Bethany's Hockey Rants
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Jackets beat Habs in the shootout!
by Bethany on 11/08/08 at 12:48 AM ET
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I’m telling you, there is something special about seeing two of your favorite teams play. It never grows old. Tonight I was actually able to attend the game, and there were a bunch of Canadiens fans, which made for a great atmosphere, and it may not have been a sell out, but the crowd was really into the game.
The Jackets had a rough first period and Steve Mason was an absolute wall, and we were really lucky to be at 1-1 leaving the first. The Habs outshot us 19-8 in the first period. Here’s what Hitchcock had to say about Mason in the first period.
“The first period was excellent. You are going to need your goalie some nights (and tonight) we looked like we had the stare going – we looked like we were in awe of the stage or just watching. We needed him in the first period and he came up big and then we started to play.”
After the first period the Jackets seemed to bounce back, they were able to control more of the game, even though we were still being outshot. We also had more trouble on the power play tonight. We were given lots of opportunities on the power play but were never able to capitalize on them.
RJ Umberger continued his tear, now that he’s figured out how to score. He got us on the board first with a goal from Chimera and Nash. Umberger now has goals in four-straight games. Ole-Kristian Tollefsen took a hooking penalty and was in the box when Montreal tied the game with a power play goal from Alex Tanguay.
The second period was a bit slow going, with a few penalties being called, but no scoring.
Onto the third period. The Blue Jackets were able to make it 2-2 thanks to a beautiful shot from Marc Methot with helpers going to Nash and Jan Hejda. Methot is becoming solid on the blue line, and no matter my feelings on him, he has definitely earned a permanent spot on this team. Fredrik Modin scored to make us up 3-2, a lead we were hopeful to keep. However the Habs were lucky and scored to tie the game to send it to overtime. When the five minutes was up my stomach was in knots.
I looked down at the ice and was seriously pondering leaving at that point, I don’t handle shootouts very well. Kristian Huselius got us that all important shootout goal. Mason stopped his first shooter. Then Brassard came in, and about 30 moves later the puck goes in the net. I do have to say that the best part of the shootout goal, was not the goal itself, but was Pascal Leclaire’s reaction. On about the 15th move I hear an “Oooh” and then the puck goes in, and I hear Pazzy laugh, I turn around, he’s standing up smiling and laughing. It was a good thing for me to see, I always wondered how the guys acted to wins like this…now I know. Novotny, Picard, Klesla, and, of course Pazzy all had huge smiles on their face. Mason stoned the next shooter and the Jackets won.
Mason was the first star of the game, and rightfully so. The kid is huge, he’s a huge part of this organization, both literally and figuratively.
I asked Brassard what he was thinking when he went for the shootout, here’s what he said:
“I was not thinking about anything. It was my first career shootout and sometimes you feel pretty nervous and I just went. I worked on it and practice, and it worked pretty well.”
Yeah, no kidding, that was one of the most beautiful shootout goals I have ever seen. Brassard is honestly one of the best players, I have ever seen, he was everywhere tonight, and if he was still battling the flu, you definitely didn’t notice it. He showed up to play against the team he grew up loving.
Oh, and just in case you were wondering, Hitch is going to sleep on whether or not Mason goes in net tomorrow.
Here’s the shootout, if you want to see it.
Filed in: Columbus Blue Jackets, , , | Bethany's Hockey Rants | Permalink
Tags: Columbus+Blue+Jackets, Derick+Brassard, Montreal+Canadiens, Steve+Mason,
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