Jackets win Traverse City Opener BIG!!!

The Blue Jackets beat the Red Wings both physically and on the scoreboard tonight at the Huntington Rink in Traverse City, Michigan. After spotting the Wings a 2-0 lead it was all Jackets by taking penalties then they put the foot on the pedal and never took it off. Tomas Kubalik started off the scoring while the ref was trying to call a delayed penalty then not 10 seconds later Kubalik took on Brian Lashoff in a clear decision for Kubalik when he used what looked like a suplex on Lashoff. The best part after Kubalik’s fight he went staight to the locker room since there was less than five minutes left we saw him standing in the locker room doorway laughing and talking with teammates who were in the stand. In the S.O.P. file when announcing a late 1st period penalty the announcer said Thomas Straka which must be a new player because I only know of Petr Straka which I yelled to let the arena know. In the second it looked like the game was gonna get chippy with invite Adam Payerl laying a beating on Richard Nedomlel. Plus a scrum late in the second that led to John Moore and Mike Thomas both earning four penalty minutes plus a ref grabbing a player’s stick and taking it from him. David Savard led off the scoring in the second scoring on a rebound just 1:01 into the second. Four minutes later Ryan Johansen struck sneaking a goal just under Detroit goalie Petr Mrazek’s armpit. Dalton Prout scored on a shot from the point to get what would end up being the game winner. Tomas Kubalik added to his Gordie Howe hat trick in the third taking a feed from Cam Atkinson to close the scoring in the second. Adam Payerl scored in the third on what I thought was gonna be a penalty shot when it looked like a Red Wings players put his hand on the puck in the crease but the ref saw that the puck crossed the line before. Something in the water in Traverse City must agree with Oliver Gabriel because scored to close out the game and make it 7-3. Couple of funny moments in this game the first is when 6’6 dman Steven Delisle loaded up a shot that ended up going into where the team officials can sit and almost hit Jacket’s Assistant GM Chris Macfarland while Ken Hitchcock barely even flinched, the other was after a faceoff the whistle blew and actually heard a ref say “that’s my fault that’s my fault”(4 horsemen of the apocolypse that’s your cue). Allen York was solid in net making 27 saves seeming to have the occasional problem with rebounds, none leading to goals including one that after the play moved on you could tell through his body language he wasnt happy with. The Jackets are back at it early tomorrow having a practice at 8AM then playing Buffalo at 2:30, as expected I’ll be there tweeting away(ill try to keep my phone alive throught the whole game. again sorry)

Player thoughts: Boone Jenner seemed like he was everywhere as was Michael Chaput who seemed to always go to the front of the net and the few times I watched close dominated at the faceoff dot. The Defense was very solid with only one missed pass leading to a Wing’s goal. I liked Springfield signee Mike Thomas who added a assist and was a physical presence and Lukas Sedlak who’s only been in North America since August stood up for teammate Michael Chaput after Chaput was pretty horsecollared to the ice by a Wing.

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