Long Island express ticket home by Columbus victory
New forces brings Blue Jackets 2-1 win

By Giles Kennedy, Contributing Columnist

Mark Denis sick with the flu. Bring in Fred Braithwaite. Tyler Wright is out on injuries. Sign up former Dallas left winger Manny Malhotra. Let Rick Nash and Todd Marchant continue their work. What does this sound like? A great solution for a solid victory over the New York Islanders Saturday night 2-1.

Columbus fans needed a win, something to feel good about. With the college football loss up north, which shall remain nameless, had the Central Ohio faithful needing a win. Especially after shutting down Detroit Thursday 3-0.

It did not start with a calm skate by any means. Enter 2:41 in the first period. New York’s Eric Godard and Columbus’ Jody Shelley had a disagreement on who was the toughest man on ice. 5:00 in the box each and a gash to Godard’s brow proved in favor of the Jacket enforcer.

The first period remained scoreless for two simple reasons. Defense and good goaltending.

“I thought it was a solid game. Great back checking by (Andrew) Cassells, (David) Vyborny, Sandy (Geoff Sanderson), and (Manny) Malhotra,” said Columbus head coach Doug MacLean. “We had a solid performance from Freddy (Brathwaite). It was tough to get the puck thanks to (Rick) DiPietro (New York goalie).”

Who is Manny Malhotra?

The 23-year-old left winger was teammate with Todd Marchant on the Dallas Stars. Now again beside Todd, he looks at this as an opportunity.

Manny stated, “The big thing was getting into in the regular shift tonight and being part of getting into a rhythm,” Malhotra said. “Just being in the regular rotation. You feel a lot more into the game.”

After a lot of crunching into boards and power passing, the second period saw the first puck in goal. Courtesy of Brampton Rick and Halifax Trev.

It was 9:04 in the second. As the continued puck battling took place, Columbus’ Trevor Letowski slid a fade away puck to second year phemon Rick Nash. Smack and right between Rick DiPietro’s legs into the New York goal. 1-0 Columbus helps make flight plans for the Islanders.

Columbus was not done for a long shot. Through a pair of penalties for each team, the last seconds counted for the Jackets. Jaroslev Spacek and Geoff Sanderson assisted to Todd Marchant for the biscuit into the basket. 19:59.4 to be precise on time on goal closing out the second period. Think Mapquest could do better on planning? Nope. 2-0, Jackets hold the lead.








Into the third period, the battling got so bad. New York even pulled their goalies twice to tempt fate. Of course fate had nothing to do with it. Into the last forty seconds of the third, New York’s Mariusz Czerkawski and Michael Peca delivered a New York thin cut puck to Oleg Kvasha. Shot made and scored. Sealing the spoiler goal for a Columbus 2-1 victory. But we wanted a shutout!

Fred Brathwaite, Columbus goalie wanted one. “The shutout would have been nice,” he said grinning, “But I will take a win other than a tie any day.”

Columbus gets the win. They will face the Edmonton Oilers Tuesday. Edmonton will be warming up after their game against Montreal outside the arena. Try Commonwealth Stadium, home of their CFL Eskimos football team. 58, 000 fans to see them and I know everyone there could not be warm, not at all.