The Jackets played their second and final game of the year against defending the Stanley Cup Champ Boston Bruins last night, and it was an interesting affair. The first game of the season ended with a shootout loss for the Jackets, but began a run of picking up points in games due to the stellar and surprising play of Curtis Sanford. The second game was a chippy game from the beginning, saw the Jackets take an early two-goal lead, give it up in the final minutes of a period. While the good guys were able to tie the game at 3, they fell behind for good in the third period.
Other than the collapse in the final minutes of a period, the story you will hear about this game is the world class bad officiating. At 13.03 of the second period the box score will show that Derek Dorsett was called for goaltender interference, but that the penalty was served by http://bluejackets.nhl.com/club/player.htm?id=8459492. The “goaltender interference” was Tim Thomas sticking his leg and initiating contact with Dorsett, sending him into the corner and his foot into a position it does not normally occupy. I am not linking to a picture of it, you can look for it if you want but it ain’t pretty. Adding insult to (literal) injury, Timmy had gone unobserved or unpunished on a slash in the first period. Of course, Timmy’s transgression might have been unobserved because Milan Lucic was busy ringing up a second minor on a delayed call. Later in the game Lucic stuck his knee out to take out Derek MacKenzie, fortunately DMac was fine but the trip and intent to injure was missed by the refs.
Lest one thinks this is the ranting of a blogger whose team lost the game, Boston broadcaster and world-renowed homer could not believe the interference call on Dorsett. The Fox Sports Ohio broadcast team referred to last night’s crew as being young, but whatever the cause the game was poorly officiated. Chippy play was allowed to develop and then the officials tried to establish control. The officials took what is certainly a league directive to watch for goalie interference and made a horrible call. This the second game in a row where the Jackets have legitimate complaints about officiating. Last night against the Bruins, the officiating was bad but did not determine the outcome of the game; a few nights ago the officiating arguably contributed to the loss (note contributed, not caused).
Nobody likes to have their faults exposed to the world, nobody wants their job evaluations published for all to see. But if the NHL is going to be open with the player discipline process and provide the public with explanation videos for every suspension and non-suspension, it is not unreasonable to expect explanations as to why a bad call was made. A league video explaining what will be done to clarify for the officiating crew what they did wrong is not too much, is it? I await the explanations as to why a short review of the Dorsett goaltender interference call was or was not correct. I think I will poop in my other hand, care to guess which fills up first?
At any rate, the Jackets did not lose last night because of officiating. They lost because they can not play defense in the last two minutes of every period. Had Boston been prevented from scoring even one of those goals at the end of the first, the Jackets are playing with a tie or lead throughout most of the second. As it was they had to play catch-up. There is no easy answer as to why this keeps happening. Does Sanford need a break? Does the team need a kick in the pants? Is coaching at fault? Have the players quit on the coach?
In the short term, Mason has been promised a start this homestand and with Dekanich approaching another rehab stint, it might be do or die time for Steve. Dorsett’s injury has not officially been diagnosed by the team, not a good thing, but anybody who saw it knows he is going to miss some time. If you look at my Twitter time line (@Howye), you will see my mentioning Cam Atkinson more than a few times. He is a high-energy guy who is leading Springfield in scoring. Not the way I wanted to get him up here, but will take it. Fellow Fire that Cannon blogger gary2 feels this is the way to go too.
Finally, losing what is essentially a one goal game to the Stanley Cup Champs is nothing to hang your head over. The Jackets gave the Bruins all they wanted last night and more. In a normal season this loss gets absorbed with the others and everybody moves on. But right now everything is magnified, wins are precious and few, losses feel like yet another set back. Yes, if the Jackets are going to win the Cup this is the type of game they have to win. They will get a chance at another one of those types of games when Stanley Cup runner-up Vancouver comes to town. In the long-run, its one of eight-two and the team has to learn its lesson from the game and move on.