Blue Jackets Cling to Victory over Blues

February 18, 2009 by J. Justin Boggs

Rarely would the words "disappointed" and "unsatisfied" be used to describe a win for any team, especially the Columbus Blue Jackets. But in a 4-3 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night, those words were used all too often.

The Blue Jackets held on to a 4-1 lead they built up going into the third period. St. Louis outshot Columbus 13-3 in the final period. The Blues scored shorthanded at 6:54 of the third period, and on the power play with 3:55 remaining.

"The third period is why I don’t like coaching," Blue Jackets head coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We got casual; we played the score, not the game. St. Louis got no quit in their team. They play to the whistle."

With the win, Columbus moves to a tie for fifth in the Western Conference with Vancouver. The Blue Jackets are 5-0-1 in their last six games. Wednesday’s win was the fourth game in six days. They are in the midst of playing six games in nine days. They come back tonight to play at Toronto.

"This is what we train all summer for, these kinds of situations," Nash said.

The Blue Jackets were fantastic for the first 40 minutes of the game. As they got out to their 4-1 lead, they outshot the Blues 18-11 through two periods. The Blue Jackets were blocking shots, keeping control of the puck, outhitting, and winning faceoffs in the first two periods.

"We played outstanding," Hitchcock said of the first two periods. "We played the first two periods; we deserved what we were getting."

The Blue Jackets took the lead just 1:15 into the game when defenseman Fedor Tyutin’s shot rang off the post and off the back of Blues goaltender Chris Mason and into the net. Tyutin’s goal took place just seven seconds after the Blues committed a hooking penalty.

Columbus ended the first the way they started with a goal 2:08 remaining in the period. Manny Malhotra scored just his second goal in 13 games after intercepting a pass from Blues defenseman Steve Wagner from behind the net.

The Blues cut the lead in half 3:32 into the second with a goal from Brad Winchester. Blue Jackets forward Rick Nash answered with his 24th goal of the season just 25 seconds later form a well placed pass from Malhotra.

Andrew Murray scored to give Columbus a 4-1 lead in the final three minutes of the period after receiving a pass from the left boards.

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Top Line Gets it Done

After the Blue Jackets lost to the Dallas Stars in a shootout Monday night, Hitchcock mentioned tweaking lines around. One line many thought he would tweak was his top line of Kristian Huselius-Malhotra-Nash. Nash, who is Columbus’ leading scorer, went nine games with only one goal before Wednesday’s game.

Hitchcock decided to leave his top line untouched and it paid dividends. The top line totaled four points for the game.

"We did a good job playing off one another," Malhotra said. "We played a very simple game, we got pucks in, we were really strong on the forecheck, and that allowed us to be creative and get those goals."

Despite the play before tonight of the top line, Hitchcock said he didn’t think too much about changing the lines.

"They had 16 shots on goal last game," Hitchcock reasoned.

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Is Fatigue Setting in?

With playing many games in a short span, and playing several home games followed by a road game the next day, fatigue could become an issue especially given the time of the season. Nash, Malhotra, and defenseman Mike Commodore did not want to blame the teams play in the third period on fatigue, but Hitchcock thought it might have been a factor.

When asked if the team’s play in the third period was caused by either letting of the gas or fatigue, Hitchcock said it was a "combination."

"When you are tired, you have to play the right way especially with the lead. You have to keep the puck in front of us." he said.

"It was not fatigue, it was just a lack of focus and letting off the gas," Commodore said about the third period. "It was mental, we just didn’t have the right mindset in the third period and it showed."

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Postgame notes

Hitchcock is one win away from his 500th career win. Blues coach Andy Murray was stopped from getting his 300th career win. The Blue Jackets are now 14-5-1 when leading after one period, and 16-3-0 after leading through two periods. The Blue Jackets had 19 consecutive successful penalty kills before allowing St. Louis’ power play goal later in the third. That streak dated to the San Jose game on Feb. 7