Sedin Scores in 7th Period, Or Why I'm Mad at Versus

I tuned in to the Stars-Canucks game last night at the beginning of the third, which was just before midnight in the eastern time zone. It was a fun, quick scoring game and the Stars tied it up at 4 midway through the third. Little did I know that I was in for an all-nighter.

The game proceeded to overtime. The sudden death play continued through three overtimes, stopping between each for an intermission. I stayed with it, even though it was soon 3 am. I was invested, and I wanted to see the goal that broke the deadlock. But then came heartbreak. Versus went to commercial between the third and fourth periods and never came back. Instead, viewers were subjected to a fitness infomercial starring Patrick Duffy. I didn't find out til this morning that the Sedins broke the tie with less than two minutes left in the 4th overtime.

Damn you Versus!! Damn you!!!

Two Games Left with Nowhere to Go

We're down to two. After being dealt yet another shut out last night at the hands of the Red Wings, the Jackets have just two games left to put this season out of its misery.

Both remaining games are at home in Nationwide Arena, and both are against playoff teams. Dallas (Thursday) has clinched a spot and sits as the six-seed and Anaheim (Saturday)  is in second place in the Western Conference. The playoff seed positions are all pretty tight and a key win or two in this last week of the regular season could mean a home/away change or a different opponent in the opening round. Anaheim and Dallas will both be at their best these last games, making sure their squads are ready to enter Lord Stanley's Tournament.

Columbus players have probably already set up their tee-times for next week (pending weather, of course) and should be out taking advantage of early season golf club sales. Those not heading out to the links probably have plane tickets to the Czech Republic, Finland, or the Bahamas. As the commercial goes, maybe the Blue Jackets are due for a 'Bahamavention'.

In other news, there was a strange coaching change this week. New Jersey Devil's Coach Claude Julien was fired. Not that notale, until you recognize the fact that the Devils are in second place in the Eastern Conference. It's a whole different hockey game when you can fire coaches that have already made the playoffs. Here in Columbus, you have to keep your team below .500 for years to get the boot. Devils GM Lou Lamoriello will be behind the bench as they cruise into the post-season. I'll have a good laugh if they don't get past the first round.

Jackets Win 2 Road Games in a Row: Gretzky Throws Clipboard

If you're like many CBJ fans, knowing the team is out of the playoff picture is pretty discouraging to tuning in for the games. However, if you took that attitude this past weekend, you missed out.

The Jackets went on a two game stomp of the south, beating the Stars 3-2 in a shutout, then topping Phoenix 4-3. The shootout victory, a rare occurance for the Jackets came just days (or hours?) after this article in the Dispatch described Hitch's new practice of holding shootout try-outs for the team in an effort to always have the best, hottest shooters leading the overtime charge- not the go-to shooters of Nash, Vyborny, and Zherdev. I never found any follow-up of this tryout system, but let's just say that it was Chimera who fired the winning shoot-out goal to topple the Stars on Friday.

Saturday's game in Phoenix was a fantastic display of skill by the entire CBJ roster. Brian Boucher had his first start for Columbus, despite not yet having proper CBJ goalie gear. He had a few troubles staying in position and gave up far too many rebounds, but the Jackets prevailed.

Perhaps one of the more noteworthy moments from this game occurred just seconds from the final horn. With approximately three seconds left to play, the teams went to a face-off in the neutral zone. Phoenix Coyotes Head Coach Wayne Gretzky disagreed with the call and believed the face-off should have been held in Columbus ice, thereby giving the Coyotes a last second attempt at a 6 on 5 play, and a potential game-tying goal. Gretzky through a fit, yelling some choice four letter words at the refs and throwing his clipboard. He caused such a scene that there was serious potential for him to be called on a delay of game penalty. The penalty was not issued, however, and the Jackets easily held on to win the game.

Rumblings from the Cellar

Last night, another team record was broken, 4 straight road wins. Now if we played all of those games in St. Louis, Chicago, and Phoenix, sure, no problem. The things is that three of these games were against formitable opponents, and games that the Jackets owned the other teams: Colorado (3-0), Edmonton (4-0), Dallas (3-1), and don't forget that home win last Saturday against Ottawa (6-2). These are tried and true powerhouse franchises, and the Blue Jackets are putting them to shame.

The three top lines are not only all getting scoring chances, they're scoring goals. Since the first of the month, they've outscored their opponents 22-6. Fritsche has 5 points in his last four games, Nash scored 2 in the Ottawa game, Vyborny had a nifty goal in the Dallas game last night after Turco mishandled a pass. Chimera capped the Dallas game with the afterburners, as he stormed through the D for a mini-breakaway. Other mentions go out to Anson Carter, who's recking up the helpers, and Fredrick Norrena, who has played some outstanding hockey. (You'll see his name at number four on the save % leaderboard, and number 3 on the GAA leaderboard)

Looking ahead, the Jackets play in Phoenix tomorrow, and are back home saturday to play the Blackhawks. If they stay hot, the Jackets can improve to 28 points and continue the climb from the cellar of the conference. As Tyler's last post states that Hitch dropped the "p word," Lets take a look at the numbers:

Based on last year: 95 pts needed
Currently 28 pts, 53 games left, 67 points 33.5 wins needed (.632)

Based on Calgary's pace at #8 in the west:
need (.536): 29.4 wins

These aren't the worst numbers to achieve, but I'm not counting on anything yet, there are still 50 games left and anything can happen.

Columbus Blue Jackets 3, Dallas Stars 1

Record: 11-16-2
Box Score

Hitch used the 'P word'

He said it first, not me.

According to a Dispatch article, Hitchcock used the 'P word' following Sunday's game against Ottawa. As much of as a believer as I want to be, I'm not sure I'm there yet. Let's finish off December, then regroup. Then there's the all-star break, then we'll talk.

The CBJ machine is in Dallas for tonight's game against the Stars. Leclaire is at home, hopefully only missing a week's worth of games. His lower body injury turned out to be a mere sprain. In his words: "I’ve been told not to put any weight on it. I’ll spend a few days watching movies and playing video games. And I’ll try to be back as soon as possible." Good news for the young netminder, who will hopefully be back in action next weekend.

Foote's injury is considered to be day-to-day, so he'll be out tonight and hopefully back in time for Phoenix on Thursday. We'll have to wait and see on that one. Don't forget, Duvie Westcott is still out with a finger injury and Brian Berard has still yet to play a single game this season. Those two are amongst our best on the blue line, though there will no doubt be some competition for starting positions when they get back.

In other injury news, Modano and Ott won't be playing tonight in Dallas. Modano has a hip/groin issue and Ott broke his leg. Well, that's two less Dallas staples the jackets have to defend against.

And one more tidbit of NHL news. The St. Louis Blues fired their coach yesterday, replacing him with none other than Blue Jackets candidate Andy Murray. I'm glad we got first dibs.

Jackets faithful, this will likely be my last post for a few days as I'll be out of town until Sunday. I'll be keeping tabs, as no doubt you will, on the team. Go Jackets!