It seems that there has been many nights both this season and seasons past that the Columbus Blue Jackets put out a great effort just to end up being on the short end of the stick. Not on Thursday night as the Jackets' fortunes got reversed for at least one night as the Calgary Flames outplayed Columbus yet ended up loosing 4-3 in a shootout. Rick Nash had the game tying goal as well as the winning shootout goal to earn the CBJ their seventh win on the season.
“Sometimes you got to win them ugly,” Blue Jackets head coach Scott Arniel stated after the game. “I think in the first period we were very good. In the second period we were awful. In the third period we got down but I like the fact that we didn't stop playing and we took right up to the end of the game to get the tying goal. We've had lots of games that we lost those. This team needs a win like that, a come back win like that.”
Things started off as Arniel planned as the Jackets were all over the Flames in the first period out shooting Calgary 15-5 and scoring the games first goal. 5:23 into the opening stanza, Antoine Vermette collected a rebound right on the doorstep as Miikka Kiprusoff gave up a rebound on a blistering one timer by Nikita Nikitin from the center blue line.
But as in usual fashion when the Blue Jackets are completely dominating a team they still let them tie up the contest with 6:58 left in the first period when Lee Stempniak found a puck bouncing off the boards, a late reacting goalie in Curtis Sanford, lots of net to look at and he didn't miss.
In the second period the Jackets laid down and especially James Wisniewski who played his worst game as a Blue Jacket by far. The Flames out shot Columbus 15-3 in the second period and if not for Sanford in net the game would have been out of hand. The Flames did give the union blue what usually is a back breaker and a scenario that has played out several times this season when the club gave up a late period goal. Mark Letestu gave up a bad turnover who got it up the ice in a hurry and Wisniewski seemed not to be in too much of a hurry to get back in the play. Rene Bourque blew it by Sanford with 19 seconds left in the second.
The third period, Wisniewski continued his poor play as he ole'd on Blake Comeau who came in 5:48 in the period and scored his first of the season unassisted.
Arniel then started putting lines together like it was the way equipment manager Tim LeRoy brought out the sweaters out of the wash. He finally found the right combination of Derek MacKenzie, Vinny Prospal, Derek Dorsett, Fedor Tyutin and the key component in Nikitin. With 4:05 left in the final period, Nikitin got the puck after the Jackets won the face-off in the Flames end and shot a wrister that found the back of the net. It's Nikitin's first goal in 40 games.
Nikitin wasn't done though as he collected his third point of the night when he gave Nash a slap pass right to the tape of the captain who put it in to tie the game with 58 seconds left.
Nash finished up the job as he was the only player to be able to score in the shoot out and Sanford stopped all three shooters that the Flames threw at him.
Walsh Blasts Arniel
Derick Brassard's agent Allan Walsh used the Dispatch to get out his displeasure of the amount of time that his client Brassard is sitting up in the press box.
The quote via the Dispatch.com:
"While I have tremendous respect for (general manager) Scott Howson and the rest of Columbus' management team, the situation regarding Derick Brassard has become untenable. The coach has a history of burying players and using them as scapegoats to mask his own lack of success on the ice. Derick has been singled out, almost from the very beginning of the season, to be the fall guy in case things don't go well. The Columbus organization cares about Derick and has been good to him, but at some point, one has to say, enough is enough."
In an unusual move by the Blue Jackets, general manager Scott Howson responded using the team's Twitter feed with the following:
#CBJ GM Scott Howson - “Scott has my full support with respect to his decisions on who plays and the handling of our hockey team.
We all want Derick to play better and be the player we know he can be.
The only person who will impact Derick’s playing time is Derick himself.”
There has been plenty smoke when it comes to the possible trade of Brassard. Either Walsh is trying to push the Blue Jackets in making that move sooner rather than later or he is wanting to show possible other clients that he will stand up for his clients.
What ever the reason, this isn't the end of this story. Stay tuned.
Fire The Cannon show fired off
Great show tonight with Cam Atkinson from the Springfield Falcons as a special guest. Great story about Thanksgiving as he had Alexandre Giroux over for Turkey day.
Also, be sure to listen in as GetPostGame.com gives listeners a great deal with the ability to get a signed picture of L.A. Kings captain, Dustin Brown plus a HUGE discount. Listen in to see how.
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