A New Beginning?

Blue Jackets 5, Oilers 4 (Box Score) – Highlights
5-6-2, 12 points (4th division, 10th conference)

In the spirit of the Browns’ new beginning tonight, I thought I’d take this opportunity to highlight what might be a similar new beginning. I would take the same results, anyway. The Blue Jackets called up #1 goaltending prospect Steve Mason, and instead of him backing up struggling Fredrik Norrena he was thrust onto the NHL stage Wednesday night as Norrena “tweaked a groin” in morning skate (call me crazy, but I’m speculating that this injury might be less debilitating than we might think seeing as how the team is high on Mason and Norrena has been just KILLING them). Aaron Portzline and Tom Reed of the Dispatch smelled it, too:
“Goaltender Fredrik Norrena was a late scratch with a groin injury. That’s what the club said, anyway. When Tom Reed asked Norrena if his groin was injured, he said ‘no comment.’ Here’s a question: if Norrena has a groin injury, how can he serve as the back-up?”

I don’t know, but I hope this is an omen for Browns fans as well: Mason wasn’t great, wasn’t horrible, but the Jackets managed to eek out a wild (and much-needed) regulation win against a Western Conference opponent. Jackets goals were tallied by Derick Brassard, R.J. Umberger, Kristian Huselius, Fredrik Modin and Manny Malhotra (game-winner), and Torres, Mike Commodore and Jakub Voracek each poured in two assists as well. Mason stopped 22 of the 26 shots he faced.

The Jackets couldn’t protect a 2-0 lead early in the second period, and gave up four unanswered goals to find themselves behind just two minutes into the third. But, the goals continued to come fast and furious and the Jackets managed to tie the game at 4 just five minutes into the third period.

Both teams then hunkered down, playing solid defense for the majority of the third period. Raffi Torres took (what looked to me to be) a garbage slashing penalty (replays showed his stick barely even touched the opposing player, and the supposed “slash” didn’t stop that player for continuing to the net and even getting a shot off) with 3:20 left in the game. The Jackets staved off some tough scoring chances for the Oilers–including a shot from the blue-line that STUD Jason Chimera blocked with his abdomen!!–and with perfect timing Torres came out of the box with about 1:20 to go, setting up a 3-on-2 rush that resulted in Malhotra’s game-winner (pictured above). Relative to his unfortunate penalty, Torres said, “This would have been a tough game to lose.”

(Side note: Said Chimera of the shot he blocked: “I flexed.” He then managed to push the puck out of the zone as he skated off the ice, and walked down the tunnel to “make sure everything was intact.” STUD.)

Coach Ken Hitchcock was happy with the outcome, but didn’t mince words when he spoke of his team’s continuing performance:

To be quite honest with you, this is just our team. When you play young, skilled players, you’re going to go through peaks and valleys during a 60-minute game. We’re going to be an entertaining team all year. We’re not going to be out of any game, because we can score goals and we can create offense. But it’s not always going to be pretty.

At this point, after the Jackets ended a 3-game losing streak by earning points in four straight games (2-0-2, for 6 points), I don’t care if it’s pretty. The Jackets are staying afloat and within striking distance, which is all I can hope as they get their young kids acclimated to the NHL game. Derick Brassard has to be the front-runner for the Calder Trophy at this point, and if they can get Steve Mason some NHL experience while still winning and scoring points, all the better.

And as for Mason, he was solid at times, and struggled at others. He didn’t get much help from his defense during the 4-goal run by the Oilers, which included a power-play goal and a short-handed goal created by a horrible turn-over by Voracek right in front of the goal. But, he didn’t allow a goal until halfway through the game, and he slammed the door for the last 18 minutes of the third period when the Jackets needed him most. My first impressions of him (this is the first time I’ve seen him play) is that he’s big, athletic, and quick, and the fact that he catches with his right hand (most goalies catch with their left) can be confusing to shooters at times. The thing I liked most is that he seemed to make some adjustments as the game went on: after giving up a couple of fairly soft goals, he worked on his positioning to cut down shooting angles as the game went on. He made some solid saves down the stretch (including a big shot from Lubomir Visnovsky with about 30 seconds left in the game), and held the Oilers at 4 when he had to. And, with LeClaire nursing a nagging injury, it would be good to have a solid option between the pipes so as not to have to rush Pascal back. Not to get too far ahead of myself, but if Mason can continue to improve we might be seeing a passing of the torch (and possibly the end of Fredrik Norrena on this team, one could hope).

The important thing is that the Jackets have some semblance of momentum right now, and have two more home games this week to continue building on it. This stretch really could be a new beginning for this team.