Jackets 1-1 Weekend, Leclaire's Streakiness and Big Games Upcoming

A one up, one down weekend for the home team. The Jackets marched into Buffalo on Friday and brought home a satisfying win that will tack on another 60 minutes of shutout hockey for Pascal Leclaire. Sunday's affair wasn't quite as successful, however. The Jackets were knocked down by perennial Jackets killer, Marcus Naslund and his Vancouver crew.

Same old Leclaire, or is it a new Pascal?

It's easy to suggest that it's a new day for Pascal Leclaire, as he already has three shutouts on this young season. In those games (vs. Phoenix, Anaheim and Buffalo) he played to the caliber that he has always been said to be capable of. But in the other two games he has started (vs. Colorado and Vancouver) He gave up five and four goals, respectively. In many ways, this is the same streaky #31 we've been watching for years.
Leclaire has been known to have had a lot of mediocre performances interlaced with flashes of brilliance. Over time, the flashes have become more common, but the mediocrity still lingers, waiting for an early goal or two to open the flood gates. If Leclaire and his defense could get a stronger grip on consistency, the chances of pulling off a win would increase dramatically.

To be fair, it may not be just Leclaire to fault for some of the losses. This team has always had a tough time playing from behind. It's as if giving up a goal or two early just breaks their heart and kills their morale. Sometimes, there's just no coming back. The Jackets are 3-3-1 thus far- a record for which I am pleased. However, their 3 wins are all Leclaire's shutouts. That means the team is 0-3-1 when the other team scores at all.

Upcoming Action

The Jackets open up division play in Chicago tomorrow night. Eleven of the next sixteen games (through most of November) are division opponents, including six games against the Blackhawks and Blues, whom the Jackets should have the mettle to beat. With this many critical games coming up, the Jackets could very well make or break their season by Thanksgiving.

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!!!

News About Jason Williams that Does Not Result in a Dead Limo Driver

No sooner had I completed my first post as an author on the Jacket Times, did the NHL's Norris Division continue to sell off their pieces to contenders. The Chicago Blackhawks (no offense, but this is my favorite NHL team, nothing against the Blue Jackets, Ive followed them since their inception into the league but I grew up in Chicago and love Steve Larmer) traded center Bryan Smolinski to Vancouver in exchange for a conditional second round pick (either 07 or 08). Maybe this team does have a plan, as they continue to try an establish a monopoly on the NHL entry draft's second round. While I applaud this move by the Hawks (Smolinski has underachieved this years scoring 14 goals and adding 23 assists for 37 points with 29 penalty minutes and a +10 rating, mostly thanks to Martin Havlat), this move comes with no surprise as GM Dale Talon probably would not bring back Smolinski who is a free agent at season's end. What I don't understand is why Atlanta wouldn't trade for Smolinski, who would fit in perfectly to be that tweener first to second line center that they need (The Thrashers also need goal tending, but another blog for another day).

The Hawks remained busy on Monday by re-acquiring Kyle Calder from Philly, who continues to drop faster than Chris Leak's Wonderlich score (an 8?!). They then turn Calder around and ship him to divisional foe Detroit for young Winger Jason Williams. On receiving the news that he was becoming a Blackhawk, Williams said that he was excited for finally getting a chance to play for an Original 6 team.

Ok, so he isn't the brightest guy on our team, but at least he didn't shoot anybody or refer to himself as "white chocolate". GOOD TIMES!

"J-Hi" and Ben Affleck are pregnant with Luongo's baby?

Courtesy of Deadspin comes this YouTube clip from a hockey game involving the Canucks. Not sure who else is playing, but that doesn't really matter. The scene takes place up along the glass where a 'fan' is notifying Luongo that she's 'with child'. Probably not though, but it makes for a funny scene.

Listen to the announcer talk about the scene... made me laugh pretty good.
Ben AFFLAAAACK!!!

The Rory Fitzpatrick Conspiracy

If you're not an avid blogger or internet news reader, you may have missed the whole Rory Fitzpatrick story. Rory is a veteran defenseman for the Vancouver Canucks. Despite ten seasons with the NHL, he has only netted nine total goals and only one assist this season. While on paper he isn't much, he's a fan favorite in the league. I would make comparisons to Jody Shelley. A hard worker, but not one to produce results that affect the team's season.

A hockey fan from New York took this season's All-Star voting as an opportunity to recognize Rory by starting a grass-roots campaign to get him into the All-Star game. The campaign was strong and Rory received thousands of votes from all over the country from fans that admired his veteran status and grinding style of play. After all, being an All-Star is about more than what's on paper, right? Rory's vote totals reached the hundreds of thousands. Before long, making the All-Star team wasn't even a question. In fact, there was a good chance that he would start.

It wasn't long before Rory's magic was found out. A computer programmer from Vancouver had found a way to vote for Fitzpatrick automatically. He developed an add-on for Firefox that would automatically fill in the All-Star ballot, including the scrambled picture code, and vote over and over again. All Rory fans had to do was start up their browser to cast their vote thousands of times. This Slate article explains the entire situation, including how the Firefox mod worked.

Needless to say, the NHL figured it all out before long and insisted on rectifying the situation. Whatever the vote totals were, officials and hockey pundits alike didn't think Rory deserved the accolade. As the Slate article explains, officials didn't find a strategic way of finding where all of Rory's automated votes originated. Instead, they simply discredited 100,000 votes. Unbelievable.

While it's entirely true that many, if not most, of the Rory votes came through automated means, the NHL shouldn't prevent a fan voted player from receiving his votes. If they were so dead-set against fraud, they should have done a better job with site security, or simply restricted the number of votes per person to a finite number (Voting was unlimited). In the end, no one gets hurt, and a ten year veteran of the league gets a chance to represent his team, his city, and a slough of fans that care about more than numbers.

While writer can debate the legitimacy of the campaign, the NHL needs to realize that the Vote-for-Rory campaign is a blessing to the league. In many places, media articles brought attention to the upcoming All-Star game and drew in fans that normally would have tuned into American Idol or whatever drivel is on during the same time slot. Fans are fascinated by the Rory campaign, not turned-off by it. After all, it's one player on a roster of dozens.

According to this article from NHL.com, Rory obtained 480,000 votes. That's good enough for 4th best overall, and is surely a record for a write-in candidate. I support the Rory movement. Next year we'll get Shelley to the game!

Blue Jackets host Canucks Tonight at 7

Tonight the Jackets are home at Nationwide Arena to host the Vancouver Canucks. It will be the third time the two teams have faced off this season. Both games have gone to the Canucks, and they were won by only a goal a piece.

BlueJackets.com reports that Ty Conklin is on his way back to Syracuse, as Leclaire has returned from his injury and should be ready to start tonight. If Pazzy can get on the ice tonight, it's going to take quite a load off of Norrena who has started 7 of the last 8 games.

The Canucks are looking for win to stand out in the Northwest Division. The top and bottom of that division are separated by only two points. By comparison, 27 points separate the first and fifth place teams in Columbus' central division. On the ice, Vancouver has managed 17 goals in the last 5 games, so the CBJ defense will have to play tight to shut them down.

In the Columbus Dispatch today was a great article about the new CBJ coach, Ken Hitchcock. The story chronicles his life, including the loss of both parents at an early age and his hockey coaching career. The article insightfully looks at what drives the 56 year old coach, and how his style has created both wins and conflict with his players. For those of you outside the Dispatch coverage area, you can view the article here. Also, this link gives a quick overview of Hitch's NHL and international career.

Jackets v. Canucks 7pm on FSN, or inside Nationwide Arena, if you have the means.

Jackets get 'Luongo'ed

Despite a stellar performance by Leclaire, the Vancouver Canucks stopped the Jackets last night. With a final score of 1-0, and the top two stars being goalies, it was truly a defensive battle.

I watched the first two periods last night, and the Jackets were playing tough hockey. Valiant efforts by Carter and Fedorov in particular came up with naught. Leclaire was all over the net though- a herculean effort for a goalie still so young. He went post to post many times to stop the Sedins and Naslund from getting more than one goal.

The singular goal came from Markus Naslund, the NHL all-time leading scorer against the Jackets. In what can only be described as miscommunication by Tollefsen and Eriksson, Naslund stole the puck, slipped between the defenders and went one-on-one to beat Leclaire.

Besides another game under Hitch's CBJ belt, last nights' battle demonstrated the effectiveness of Leclaires' goaltending. Since the beginning of the season, I've been a skeptic. Leclaire is still young and is playing lead goalie without a veteran backup. If he can continue to play as he did last night, he'll do just fine.

Mid way through the second period, the Jackets did have a goal waved-off. The video replay, which was reviewed by the boys in Toronto, appeared to conclude that the puck just crossed the Vancouver goal line. Not so, ruled the hockey officials.

Jackets lose 1-0
Still in the basement.
Box Score

Opening Night 2006

Amid much pomp and fanfare, the 2006-2007 Columbus Blue Jackets debuted in their home opener against the Vancouver Canucks. The pregame ceremonies were as filled with flair as any fan could expect. The Blue Jackets have never been an organization to pass on an opportunity to dazzle attendees with lights, music, and overproduced highlight and pregame videos. After introducing the entire Jackets team (minus a few stars who are injured or without a proper U.S. work visa), the game began.

The first period started strong. The Jackets appeared sharp and focused out of the gate, demonstrating less than two minutes into the game that this year's team was able to take some of our greener players to the next level. Hartigan scored on Luongo from Westcott and Hainsey on the jackets' first power play opportunity of the season.

The rest of the period went by uneventfully, and another real scoring chance would not come until late in the 2nd period. In a series of successive penalties, the Canucks ended up in a 3 on 5 situation with Fitzpatrick, Ohlund and Krajicek in the penalty box. Vyborny took advantage with help from Hartigan and Nash. The Jackets were able to manage a goal from the extended power play.

After the exciting 5 on 3 power play in the 2nd, the Jackets speed, energy, and focus died off. The third period was gloomy at best for the Jackets, who gave up 1 goal in the middle of the 3rd, and another with only 3 minutes to go. The precious second half of the third period demonstrated Vancouver's ability to exploit their own stamina and determination. Offensively, the Canucks dominated the Blue Jackets, out shooting them 15-4.

Overtime seemed to last hardly more than a blink of an eye as a Sedin brothers combo landed the puck in Leclaire's net.

All in all, the loss turned out to be very disappointing for this frustrated fan. This Jackets squad is ready for the next level, meaning that they need to be on the ice to play the whole game and not succumb to fatigue 45 minutes in. After such a strong demonstration of defensive skills and an outstanding performance by the young goaltender (41 saves), to give up three successive goals to lose in overtime was a heartbreaker.

The most frustrating point of all is over the same concern I've had for years about the Jackets. At the end of the game, we were out shot 44-20. Being outshot grossly has been a reoccuring issue with the Jackets. Even though we had 6 minutes of power play in the second period, we still only mustered 6 total shots. The Blue Jackets forwards needs to remember my favorite Wayne Gretzky quote: "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."

Vancouver Canucks 3, Columbus Blue Jackets 2
Jackets record: 0-0-0-1

Box score