Columbus takes it to the Flyers 3-0 (12/27/08)
by Dave Weissman Columbus Wired (photos by Dave Weissman)

Rookie goaltender Steve Mason stopped all twenty shots he faced while the Columbus Jackets offense, which had not scored in the last two games, fired off 33 shots, got goals from Jan Hejda, Andrew Murray and Manny Malhotra and defeated the top rated Philadelphia Flyers 3-0.   

Philadelphia had never lost before to Columbus winning four games and tying three others.  There is also history in that Jackets head coach Ken Hitchcock was fired from Philly in 2004 and center R.J. Umberger played with them last season prior to signing a free-agent contract with Columbus over the summer.



 

Columbus, who got spanked by the L.A. Kings on Tuesday, came out flying on both sides of the ice. Malhotra was elevated to the first line along with Kristian Husalius and Rick Nash. Malhotra won 80% of his faceoffs (15 of 17).

“We came out right away. We had jump right away. We stuck to the game plan and checked them hard and buried our chances,” Columbus winger Jared Boll said.

Hejda scored his second goal of the season and got Columbus on the board early when his unassisted goal beat Flyer goaltender Antero Niittymaki. It was a cross up play when defenseman Ossi Vaananen tried to clear the puck which went to Hejda in the slot. He wasted no time in hitting the back of the net from 48 feet out.

Andrew Murray would add his fifth goal of the year at 18:08 in the 1st period. His tip in goal was assisted by Umberger and Kris Russell.

Malholtra added the final goal for Columbus at 7:39 in the second period. During play, he lost his stick, picked up one skating by the bench took the feed from Nash and slipped the 20 ft. wrister past Niittymaki to make it 3-0.

“Great job by both Kristian (Huselius) and Rick (Nash). First of all, Juice (Huselius) causing the turnover in the neutral zone and Rick throwing a great pass to lead me. All alone they did a great job to set it up,” Malhotra said.

Philiadelphia has not had any luck so far in the two games of their six-game, west coast road trip. They lost last night to the Blackhawks and did not get into Columbus until early this morning due to bad fog in Chicago.

Mason (10-7-1) was solid in goal shutting down one of the most prolific offenses in the league. His third shutout and his 1.87 goals against average has been a blessing for the Jackets as they try to make the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.

"If we get a lead on teams we're really difficult to play against and teams don't come back on us," Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock said. "The players feel like if we have a lead going into the third period, Mason will not get scored on. That's the confidence we have in him right now."

Philadelphia was clearly frustrated and took untimely penalties throughout the game, but head coach John Stevens would not allow that, nor the travel delays to become the story of the game.

"We can't make excuses right now," Stevens said. "We've got to regroup, we've got to tighten up, we've got to do the little things better. That includes staying out of the penalty box early in the game."

Columbus has enjoyed a 6-1 home record in the last seven games but now must travel on their second west coast swing of the season playing six games on the road starting with Los Angeles and ending with Washington with games in between against Anahiem, Colorado, St. Louis and Detroit.

They return home for a three game homestand starting January 10th.