Fire The Cannon | Columbus Blue Jackets Blog » chris mason

Observations from the Game

Bart Logan — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:55:39 +0000

Glad to get back to writing for FTC. I had some computer issues that have limited me over the past couple weeks (failed hard drives will do that to you) but, everything’s been fixed and it looks all sleek and shiny. Now that that’s over with, some observations from last night’s game…

The Union Blue were in the Gateway City last night to take on divisional foes the St. Louis Blues. The CBJ have not faired well in St. Louis over the past few seasons, 0-7-1 in their past eight outings heading into last night. At points last night it appeared the Jackets were set extend that not so illustrious streak, but Kris Russell and Mathieu Garon had other plans.

The Blue Jackets picked up an important two points with a 3-2 overtime win over the Blues. Russell scored the game-winner seconds after Mathieu Garon kept the Jackets alive with a kick save on Andy MacDonald at the other end. It was a very good, hard-working win, especially after such a dismal performance against the LA Kings Thursday night.

There was a bit of role-reversal to start the game off as it was the Blue Jackets who scored in the first five minutes. Derek Dorsett was set up with a great pass from Freddie Modin and slid a back-hander past Blues goalie Chris Mason at the 4:09 mark.

It appeared that the Jackets would be able to carry the lead into the first intermission but David Backes redirected TJ Oshie’s shot with less than two seconds remaining to tie it up. That goal came on the power play and made even the most cynical of Jackets fans and media cringe.

Things got pretty chippy in the second period with a total of 11 penalties, 36 minutes worth, doled out between both teams. The majority of those stemmed from a fight between Jared Boll and Brad Winchester that occurred just over three minutes into the second. Winchester took exception to a big open-ice hit that Boll laid on Jamie McClement and drew instigator and game misconduct penalties as well. There were numerous other scrums along with a notable, helmet-optional battle for position between Jake Voracek and Eric Brewer.

After Roman Polak’s roughing penalty put the Jackets up on the two-man advantage late in the period, Fedor Tyutin let loose a rocket from the point that beat Mason. RJ Umberger set the screen that made it all possible. Playing the low position on the umbrella to perfection. The Blue Jackets took a 2-1 lead heading into the third period.

Rick Nash took an odd interference penalty with 2:51 remaining in the third after he swept a wayward glove toward Keith Tkachuk, who had do a little toe drag to get around it. MacDonald beat Garon on the ensuing power play to tie it up with 1:35 remaining in regulation. Here we go again right?

It looked like MacDonald would be the hero again for St. Louis when Paul Kariya set him up with a beautiful pass in space. MacDonald, one of the fastest skaters in the game, got behind Russell and tried to tuck it inside the far post but Garon kicked it away and Brassard gather it up and found Russell with some open ice. Russell skated it up and let loose a slap shot from the left dot that beat Mason just 1:32 into the overtime period. The Jackets goal of going 8-2 heading into the Olympic break is still possible.

Notes:

Both Mathieu Garon and his counter part Chris Mason were spectacular last night. Garon stood tall on a number of occasions, OT especially, but Mason really kept the Blues in the game last night.

The Captain, Rick Nash, got involved physically last night and showed his mean-streak with a nice hit on BJ Crombeen. Nash has very few peers in this league when he’s playing with a physical edge and scoring.

Kris Russell was made for 4-on-4 hockey. It looks effortless at times when he skates the puck out from the defensive zone 5-on-5. In overtime, with even more open ice, his skill set makes him downright dangerous. Last night’s goal was another example.

For all that has been made of the Blue Jacket’s recent struggles against St. Louis, Fedor Tyutin may wish he could play all his games against the Blues. In nine games against St. Louis over the past two season Tyutin has 5-3-8 including last night’s power play tally.

Bart Logan

bartftc@gmail.com

Twitter: @BartFTC

A Bizarre Road Point

Jeff Little — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 04:33:00 +0000

There was quite a debate a few nights ago, when the Jackets came away with an OTL vs. Tampa Bay. Many were concerned that the Jackets seemed satisfied with the point, and that they did not display the requisite angst over the OTL.

Tonight, same result, but I submit a very different attitude. Every one of the assembled 70+ Bluejackets fans was content with the road point, if not thrilled. Nobody was pleased with the way the CBJ played for the first 47 minutes of the game, nor with the officiating, which seemed hyper-technical agains the CBJ, while Nash was getting pummeled by the Blues.

Make no mistake, St. Louis is a desperate team, and played like it. This was their next-to-last home game, and was an absolute must-win if they are to keep their playoff homes alive heading out on a 5 day road trip. Their energy was fueled by an insane (and nasty) Blues crowd, who has embraced the stretch drive this team has put together. The Blues swarmed the offensive zone, making you wonder if they had too many men on the ice. The first goal was the result of a convention of 3 players in the crease. Mason never had a chance. The second was a bizarre, sweeping backhand in traffic that hit the far post and caromed in. In between Vermette provided our only hopeful moment of the first two frames, taking a feed from Umberger on the power play and beating Chris Mason for a shorthanded tally.

The third St. Louis goal epitomized what was ailing the Jackets during the first two frames. The puck came toward the net, and was deflected by a body. It sat in the crease — a Blues player shot it — saved. Another Blues player found the puck and shot it — saved. Mason couldn’t stop the third try. We couldn’t put our sticks on the pucks, particularly in our own zone. We lost every battle along the boards. Only some fantastic saves by Mason kept us in the game. The Blues and their fans smelled blood, but the Jackets refused to collapse.

Just as things looked like they might not turn around, Huselius followed a shot with a stuff past Mason’s stick. All of a sudden, despite being outplayed, the Jackets were in the game. Just under two minutes later, Nash took things into his own hands. Coming off the boards, he fought off a couple of defenders, cruised the middle, and fired a wrister past Mason. Tie game! Clearly unnerved, St. Louis took a timeout, and the crowd was silent.

The Jackets dominated possession for the balance of the game, holding St. Louis to 4 shots in the third. Same for the OT. The shootout was huge for the Blues, and the crowd was going nuts. Huselius beat Chris Mason, but lost the handle moving it to his backhand. Nash buried his, but Williams made one too many moves. For St. Louis, Oshie and McDonald were stuffed by our Mason, but Boyes blasted a rocket high glove, and Perron copied him in the 4th round for the win.

No plus/minus tonight, as we have to be up at 5:30 am to catch our plane, and I am watching my alma mater, Stanford, put the finishing touches of a victory over OSU in the Women’s NCCA Basketball Tournament round of 16. Sorry, folks, but — GO CARDINAL!!!

Here are my observations:

All the credit in the world to St. Louis and its fans. This was an unbelievably pumped up team and crowd, and the environment was electric. (For our part, I think we represented the Army of the Ohio pretty well — our cheering generated boos from the crowd and some particularly nasty remarks from San Jose fans)
Steve Mason kept us alive until we found our legs and a way to match the St. Louis intensity.
All credit to the CBJ for digging deep to take a road point under hostile conditions and with seemingly everything stacked against them.
We need to get back to hitting instead of just skating near the offensive player in our zone. Klesla was weak again in this regard. We lost the hit battle, lost lots of battles on the boards, and just broke even in the faceoff circle. Our younger players seem tentative, not wanting to make a mistake.
On the positive side, we are 3-0-2 during the Dirty Dozen, 8 out of a possible 10 points, and that is the type of tenacity we need hea
ding into the playoffs.
I updated the spreadsheet, and will have more on playoff standings after tomorrow night’s games. However, we eliminated LA from passing us tonight (thanks, roadman for pointing out the tiebreaker on most wins!) I am officially calling Dallas out of the race as well. Minnesota is on life support after losing to Calgary. St. Louis has only 1 home game left, and Nashville has only 2 home games left. It is a 4 horse race for 2 slots coming down the stretch.
I fully expect that the Jackets (and the crowd) will demonstrate the same enthusiasm that the Blues fans did today.

More later today after we return to Columbus. Go Jackets!

Unfinished Business

Jeff Little — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 03:23:00 +0000

Despite dominating large swaths of the game, the CBJ dropped another one to their new nemesis — the St. Louis Blues. Don’t know what it is about this team, but we have a lot of trouble with these guys, and objectively there is no reason for it.

Tonight’s loss was all about not finishing, both on offense and in goal. We played a solid first period, scoring a power play goal on our first opportunity, then Mase drops a puck he always holds onto, and it is tied. Next, we dominate possession in the zone, get a lot of traffic in front, get the puck to the point, and Tyutin buries it — textbook stuff. A few minutes later, a muffed assignment leave the net wide open, and again we are tied. We show discipline, good puck handling, no penalties, and we end the first period tied.

Second period we lost a bit of our edge, and the puck spent more time in our zone than we would like to see. Mase made a few nice saves on the power play. 1 second later, however, he just misses one. Our seats are on a line behind Mason and the shooter on that goal, and I could not believe he missed it. He was square, no traffic in front, just a whiff. We outshoot St. Louis 15 – 2 in the final period, but can’t get one to go. With Mason pulled, we got the faceoff, maintained possession and got just what we wanted — Huselius with the puck right in front, and he passes off to the right side, wide of the intended mark . . . A misplay by Williams up high results in an empty netter, and the rest is history,.

Along the way we had more “almost” goals than I can count — some nice saves by Chris Mason, but at least 3 or 4 posts, including a shorthanded breakaway by Nash, and some wildly bouncing pucks that went the wrong way. A nice open ice hit by Hejda against Backes — some measure of payback for his hit on Huselius back in St. Louis.

+/- for tonight:

+ Possession — For large parts of the game we absolutely dominated puck possession in their zone. (But see the minus for finishing below)

+ Defense\PK — For the most part, we played a sound defensive game, with one lapse that cost us a goal. Great kill of the 4 minute high sticking penalty. We minimized their PP chances and kept the #8 power play off the board.

+ Players — Tyutin had a very strong game, as did Commodore and Russell. Methot showed a lot of energy, as did Modin. The Chimera, Williams, Voracek line needs to work together, but showed signs of being a strong combination. Umberger put himself in the right position and was aggressive all night.

–Finishing — We have gotten in the habit of trying to make things look too pretty. Huselius needs to shoot that puck at the end. One too many passes has become our trademark. Take a page from Russell, Tyutin and Commodore — fire it at the net and good things happen. We need a more consistent presence in front of the net. Mase needs to grab the puck and hold on. 2 of the 3 were softies tonight. He deserved a better fate, but he would want both of those back.

–Players — Sorry, but our #1 line did not have it tongiht. A combined minus 8 on the night, and Huselius had zero shots. Sorry, but with his talent, he needs to put the puck on the net more.

No need to panic, as a win on Friday still keeps us on par with the 60% rule — win 3 out of 5 from the break on in and we go to the playoffs. Mase is clearly not at 100%, so we need to be able to cover for him. Curtis Sandford??? We have a great chance on Friday to go into Pittsburgh and take advantage of a struggling Penguins team. After two loses, we should be plenty fired up.

Bottom line — forget the style points–finish your chances. Go Jackets!

St. Louis Preview

Jeff Little — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 17:00:00 +0000

The St. Louis Blues come to town tonight, fresh on the heels of a SO loss against Detroit, 4 – 3. Get used to the Blues, as this is the first of 5 meetings between now and the end of the season, with 3 of them being at home.

The Blues have been bitten hard by the injury bug this year, somethingt CBJ fans can relate to. Despite their position at the bottom of the Western Conference standings, they handed the Jackets a 5-2 loss at the Scottrade Center in the middle of our extended road trip. They are 5-3-2 in their last 10 games, and backup Chris Mason has pitched 2 shutouts in that stretch, including a recent 4 – 0 blanking of the Philadelphia Flyers.

The Jackets, 6-3-1 over their last 10, are busy erasing the memory of a 7 – 3 home loss to the Stars, a game where everything that could go wrong did go wrong. These are going to happen, and it probably came at a good time, as St. Louis will come in with an edgy, up tempo approach to try to catch us off guard. After the Dallas fiasco, Hitch will make sure that doesn’t happen.

St. Louis is 18th in NHL in Goals per Game, while the CBJ are close behind in 21st. The differences come in defense and special teams. The Jackets are 10th in the league in Goals Against, while the Blues are near the bottom, in 26th.

The Blues rely on special teams to a large extent. Over 1/3 of their goals (50/141) have come on the PP, which ranks 8th in the league. The two squads have comparable penalty killing units, with St. Louis ranking 15th in the league and the Jackets 18th.

Boyes has carried the bulk of the offensive load this year, with 20 goals and 21 assists for 41 points. Tkachuk boasts 32 points, as does Berglund. Backes chips in and serves as the prime agitator. Chris Mason has been hot in goal of late, and has a GAA of 2.72 and .912 save percentage for the year. He was called in to replace Manny Legace in last night’s game, after Legace gave up 3 goals on 8 shots in the 2nd period, and after the game called himself “the worst player in the NHL.”

Mason is likely to go for them tonight, and Hitch has confirmed that our own Mason will be in the net as well. Klesla also likely to be back on the ice for us, paired with Russell. Both Tollefson and Backman will sit. Fortunately, the Chimera experiment at center is over. He returns to the wing opposite Voracek tonight, centered by Jason Williams. That line could really light it up! Alexandre Picard also cleared waivers and was assigned to Syracuse.

Keys For The Game:

Two Way Intensity – We need to get back to complete Hitch-Hockey, with the forwards getting back and closing the gaps in our own zone. Hit hard, pass precisely, and move the puck decisively out of the zone. In our end, put lots of pucks on net and cash in on our chances. No missed one timers!

Patience & Composure — St. Louis will come out hard, despite it being the back end of a back-to-back, trying to disrupt us the way Dallas did. Backes will agitate and they will try to leverage the revenge factor for the Huselius hit in St. Louis to get us to lose our cool and take unnecessary penalties. We can’t fall into that trap. There will be plenty of opportunities to deliver some good, clean, vicious hits to Backes tonight — but keep the eye on the prize. Staying out of the box will deprive them of one of their key weapons.

Traffic In Front — The last couple of games, our forwards have been staying away from the blue paint. The lone exception was Voracek, who got the only goal against Ottawa. We can get some pucks past the St. Louis goaltenders, but need more traffic in front, and the ability to get the stick on the rebounds.

Pick Up Mason — Stevie has carried the team a lot this year, so let’s return the favor tonight. Keep Tkachuk, Boyes & Co. on the perimeter, open up lanes for vision, and clear the puck from in front. Don’t wait for the puck to come to you in our own zone!!!

Should be a chippy game, and I expect the boys will be loaded for bear, proving that the Dallas debacle was just a fluke. Big win ahead! Go Jackets!