Jackets Lose To Buffalo In Pre-Season Shootout
by Dave Seaman, Columbus Wired
Photos by Tom Theodore and Revonda Gentry, Columbus Wired

Columbus Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock got exactly what he wanted Sunday night—a competitive game with the Buffalo Sabres.

The Sabres dressed 12-13 pros and rallied twice to defeat the Blue Jackets 3-2 in a shootout at Nationwide Arena.

Hitchcock also continued the evaluation process of the younger players, such as Derick Brassard and Kris Russell, on the roster and liked what he saw.

“I thought today was a test were you saw a hard-checking team, so there was little or no room on the ice,” Hitchcock said. “Today was a really good evaluation. The younger guys are finding their level and the (Kris) Beech’s and Brassard’s are showing well, too.”

In regulation, Derek MacKenzie and Sergei Fedorov scored for the Jackets. Pascal Leclaire played all 65 minutes and the shootout, stopping 30 of 32 shots he faced.

In the shootout, Leclaire gave up goals to Maxim Afinogenov and Ales Kotalik on the first two shots he faced. Other than the result of the shootout, he was positive after the game.

“I felt really good,” Leclaire said. “I had control of my game and obviously I’m going to get better.”

MacKenzie, who signed with the team in the offseason, gave Columbus an early lead when he split two defenders at the blue line and hit a forehand shot through the legs of Buffalo goaltender Ryan Miller at 2:48.

The Sabres evened the score with a power play goal by Kotalik at 5:13 of the second period.

Fedorov scored on a wrist shot that went top shelf at 2:59 of the third to give the Jackets a 2-1 lead on the power play.

The game turned when Columbus failed to convert on a five-on-three midway through the period. That gave the Sabres all the confidence they needed to score the equalizer and win the game in the shootout.

“Their big guys didn’t even enter the building until the second half of the second period, maybe the second half of the third,” Jackets winger Jody Shelley said. “And then we got away from out game a bit.”

Jason Pominville tied the game at two with a rebound off an Afinogenov shot at 15:04.

Buffalo outshot Columbus 32-25. Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller stopped 23 shots and blanked Adam Pineault and Fedorov in the shootout.

The team gets Monday off and will have light workouts and team-building activities on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Hitchcock said the next round of cuts will come Monday, but the team will have to keep more on than they would like because of injuries to veterans Adam Foote, Michael Peca and Fredrik Modin. He plans on keeping six forward lines and 10 defenseman through the next week.

In other injury news, David Vyborny is skating with the team and Dan Fritsche and Fredrik Norrena should return to the ice mid-week.

The team’s next preseason game is Thursday at Nationwide Arena against Carolina at 7 p.m