Hockey Holiday in Columbus
By Dave Weissman, Columbus Wired

Aaron Johnson and Anson Carter scored first period goals and Rick Nash added another to lead the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks in the last home game before Christmas. 15,681 fans at Nationwide were treated to hockey holiday in Columbus with the best gift of all, the 100th home victory for the franchise.

The first two gifts were handed to Columbus. At 6:36 of the 1st period Anson Carter (13 pts in 13 games) curled around the far corner and passed back to Aaron Johnson who blasted a 61 ft. shot past Vancouver goalie Roberto Luongo. It was Johnson’s first goal of the season. Jackets are 10-1-2 when scoring first.

“It’s been a while,” said Johnson. “It’s funny to finally get that big goal. I was kind of snake-bitten there for a bit.”

Then it was Carter playing Santa Clause. Defenseman Ron Hainsey let the shot go at the top of the circle. Alexander Svitov deflected the initial shot which Luongo stopped. Carter would be in the right position to put away the bouncing puck to put the Jackets up 2-0.

"We had a great effort tonight and showed a lot of poise and composure," said Carter of the win. “Tonight we were ready to battle.”

The referees gave the Canucks five power play chances and they made it count early in the second period. Kevin Bieksa shot a howitzer past Fredrik Norrena to close the score 2-1. Norrena was called in to goal after starting goaltender Pascal Leclaire re-injured himself just two minutes into the period. Early report is that it is on the same leg, but a different injury. Columbus managed only 4 shots on goal in the period with the first one coming midway through the period.

Columbus was able to hold off a flurry of shots by Vancouver in the third period to earn a franchise high 100th victory of the season, while the Canucks extended their losing streak to three. Vancouver last played Thursday night to a 2-0 loss at Boston. Outshot them 39-19 in the game, but could not get one past the Boston goaltender.

“There was a lack of discipline," Vancouver head coach Alain Vigneault said. "They had five power play opportunities in the first period. Obviously we didn't help ourselves."

“There was a lack of discipline,” Vancouver head coach Alain Vigneault said. “They had five power play opportunities in the first period. I have never seen teams get called three times in a game for too many men. Obviously we didn’t help ourselves.”

Vancouver scored in the third period to make the score 3-2 on a goal by Daniel Sedin at 18:45, but not enough time left to pull out a tie or victory as they did against Columbus in the season home opener in October.

“We tried to battle back in the second, but it is hard to come back in this league,” said Vignault. “It is one thing to say that you want to be in the playoffs, but we need to step it up.”

Rick Nash would add the final goal for Columbus. Hainsey once again got things started off in the defensive zone. He flipped up the wall to Fedorov who spotted Nash flying up the ice along with defenseman Duvie Westcott. Fedorov passed the puck to Nash going toward the net in a 2-on-1. Nash took the shot for his 13th goal of the season and sending the fans home happy for the holiday gift.

“There was a lot of ebb and flow to this game,” said Jackets head coach Ken Hitchcock. “I told the players at the start that Vancouver is a real physical club. You have to earn it and there’s a lot of board battles and they’re very physical. There’s a real price to pay to beat the Vancouver Canucks.”