You want some power in your play? Look no further than this game were all four regulation goals were scored with the man advantage... in the Jackets case.. both a man and two man advantage.
* This was a physical game... at one point I had to make sure this was the Edmonton Oilers the Jackets were playing and not the Calgary Flames... There were fights.. hits all over the ice... lots of cheap slashes and scrums after plays... This game was not for the faint of heart.
* Alex Hemsky meet Jan Hejda.... if you noticed Hejda was out there every time Hemsky hit the ice and even though he got a PP goal it could have been much worse without our great 8!! Hejda had 3 hits and 3 blocked shots with over 24 minutes of play including a whopping 5:40 of PK time.
* Garon was good... again. He made a lot of saves through traffic. He got caught a bit on Hemsky's goal but the PK didn't do him any favors as Edmonton completely controlled that PP especially once Umberger broke his stick. He also won yet another shootout... Can't see how he doesn't start again in Dallas.
* Credit to 'bulin... he had Nash's number all night long. The Jackets were shooting low on him all night but couldn't put one past him there.
* Boys come up big in the shootout for the second game in a row....!
* Fedor Tyutin had his "oh sh**" moments but he also made some solid plays defensively... collected a couple of helpers and how 'bout that shootout goal!! Now 2 for 2!
* I've been bitching about the blueline not delivering some offense... not tonight... Tyutin had two points and a shootout goal... Stralman had a goal and a assist. Well done boys!
* Really liked Derek MacKenzie's energy out there tonight... he had some fantastic shifts and played what was probably a career high for him at the NHL level in 13:55 minutes...
* Best save of the game... Edmonton's backup goalie who gloved a wicked clear that went right in the Oil's bench.
* Best catch of the game... dude in the lower bowl who jumped over a row and snagged an out of play puck! Nice hops!
* Got to give a shout out to the fan in 204 who broke two different Ohio flags. He was literally carrying the damn flag!
* Jackets a real good job of limiting those big bombs from the point... and the Oil have some guys who can flat out launch em.
* A Montgomery Inn food stand in the lower level? How come I am just being made aware of this!
* Another 1 goal win... ho hum...
YELLOW
* Not sure what to think about Voracek's hair cut.... his game struggled a bit but came around in the 3rd and capped it with the shootout winner.
* Would like to see Nash cash in on one of those chances but he's not gonna score every night... he did have some great looks though with his game high 7 shots! He also had 4 hits (which led the team) and 2 takeaways. Too bad he didn't get a point on that 2nd PP goal b/c he did most of the work... he's really gotten good about carrying the puck in with the man advantage.
* Dustin Penner was really impressive for them... he doesn't even look like the same player.
* I'm guessing that group of Edmonton fans in the lower bowl was from Edmonton.. I can always appreciate those who travel to see their squad. They looked like they were having a good time.. Glad we beat em and hope they weren't a-holes to anyone.
* Not a great 1st period... real good second and then a pretty even 3rd.
* Huselius spent a lot of the first half of this game teetering between a red and yellow for me. He did make the nice pass to Stralman on the 5 on 3.. but he was really weak sauce along the boards and lost a lot of battles... He then started to move his legs and did a nice job creating space and finding Nash for some really nice scoring chances.
* Honestly though.. I didn't think anyone in a Jackets uni played bad.
* Okay who else saw the fan dressed as a ref with the "gesture" behind the net? Hey.. I had to laugh.
* Game ops is slowly but surely slipping back into the same ole same ole... Less replays tonight... but plenty of corny videos... "You got double-vision!"...
RED
* PK allowed 2 PP goals.
* Attendance at 13,030... just horrible.
* I was late rollin in and missed both fights... shame on me.
* Jackets just did not seem to win any key face offs... be it on the PP or on the PK...
* Brule's reaction after he missed his shootout goal was priceless... boy he wanted that one bad.
* The late breaking Filatov news.... you just knew something had to give. So much for even lasting 20 games. I'll throw this one out there... Toronto could desperately use some more scoring.... Filatov straight up for Schenn.... I'll have more on this tomorrow.
3 BRIGHT LIGHTS ON THE NIGHT
1. Powerplay
2. Was a real physical man's game out there...
3. Jackets make it two in a row in the shootout
With the win tonight the Jackets went 3-1 on the 4 game home stand... they've won 4 out of the past 5 and as Matt the Mask pointed out to me.. they've gotten points in 7 of their past 8. In short - they are rollin... and hopefully they can carry that into their longest road trip of the season that starts this Thursday in Dallas.
GO JACKETS!!
-LTL
