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Carter Fires In Two, Helps CBJ Beat Flames

November 22, 2011, 8:43 AM ET [ Comments]
Eric Smith
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So now you know why general manager Scott Howson spent a hefty price to get Jeff Carter to Columbus. Carter is showing over the past two games why Howson wanted him in town and he led the way against the Calgary Flames with two goals that gave the Blue Jackets a 4-1 win in front of 11,629 at Nationwide Arena.

“It seemed like we were doing good things, but we were hitting sticks and skates and nothing was really going right,” Carter said after the game. “It’s all starting to come together now. We’re starting to get those little bounces. My second goal, the puck bounces right to me. At the start of the year, that wasn’t really happening. It’s all attributed to hard work.”

That hard work has given the Jackets a winning streak for the first time in 42 games dating back to February 18-25. It also looks like the pieces, once finally on the ice together, are starting to come together and the Jackets have points in 4 of their last 5 games with a 3-1-1 record.

Carter got it rolling early as he blistered a wrister at the 3:01 mark of the first period from the top of the left face off circle and through the legs of Flames defenseman Chris Butler that beat goalie Henrik Karlsson upper shelf.

Antoine Vermette who set up the last game winner against Nashville decided he wanted to twist the twine on the game winner as he collected the puck in a scrum that leaked past the right side of the goal. Vermette pulled the puck back through his legs and beat Karlsson to give the Jackets a 2-0 lead 6:45 into the opening stanza.

Carter gave the Jackets the important three goal lead as he scored with the CBJ having a two man advantage. James Wisniewski fired a shot in that Karlsson gave up a rebound that Vinny Prospal shot against that was denied but popped right to the stick of Carter who made the third shot on the series the charm 5:28 in the second period.

Prospal stuffed the stat sheet with three assists against Calgary and continues to lead the team in points with 18 points in the team's first 20 games.

“Vinny, he's such a worker, he's such a charismatic guy and those two (Rick Nash and Carter) like playing with him,” Blue Jackets head coach Scott Arniel stated. “He's real responsible and you can tell he does the little things well. He's done it for years.”

Curtis Sanford has started three straight games and again was the steady force in net. Sanford saved 27 of 28 shots and now is posting some gaudy numbers with a 1.46 goals against average and a .943 save percentage.

Nash finished off the scoring with an empty netter with 31 seconds left in the game and thus snapping his 7 game goalless skid.

Falcons Facts

Some interested facts and stats as the AHL affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Springfield Falcons, are on a hot streak and playing well.

Martin St. Pierre has points in ten straight games collecting three goals and 13 assists for 16 points in that span. He leads the Falcons in scoring with five goals and 16 assists for 21 points in 17 games and he has also moved into 4th in the league in scoring and 3rd in assists.

Manny Legace has won his last three starts posting a .942 save percentage and 1.65 goals against average in that span. Legace stopped 81 of 86 shots last week, including a penalty shot in overtime on November 16 against the Worcester Sharks.

Cam Atkinson has collected at least a point in seven of his last eight games collecting seven goals and one assist in that span. Atkinson is tied with Ryan Russell for the team lead in goals with eight.

Alexandre Giroux has points in five straight games since returning to the Falcons from the Columbus Blue Jackets. Giroux has goals in four straight games and overall has five goals and two assists in his last five contests.

Ryan Russell is tied with Cam Atkinson for the team lead in goals with eight. Russell also leads the team in multi-goal games with two.

Nick Drazenovic and Ryan Russell are the only two Falcons players to have registered an even strength goal, power play goal and shorthanded goal this year.

The Falcons have had a player register a multi-goal game in four straight contests. Alexandre Giroux (Nov. 12), Tomas Kubalik (Nov. 16), Cam Atkinson (Nov. 18) and Ryan Russell (Nov. 19).

The Falcons enter the week in second place in the Northeast Division with a record of 10-7-0-0. Springfield has won seven of their last nine games overall.
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