JACKETS EARN 4-2 VICTORY OVER STANLEY CUP CHAMPS
by Dave Seaman, Columbus Wired

If the old cliché is true, the Columbus Blue Jackets are going to do good things this season.

The cliché of beating the man to be the man that is. The Jackets defeated the defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 in front of an announced 13,297 at Nationwide Arena Sunday evening.

“They had a great line-up out there tonight, but so did we,” said Alexandre Picard, who had two assists in the game. “It’s great to see that we can compete with teams like that.”

Rick Nash scored two goals (including an empty netter), while Dan Fritsche and Geoff Platt scored for the Jackets, who ended a three-game losing streak. It was also the fourth game the team played in four nights, including trips to Chicago and Memphis in between home games.

Pascal Leclaire played his first full game of the preseason and stopped 27 of 29 shots he faced.

“You’re always worried the first game, but the guys played well and I’m pretty happy with the win,” Leclaire said. “Now I can focus a little bit more on winning and not thinking too much.”

Leclaire has taken to heart the fact that he will be the Jackets’ top goaltender this season after the team traded Marc Denis in the off-season to Tampa Bay. It’s a move the organization made to give its first ever top draft pick the chance he deserves to make it between the pipes.

“Pascal has been tremendous for us,” Fritsche said. “He has had an amazing training camp and deserves every chance he gets.”

Justin Williams and Rod Brind’Amour scored for the Hurricanes.

Carolina took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Justin Williams at 5:11 in the first period.

Fritsche tied the game at 2:27 of the third period off a won faceoff by Picard. Nash put Columbus up 2-1 just over two minutes later on a break-a-way.

“Dan has had a great training camp,” Jackets coach Gerard Gallant said. “He showed (what he was capable of) last year in the American (Hockey) League and then when he came up with us and played solid.”

Brind’Amour tied the game with a power play goal at 9:03. Platt took a feed from Picard 54 seconds later and put it past John Grahame for the go-ahead goal.

Nash scored on a break-a-way with 16.5 seconds remaining into an empty net to cap off the scoring.

Grahame had 26 saves. Both teams had 29 shots on goal.

The two teams will return to the ice against each other Friday in Carolina. It will be the Jackets final tune-up before the regular season opener Oct. 6 against Vancouver. The team will have its first off day on Monday before returning to the ice on Tuesday.

“We’re going to cut down to somewhere around 26 by Tuesday and then we’ll go from there,” Gallant said. “Then we’ll work on getting the team ready for the season —power play, penalty kill, your systems and getting the lines together.”