OT goal by Pronger lifts Ducks over Jackets
By Dave Seaman, Columbus Wired

Hockey fans in Columbus made one thing clear Monday night as the Blue Jackets hosted the Anaheim Ducks—they hate Chris Pronger.

Pronger, who got booed every time he touched the puck, got the last laugh by scoring the game-winning goal with 1:46 remaining in overtime to lift the defending Stanley Cup Champion Ducks to a 4-3 win over the Jackets in front of only 11,984 in Nationwide Arena.

The goal came on a deflection and was Pronger’s second effort on Jackets goaltender Pascal Leclaire. It capped off a night of bizarre goals and even more bizarre calls by the officials.

“There were some confusing calls,” Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock said. “I’d have to look at the replays to see if I can clarify them in my own mind.”

Anaheim got called for 12 penalties (27 minutes) and Columbus had nine penalties (21 minutes). Pronger’s game-winner came when Duvie Westcott was called for a hooking penalty late in the overtime.

The Ducks converted on three of six with the man advantage, while the Jackets were two for nine.

“We had our chances; we had a lot of power plays,” Jackets captain Adam Foote said. “We had some good kills … we battled really hard.”

Nikolai Zherdev and Rostislav Klesla each had a goal and an assist to lead the Jackets. For Zherdev, it was the fifth game in a row that he has scored, which ties Rick Nash for longest this season. Kris Beech also scored, while Michael Peca had two assists. Leclaire had 24 saves.

Not all was bad for the Jackets, who dominated the Ducks at even strength. Columbus was dealt with the misfortune of a bad bounce here and a missing stick there.

“We had a lot of good performances,” Hitchcock said. “We made some mistakes, but we had guys really compete at a really high level. It was really good to see.”

Corey Perry had two goals for the Ducks, while Samuel Pahlsson scored on a penalty shot. Pronger and Ryan Getzlaf each had two assists.

Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said the game came down to special teams.

“It was a special teams game and I think we won the battle of the specialty teams,” he said. “We scored three goals on the power play and a one penalty shot. So it was all special teams for group tonight.”

The Blue Jackets took a 1-0 lead at 13:36 of the first period on one of the more bizarre plays in the history of Nationwide Arena.

As Rick Nash and Rob Neidermayer were battling in the left corner, Klesla hit a slap shot from the blue line that went under the leg pad of Ducks’ goaltender Jean-Sebastian Giguere. Both Nash and Neidermayer got called for penalties as the puck crossed the goal line.

Anaheim tied the game at 6:49 of the second when Perry took a feed from Getzlaf and put it past Leclaire.

Beech tapped in a Zherdev shot less than a minute later to allow the Jackets to regain the lead at 2-1.

Perry retied the game on the power play at 13:40 with a wrist shot from the crease. The Ducks took a 3-2 lead with 1:16 remaining in the second on a penalty shot by Pahlsson.

“It’s bad luck I guess,” Leclaire said. “It’s frustrating the last two games, but it happens.”

Zherdev tied the game at three at 3:07 of the third on a rebound off a Peca shot on the power play.

Giguere stopped 32 shots for Anaheim, who was outshot 35-28.

The Jackets host Colorado for the second time in a week on Wednesday at 7 p.m.