Bethany's Hockey Rants

Jackets Lose to Coyotes

by Bethany on 10/12/08 at 12:41 AM ET
Comments (4)

The Blue Jackets missed Michael Peca right from the beginning as one by one the Blue Jackets headed to the penalty box. The game was practically handed to the Coyotes, without much of a fight from any of the Blue Jackets players. The Jackets couldn’t get anything going, and the only bright spots were Pascal Leclaire who made some great saves, Rick Nash who tried to carry the team but had no luck getting anything into the net, and Derick Brassard who scored the lone goal for the Blue Jackets. Luckily, it’s a long season and we still have 80 more games to go and if we keep taking all these penalties it’s going to be a REALLLLLY long season.

The first period was pathetic, absolutely pathetic. I know we played last night and are tired, but we played like absolute crap. It was a parade to the penalty box and the Coyotes were able to score twice while the Jackets were just happy to make it through the period without giving up another goal. Olli Jokinen scored his first goal as a member of the Coyotes on a powerplay to bring them up 1-0. Peter Mueller also scored on the power play to bring the Coyotes up 2-0.

Derek Dorsett in his NHL debut, got into a “fight” with Daniel Winnik but the refs quickly broke it up, and he was escorted to the penalty box. Daniel Winnik was giving five for fighting, a ten-minute misdonduct, and a two minute instigator for the altercation.

Rick Nash opened up the second period with two short-handed breakaways, both of which he was unable to capitalize on. Derick Brassard scored on the power play to make the game 2-1, a beautiful shot from Brassard with assists going to Backman and Voracek. Jason Chimera set up the screen, and hopped up into the air to let the puck go right past Ilya Bryzgalov. Derek Dorsett had a great opportunity to score early on in the second period, but couldn’t get the puck into the net. Keith Yandle scored the first even strength goal of the game, letting the Yotes go up 3-1.

The third period saw Brassard moving up to the top line with Nash and Huselius. Hitch tried to get something going with about ten minutes left. Shane Doan knocked out Jiri Novotny with a huge elbow, no penalty was called. Novotny started skating towards the bench and fell down; he eventually made it to the bench. It’s games like tonights’ that really make you realize how much you miss Peca and Malhotra. They’re our go-to centers during the penalty kill. Derek Dorsett in the closing minutes of the game got taken out by Yandle. Yandle got a double minor for roughing, and so the Jackets pulled Pazzy and went to work on the power play. No such luck. The Jackets lost 3-1, and the Jackets are now 1-1-0. It was a rough night, and things won’t get any easier for the Blue Jackets as they head to San Jose to play the Sharks.

Comments

“loan” should be “lone”.

Posted by Muéro from Ohio on 10/12/08 at 03:59 AM ET

Thanks It’s fixed.

Posted by Bethany on 10/12/08 at 04:29 AM ET

Agreed on the penalties. Let’s just hope it’s our newly-constituted team finding its way together. They’re not really in sync right now...at least not consistently.

Posted by Tom on 10/12/08 at 09:04 AM ET

Nothing else to say. Heh.

I didn’t get to watch, as you know. And I can’t get very reliable “reporting” from my parents who insist that everything we do is golden and everything any other team does is crap (or ‘cheap’) so, ya know… good to know we slammed ya in our opener. Makes me feel better about life. ;D

Posted by Tracy on 10/13/08 at 03:52 AM ET