Bethany's Hockey Rants

Big win, with a huge loss

by Bethany on 09/30/08 at 04:18 PM ET
Comments (6)

The Blue Jackets crushed the ~~Rockford Icehogs~~ Chicago Blackhawks last night. The Jackets scored seven goals on the Blackhawks newest number one goaltender, Cristobal Huet, while the Hawks only managed to score one against Pascal Leclaire. The night sounds pretty good doesn’t it? It wasn’t without its faults though, Raffi Torres decided to drop the gloves with Ben Eager. Torres went down and separated his shoulder, he is expected to be out six weeks. This is not good news for the Blue Jackets, although it does allow for one of our prospects to take his place, yes, including Filatov, who is able to play nine games before being sent down to the minors. But, before we get into that, let’s get into the game.

Rick Nash scored twice and had an assist on the night. Rusty Klesla and Kristian Huselius had a goal and two assists each. Christian Backman and Fedor Tyutin had a goal and an assist, and Raffi Torres scored a goal. It’s always nice to see so many players score, especially on a goal deprived team. Here’s Hitch on the game:

“Our special teams, our power play gave us life. We took the timeout to get personnel out there – we needed to make sure we had the right people on the ice for the five-on-three and it worked. I thought our puck rotation on the power play was good and we did some good things.”

The Jackets scored on a 5 on 3, a 5 on 4, and at even strength in less than a minute and a half. Our special teams were great. We do need to keep this game in perspective, it is a preseason game, we iced a team full of mostly regulars, they iced a team of young players, searching for a spot.

This game also had it’s fair share of fights. Alexandre Picard dropped the gloves TWICE, the first time with Kevyn Adams then with Kris Versteeg (a personal favorite of mine). Picard is an interested player, he throws some hard hits, but I had never seen him fight before. It’s nice to see him drop the gloves and stand up for himself. Boll also dropped the gloves, but with his hand still recovering he didn’t land a punch. Torres and Eager fought, and that was the move that took Torres out for six weeks.

So, now let’s talk about a replacement for Torres. Filatov is an option, he can play nine regular season games and then be sent to the minors. My guess, we keep him up those nine games or less and see how he does, and then call someone from Syracuse up. Filatov was injured so he’s only able to play at the most two preseason games, we’d be able to see what he can do. Then there is Picard, he is a hard hitter, and he always gives it his all. The other options according to Puck-Rakers are Derek Dorsett, Adam Pineault, ~~Mike York~~ (York was placed on waivers, if he clears, he will be sent to Syracuse), and Tom Sestito. My guess Filatov for a few games, then bring up one of the other guys.

Also, the Blue Jackets also announced they sent goaltender Dan LaCosta, and defenseman Andrey Plekhanov to Syracuse and released Sebastian Dahm from his tryout agreement.

It’s going to be an interesting start of the season for Jackets fans, I can’t wait until it starts!

Filed in: , Columbus Blue Jackets, Nikita Filatov | Bethanys Hockey Rants | Permalink
Tags: Chicago+Blackhawks, Colummbus+Blue+Jackets, Nikita+Filatov, Raffi+Torres,

Comments

I hope this opens the door for Filatov to stay with the club for 9 games… I am looking forward to watching this kid show what he has at the NHL level and believe he will do a good job for the Jackets.

Posted by PuckHound61 from Speckville USA on 09/30/08 at 05:47 PM ET

I do too! I am hoping he plays on Friday when I head up to Columbus! I think he has the talent to be in the NHL, but I think if you give him some time he will be even better

Posted by Bethany on 09/30/08 at 08:52 PM ET

Why is Filatov only able to play nine games? Would he have to stay up with the Jackets if he played more than that?

Posted by Steve J from Columbus, OH on 10/02/08 at 02:33 PM ET

If he plays more than nine games he won’t be able to go to Juniors, and we will still owe him his salary for this year, which means his contract would be up sooner.

Posted by Bethany on 10/02/08 at 02:41 PM ET

Ah, thanks.

Posted by Steve J from Columbus, OH on 10/02/08 at 02:48 PM ET