Avalanche 4, Blue Jackets 0
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| NHL.com |
Things did not get off to a good start for Columbus. Just 51 seconds into the game, Colorado's PA Parenteau. That caused Patrick Bordeleau of Colorado and Jared Boll of Columbus to fight quickly thereafter. Things were chippy as both teams starting hitting a little harder, particularly when Av's Matt Duchene netted a second goal putting the Union boys in a two-goal hole at 12:25 in the opening period. A Columbus powerplay was negated early when an undisciplined Brandon Dubinsky was whistled for a crosscheck and an additional two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct. Luckily, nothing became of that Colorado powerplay.
Another fight symbolized the boiling over of emotions; a retalitory fight at the end of the first for knocking over the Columbus tender Sergei Bobrovsky sent Jacket Dubinsky back to the sin bin along with Av's fight-loser Jamie McGinn.
The intermission didn't calm the nerves as Colorado's Gabriel Landeskog and Columbus' Derek Dorsett came out swinging. Roughing calls for both men at 44 seconds in. There were several other "group hugs" between the two hockey clubs that didn't amount to penalties throughout the game. But this tough-man mentality did not help the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The penalties rained down from the officials. A roughing call followed by a roughing call followed by a fight, and roughing and a fight. Hook here, hold there. Roughing. You know. Hockey. I'm not suggesting the Referees were unfair, but I just wanted to show the chippiness of this game. Dorsett alone got three roughing calls in the second period alone.
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| NHL.com |
John Mitchell added to the Columbus woes as he came up in the zone for a nasty wrister to put the puck behind Bobrovsky. That put the Jackets behind 3-0 with a little over 15 minutes to go in the third period. The icing on the cake came at 18:42 mark for Duchene. AAAAAAAAAAVVVAAAALANCCCHHHEE GOOOOAAAL! as their PA Announcer Alan Roach would say.
The Avalanche netminder Semyon Varlamov was shutting the door shot after shot. He didn't give up a lot of rebounds and seemed to see the puck very well. He certainly had some help in front of him.
The Avalanche kept ahead of the Blue Jackets in the shots department for the first period; a deficit that was erased in the second when the Jackets outshot their opponents 12-6. This is a good sign for the Columbus club. They didn't give up and roll over, especially after being in that hole less than a minute into the game off the Avs' first shot of the game. They kept their shots up and fought back, literally. They did take some unnecessary penalties, but the penalty kill unit was strong. Unfornately, the powerplay people didn't cash in, 0-5 in the first two periods.
This is the first shutout the Blue Jackets have suffered this season and the second regulation loss in a row (third including a shootout loss to the Red Wings on Monday). The scoreboard was not represenative of the fire the Blue Jackets showed.
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| NHL.com |
The Blue Jackets return to action on Saturday when they host the Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks will be undefeated with a 4-0-0 record.
