Jackets Drop Second in a Row, 4-3 to Chicago
by Dave Seaman, Columbus Wired
Photos by Tom Theodore, Columbus Wired

The sights, smells and sounds of Columbus Blue Jackets hockey have reappeared in the Arena District this week with exhibition games wrapped around training camp.

While the games do not count, the experience the young players get is paramount in building a “championship caliber” hockey club.

On Tuesday, the Jackets dropped a 4-3 game to the Chicago Blackhawks in front of a few thousand fans at Nationwide Arena.

The game featured only Jackets regulars Rick Nash, Nikolai Zherdev, Sergei Fedorov and Jason Chimera on offense and Duvie Westcott and Ole-Kristian Tollefsen on the blue line.

Jakub Voracek, the Jacket’s top draft pick in June made his NHL debut in the loss. He had a pair of shots on goal in 14 shifts.

“I had a couple of chances, but I have to improve,” he said. “But, every game in the NHL is good experience for me and I have to learn from it.”

So did defenseman Kris Russell, who scored a power play goal in the first period. Russell, who is competing for a spot in the top-six defenseman, was the top scoring defenseman in the Western Hockey League last season for Medicine Hat. He had 22 power play goals last season.

“Just getting an opportunity to be on the special teams and get my hands going early, it was definitely exciting,” Russell said. “Playing with a guy like Duvie Westcott, he’s going to give you a lot of chances.”

Columbus also got goals from Chimera and Nash, while Fredrik Norrena gave up three goals on 14 shots in 40 minutes of play. Two of the goals were power play goals. Steve Mason gave up a power play goal on five shots in the third period.

While it was preseason for the players, the officials were in mid-season form calling penalty after penalty. The teams combined for 30 penalties (66 minutes), mainly for hooking and tripping.

“It was a typical preseason hockey game,” Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock said. “You get a lot of special team work and you’re never really in control of the hockey game.

Chimera scored his first of the preseason with a backhand shot in the slot at 6:44 of the first.

Russell extended the Jackets lead to 2-0 with a point blank slap shot from top of the slot with the team owning a two-man advantage at 14:43.

Chicago took advantage of a pair of two-man advantages of their own to tie the game at two in the second period. Tony Brouwer and Cameron Barker each scored.

Rene Bourque then put the Blackhawks up 3-2, scoring on an odd-man rush at 16:44.

In the third, Jonathan Toews added a goal to put the Hawks up 4-2 early in the third.

Nash scored on a six-on-three (goalie pulled) advantage with 3:28 remaining, but the Jackets could get not get any closer as time expired.

“It was a tough game, a lot of special teams,” Nash said. “There wasn’t much flow out there. It seemed like there was a whistle every 30 seconds. It was tough to get anything going, but we’ve got to take some of the positives.”

Both teams will look for those positives tonight when they meet again, this time in Chicago. Game time is 8 p.m. Columbus returns to Nationwide on Sunday for a contest against the Buffalo Sabres.