Jackets make a statement in win over Flames

Blue Jackets Hockey

Jackets make a statement in win over Flames (3/26/09)
by Dave Seaman, Columbus Wired

The Columbus Blue Jackets made a statement Thursday night as they continue to make a push for their first playoff appearance.

The Jackets dismantled the Northwest Division leading Calgary Flames 5-0 in front of 16,327 in Nationwide Arena. It was perhaps the best all-around game the Jackets have played in its eight-year existence.

“There wasn’t a part of the game we didn’t do well,” Jackets defenseman Mike Commodore said. “Our penalty killing was great; we scored a couple of goals on the power play, we played well defensively and (goalie Steve) Mason played great.”

Jason Williams scored both of the power-play goals and Rick Nash and Kristian Huselius each had four assists to lead the Jackets. Nash has 71 points on the season and only trails Ray Whitney for the single-season franchise points mark of 76 set in 2002-03.

“Huselius looked like he had (the puck) on a string tonight,” Williams said. “(He and Nash) moved the puck around and found each other and made plays out there. It makes it a lot easier for us to get open and shoot the puck.”

Rookie Steve Mason picked up his NHL leading 10th shutout of the season by stopping all 33 shots he faced. The 10 shutouts set a franchise record, breaking Pascal Leclaire’s mark of nine last season.

Manny Malhotra, R.J. Umberger and Raffi Torres also scored for Columbus, who now stands at a franchise-best 85 points. The Jackets are 7-1-1 in their last nine contests. The win also pulls the team to within two points of fifth-place Vancouver, who lost 4-2 in St. Louis.

The game was chippy from the start and the two teams combining for 124 penalty minutes, including 110 in the second where there were two fights, two game misconducts and four 10-minute misconducts.

It was also a potential first-round playoff match-up that both teams had in the back of their minds.

“(The game) shows what we have to do to beat a team like Calgary,” Nash said. “They’re obviously a great team. They didn’t play their best tonight, but I though we had a great game and we played our best.”

The Flames have been shut out in two straight games after defeating Detroit 5-3 on Monday. Pittsburgh shut out Calgary 2-0 Wednesday in Mellon Arena.

“(Columbus) played physical and they were very good with the puck,” Flames captain Jerome Iginla said. “(Huselius) was really feeling it and we didn’t make it hard enough on him. He created a lot and so did Nash. From our side, we didn’t create nearly enough.”

Malhotra scored his 11th of the season off a centering pass from Nash at 3:43 to give the Jackets an early 1-0 lead. Malhotra beat Flames goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff high on the stick side. Malhotra now has a career-best 32 points on the season.

Columbus broke a 0-for-14 streak of unsuccessful power play attempts when Williams’s slap shot from the slot trickled through the pads of Kiprusoff at 12:29. It was the Jackets’ first power-play goal since Mar. 13 in Chicago.

A key to the victory was the Jackets’ penalty kill, which stopped Calgary on a two-man advantage for one minute, 17 seconds at the end of the first period. The Flames were 0-for-5 with the man-advantage.

“Toward the end of a period, you don’t want to be letting a goal in,” Mason said. “That was a big kill for us moving forward for the rest of the game.”

Calgary coach Mike Keenan pulled Kiprusoff from the game after Torres beat him off a pass from Nash at 3:04 of the second.

Umberger scored 25th by defeating two Flames defenders and bouncing the puck off the blocker of Curtis McElhinney at 14:17 to put Columbus up 4-0.

Williams scored his second of the game off a behind-the-goal pass from Nash on the power play just over a minute into the third period. The Jackets ended the game two-for-five on the man-advantage and scored another four seconds after a power play ended.

“We loaded up the shots and it created spaces down below,” Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock said. On the two goals, we tired them out and that’s what good power plays do, they tire people out.”

Columbus plays a home-and-home series this weekend with St. Louis. The teams play Saturday at 8:30 p.m. in the Scottrsade Center and Sunday at 5 p.m. in Nationwide Arena.