A Well Crafted Victory

Jeff Little — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 02:45:00 +0000

If there was ever a Hitchcockian win to be witnessed, tonight’s 2 -0 victory over Atlanta was it. Solid goaltending, stifling defense, a timely goal, no panic, effective penalty kill. Sure we whiffed on some opportunities in the offensive end, but so did Atlanta.

This is a game the CBJ of old loses more often than not, or at best takes it to overtime after surrendering a late goal. Instead, tonight the boys played with their heads as well as their skates and sticks. No stupid penalties, minimized turnovers, and a good forecheck. The puck did not linger on the sticks in the defensive zone, and we got pucks to the net from the point. No power play goals, but much better possession and some good opportunities.

In the “it’s about time” department — Backman had by far his best game, in all three zones. Voracek had more bounce in his step, Tyutin continued solid play. Torres was more of a factor, and even Boll showed brief flashes. Huselius is a wizard holding on to the puck, but couldn’t he may get a stick that is a little less narrow, so that the whiffs and close in misses can go down. He has inherited the Chimera mantle of “can’t hit the ocean from the beach” of late.

I will be fascinated to see how the Dispatch treats this one. Headline will probably ready something like “Fortunate Jackets Escape With Win”

More features coming here — just getting this off the ground, so let’s see some comments, ideas, topics. Thanks for visiting!

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A Well Crafted Victory