goal was waved off because the whistle blew during a goalmouth pile-up.

The game was one shot, one bounce away from being over.

And then it was. With 7:47 to play, the puck squirted free on the left wall just inside the Jackets’ zone. Blues winger Lee Stempniak pounced on the loose puck and had a quick 2-on-1 in transition. As Jackets defenseman Duvie Wescott threw himself to the ice to blow it up, Stempniak waltzed around him, lured goaltender Marc Denis off his line, and then easily tucked the puck into the net with his forehand.

“It was a tough goal to give up with seven minutes left in the hockey game,” said Gallant.

With the stunned Jackets forced to throw everything forward to salvage a game they had owned, the Blues poached an insurance tally. Stempniak had another 2-on-1, this time with Scott Young. Luke Richardson deflected Stempniak’s pass, causing the puck to drift into an awkward space in front of the net. Denis chose to poke at the puck, but Young beat him by a half-second and nudged the puck into the net with 3:17 remaining on the clock.

The team that had three or four chances all game took a 2-0 lead.

Denis was mystified afterward. “When you get a defensive effort like we had tonight, and you keep it a low-scoring game, you’d like to think that your chances are that much better to win,” he said. “It seems like every little mistake or every little turnover ends up under the microscope and in the back of our net. Really, in the new NHL, where scoring is up 40%, one goal should never come under the microscope at this point at the season.”

“We played so well in the first two periods, but we just can’t seem to get anything going,” said Richardson. “Our power play created chances and we got some rushes, but we hit a post and never seemed to get any second chance opportunities. Somehow we need to find a way to chip in a few goals when we’re playing well. Playing well isn’t good enough. We need to score goals.”

It was an unpleasant end to a somewhat unpleasant day. While everyone was excited to have Fedorov on board, the locker room was devoid of three friends. Tyler Wright, the class clown and heart and soul of the team, was shipped to Anaheim in the Fedorov deal, along with Francois Beauchamin. Then Todd Marchant had his notorious “shackles” cut, as he was placed on waivers.

It was a heavy day for the guys in the locker room.

“Their good friends are getting traded and leaving the city, so it’s pretty tough,” said Gallant. “But once they got on the ice, they played well.”

“Once they drop the puck, we’re ready to go,” said Richardson. “We showed that tonight. You have to be a professional on the ice. It can be a distraction in the dressing room and answering questions from the media, but the media isn’t on the bench. It’s just a twenty-man unit.”

And now one of those twenty men is inarguably the greatest Russian player in NHL history. Time will tell if Fedorov can provide the spark, but the early returns are promising. After gamely sucking it up and racing cross-country to join his new team on less than two hours’ sleep, Fedorov said he hasn’t had time to think.

“I am going straight to bed,” he said.

After such a maddening loss, it will probably best to assume that it was just a bad dream.