Columbus Blue Jackets Vs. Anaheim Ducks Live Recap (11-13-09)

Anaheim Ducks at Columbus Blue Jackets (11-13-09) Live Recap.

20:00 Columbus needs to come out firing to at least partially avenge embarrassing 9-1 defeat here at home two nights ago. 

18:57 Good first save by Mathieu Garon, who's starting in net in replacement of Steve Mason's horrid performance in the Detroit game.  Columbus is going to need a good performance out of him tonight.

16:31 Anaheim getting first power play of the game already.  Chimera is off for hooking.  The penalty troubles seem to be continuing for the Blue Jackets.  Thankfully their penalty kill is competent.

14:30 The Jackets manage to kill off Anaheim's first power play, despite Anaheim keeping the puck in the zone almost the entire time.  Still, a penalty kill is a penalty kill.

14:13 Jason Chimera right back in the box again, twenty seconds after he got out the first time, and this time it's for crosschecking.  The boys in blue are not off to a good start right now.

13:22 Rick Nash gets the crowd into it with a big hit, one of the first hits of the game for Columbus.  I would have expected them to come out with some physicality in an attempt to regain some dignity following their drubbing in Detroit, but they're playing rather passively here in the early going. 

12:05 Goal for Anaheim.  Bobby Ryan scores after a Columbus forward attempted to steal a pass and missed, giving Anaheim numbers up the ice.  Ryan, who was wide open on the right wing, took a cross ice feed from Ryan Getzlaf and buried the puck in the back of the net.  Garon really stood little chance in making the save.  Anaheim 1, Columbus 0.

9:30 Jackets are being outshot 10-2 at this point, though thankfully Garon has been sharp in net.

8:49 High-stick on Michael Blunden by Evgeny Artyukhin that somehow went unnoticed.  Seemed rather blatant from my point-of-view, with Blunden getting clipped and immediately going down, but no call made by either referee.

7:45 Jackets not able to keep puck in offensive zone for any extended period of time.  Anaheim controlling the play.  Lots of turnovers for Columbus, who seem to be relying on the dump-and-chase, something that has never served them well as a team.

6:00 Good save by Giguere on a shot from Antoine Vermette.  Columbus now has the last three shots, trailing 10-5 on the shot clock.

5:14 Second shot off the post of the game for Anaheim, this time off a redirect by Ryan from a Niedermayer shot.

3:14 Nice feed in slot by Nash to a wide open Vermette, but the puck just slides off his stick at the last minute.  Vermette should have at that one, and chances are would have had a goal had he been able to control it.

1:34 COLUMBUS GOAL!  A blocked shot by Vermette goes right to Kristian Huselius, who passes across two lines to a streaking Nash, who corrals the puck and blasts a slapper past Giguere on the ensuing breakaway.  Giguere was way out to play the angle, but obviously gave Nash some net to shoot at, and he made no mistake.  Columbus 1, Anaheim 1.

20.2 Getzlaf off for holding Rick Nash, giving Columbus their first powerplay of the evening.

End of the 1st.  Columbus is starting to come alive here, mainly thanks to the Nash goal.  The power play, which still has about 1:40 remaining to start the second period, could give the Jackets a much-needed boost if they can capitalize on it.  Garon looked sharp in the first fifteen minutes of the period, but didn't really have much action the final five.

2nd Period

18:36 James Wisniewski finally clears the puck for Anaheim, as the Jackets have had the puck in the zone almost this entire time on the power play.  This will just about end it, though.

18:15 Goal by Anaheim.  Getzlaf gets out of the box just in time to start a 2-on-1 rush.  Passes to Todd Marchant across the slot who fires it by Garon.  Anaheim 2, Columbus 1.

14:53 Artyukhin won't get out of another penalty; this time he is caught for holding.  Columbus has got to get shots on net here, as their last couple attempts have gone wide.

14:45 COLUMBUS GOAL!  Great goal by Kristian Huselius that looked a lot like Anaheim's first goal.  Vermette gets the puck down low, right in front of Giguere who gets down in the butterfly.  But Vermette backhands a pass instead to a wide open Huselius, who roofs a wrister over a diving Giguere.  Columbus 2, Anaheim 2.

13:15 Anaheim back on the power play.  Derek Brassard off for holding.  Jackets are 2-for-2 on the kill, and need another big one here.

11:15 Columbus kills off another power play, thus bringing their total to 3-for-3 on the day.

6:15 Rather boring period so far.  Neither side getting a whole lot of shots, nor has there really been a whole lot of hits.  In other words, it's a style of game the Blue Jackets are used to.

5:11 Scrum in front of the Ducks' net, which has been the first burst of physicality in this entire game.  Erik Christensen and defenseman Kris Russell get into a shoving match.  Both go off for coincidental minors.

2:40 Sigh.  Nikita Filatov going off for tripping, giving Anaheim their fourth power play of the game.

1:01 Unbelievable glove save by Garon off a Getzlaf wrister.  He's really giving his team a chance to win.  This is truly one of the first times this season that I feel confident in whoever's between the pipes for the Jackets.

End of Second.  Columbus was horribly outplayed in the final minute of the second period, after killing off Anaheim's fourth power play of the game.  Luckily, nothing ended up in the back of the net.

THIRD PERIOD

16:40 Columbus can't take advantage of two turnovers in their offensive zone.

15:28 Derek Dorsett makes a sliding save on a shot from the point, with the puck ending up underneath him.  The Ducks defenseman starts whacking at the fallen Dorsett, and some more Jackets step in to defend him, leading to another minor scrum.  This is something that's been missing from the team all season:  Standing up for teammates.  Good to see it here, even if Nash has been left to defend himself a couple of times tonight.

14:04 Giguere does a great job stopping a barrage of Columbus shots.  Great shift by Jakub Voracek, who fed two scoring chances to R.J. Umberger, who blew them both.  Columbus at least now seems to be getting into this game; better late than never, as the adage states.

11:22 Another non-call for the Jackets.  Nash was clearly held and hooked in the crease, but it was ignored by the zebras.

8:23 Getzlaf off for holding.  Jackets third power play of the game; they are 1-for-2 in their previous two attempts.  They need to score here.

7:27 Nash with an incredible feed to Huselius across the slot leads to what was originally thought to be a great save by Giguere...turns out, it was off the side of the net instead. 

1:26 Brown missing rebound that could have given Anaheim the lead, and a good shot at the win.  Save by Garon goes right to the stick of Brown, but it hops over his stick as he attempts a wrister.  Jackets getting a little break there.

0.0 Nothing settled in regulation...we're going to overtime.

OVERTIME

3:30 Columbus looking good ninety seconds in, carrying the play thus far, though they have no shots to show for it.  Got to get something toward the net.

2:21 Another freakin' penalty, and this one at the worst possible time:  Columbus for too many men on the ice.  Dangerous 4-on-3 forthcoming, but the Jackets perfect 4-for-4 performance on the PK could all be for naught with an Anaheim goal here.

51.6 Anaheim penalty negated thanks to a boarding call on Ryan Whitney.  Rare 3-on-3 situation for the two teams for about thirty seconds.

0.0 Nothing happens on the 3-on-3, and the Jackets don't get anything going with their brief twenty-second power play.  Still no winner; we are going to a shootout.

SHOOTOUT
Hopefully Garon can do better than Mason in this department, who has never been great.  Anaheim is 1-1 in shootouts; Columbus is 0-2.  Columbus shooters have yet to score a shootout goal in six attempts this season.  Columbus is shooting first.
Huselius: Goal!  CBJ leads shootout 1-0.
Getzlaf: Shot wide, no goal.  CBJ still leads 1-0.
Filatov: Save by Giguere.  No goal.
Perry: Save by Garon.  No goal.
Nash: Goal!  CBJ wins shootout 2-0

Rick Nash steps up big for his team and pots the game-winning shootout goal to give Columbus the 3-2 win.  It wasn't pretty, but it's two points, and a good way to rebound after the drubbing in Detroit.