Anaheim Ducks @ Columbus Blue Jackets: Postgame

This post game is going to be a lot harder to write than last Sunday’s post game win over the Vancouver Canucks was to write. The Columbus Blue Jackets found themselves in the midst of a 3 game winning streak, and with a chance to climb back over the .500 mark. Well to say the least the 3 game win streak is no more, and the Columbus Blue Jackets fell back under the .500 mark, to 5-6.

1st period:

Blake Comeau joined the battle, scoring his first goal of the season with a tricky little shot from the point. The shot got to Anaheim goaltender Frederik Andersen quick, he was screened by a couple of his own players, and it made the score 1-0 good guys.

Artem Anisimov found himself on the wrong side of a huge, yet legal check from Francois Beauchemin. Nick Foligno jumped to the task of sticking up for Arty, and received a roughing minor which sent the Ducks to a power play. The Blue Jackets were up to the task and killed off the 2 minute penalty, leaving the score at 1-0.

The rest of the period was pretty uneventful, although I liked what I saw out of Ryan Craig, and Michael Chaput. They both were giving up their bodies to block shots defensively, Craig even put is face on the line to block a shot late in the period. If those two continue to play that way, I wouldn’t mind seeing more of them, when injuries arise that is.

CBJ 1  Anaheim 0

2nd Period:

Ryan Getzlaf started the period off right for the Ducks (wrong for the CBJ), getting a pass to the left of Sergei Bobrovsky, above the face-off circle and fired a quickly turnaround shot. It like a handful of other shots this year, should have been stopped by Bob.

A little more than 6 minutes later Bob was back to letting in soft goals, this time off the stick of Peter Holland. Bob thought he had closed the door, but Holland fired a shot from about the goal line that found its way through Bob’s pads and made it 2-1 bad guys.

Oct 27, 2013; Columbus, OH, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets center

(42) celebrates a goal during the second period against the Anaheim Ducks at Nationwide Arena. Anaheim beat Columbus 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Russell LaBounty-USA TODAY Sports

Columbus found themselves on the PK once again, this time however Brandon Dubinsky and Artem Anisimov were going to make it a happy one for the Blue Jackets. Dubi intercepted a pass and headed towards the Ducks goal, slid a smooth pass to Arty, who then deeked out Anderson and evened the score at 2. Then the game changed, Dubi laid out Saku Koivu, his shoulder catching Koivu’s head and knocking him out. Cam Fowler came to Koivu’s aid and Dubi threw him to the ice like a rag doll. After the idiots, I mean refs huddled, they decided to give Dubi a 5 minute interference penalty and a game misconduct, but no roughing penalty to Fowler (go figure). The Ducks would have over four minutes of a penalty in the third after the final 35 seconds of the 2nd period saw no other action.

CBJ 2  Anaheim 2

3rd Period:

The Blue Jackets PK again played so well, but did give up a goal during the game misconduct to Emerson Etem. It gave the Ducks their second lead of the game, this time at 3-2, and the Blue Jackets were going to have to find some resolve to get back into the game.

Well resolve is what they found! James Wisniewski put a shot on net and Anisimov redirected it beautifully, and it found its way past Anderson. The Blue Jackets had tied it up at 3 with a little over 11 minutes left to go in the third.

Oct 27, 2013; Columbus, OH, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets center

(19) passes the puck against the Anaheim Ducks during the second period at Nationwide Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russell LaBounty-USA TODAY Sports

The resolve the Blue Jackets found to tie the game at 3 wasn’t enough, with about 3 minutes to go in the third Ryan Johansen tried to pass the puck behind his own net, off the back boards. He executed it poorly, cut the angle too much and the pass bounced off the side of the net and right onto Corey Perry‘s stick. He faked a slap shot, which faked Bob out of his pads, held the puck and waited for Bob to go down to his side and buried it above Bob’s outstretched glove. I have enjoyed Dalton Prout back in the lineup, but he just stopped at the side of the goal and watched Perry score. He didn’t have a lot of time, but he could have given a little more effort and tried to dive in front of the net.

The Blue Jackets finally got their first power play with 1:27 left to go in the third, when Marian Gaborik was hauled down in his way to the net. The Blue Jackets pulled Bob and had a number of chances, but couldn’t capitalize. The resolve they found earlier in the 3rd to tie the game at 3, was nowhere to be found this time around.

CBJ 3  Anaheim 4

Buying High:

1. Artem Anisimov: 2 goals, and a +2 rating after being leveled earlier in the game. Coming to life offensively lately and that’s a great sign for Blue Jacket fans.
2. Blake Comeau: 1st goal of the season, let’s hope that can get him off and running.
3. Brandon Dubinsky: Making a case more and more for the “C”, even though he received a game misconduct penalty, it wasn’t warranted to me. Let’s hope he doesn’t receive a suspension for his hit on Koivu.

Selling Low:

1. Sergei Bobrovsky: Don’t get me wrong, I love Bob, and he is our goalie, but these soft goals are really hurting this team and I hope he can correct that soon.
2. Ryan Johansen: Had an assist, but his costly turnover led to this loss, and he ended up -1 for the night.
3. Dalton Prout: -1 for the night, and just stood there on the game deciding goal, wanted more effort to stop that shot from going in.

Tough loss for the Columbus Blue Jackets, and they fall to 5-6 on the season. The good news is they are playing better, but these tough losses need to end, and end soon. Next game is Friday against Pittsburgh, and another chance to test themselves against the elite of the NHL.