The story of this one - the Jackets got out powerplayed. That's a rare occurance for a team that came into this game with the 2nd best PP in the league.
That's a shame too because for the most part, the Jackets put together a strong effort. They only covereted on 1 of their 6 PP chances and Elliot was better than Mason. There's your 1 goal difference and there's your dissapointing 1-3-1 record on this season long road trip.
* I thought this may have been Kristian Huselius' best game as a Jacket. He was the best forward on the ice in this game. Yes he got the PP goal but that was only part of the story. I had to pause my DVR not once but twice when I saw him digging behind his own net for pucks... he carried the puck with speed.. he made tape to tape passes... he was fantastic.
* Rick Nash was also solid. He didn't get on the score sheet but he still played a very good game out there creating chances, shielding pucks, playing D... imagine if he connected with that open ice hit on Kovalev. A lot of night Nash will get points when he doesn't play well... tonight it was just the opposite.
* Umberger is snake bitten but he's putting in the work and getting chances... these will eventually start to the fall. Elliot had his number tonight. He also did a really good job on the PK.
* Sammy Pahlsson looked like he actually tried to score... I counted 3 quality chances for this guy. It's about damn time. Honestly, this guy hasn't done a lot for me yet.
* Two straight nationally televised Jackets game in Canada is good exposure. Fun to hear those stories about Nash signing every autograph he can up there - especially for the kids.
* Ottawa's Elliot was really good... He won this game for the Sens.
* Both Methot's and Brass's families representing at the game...
* Well, the turkey was good.
YELLOW
* Mase wasn't bad stopping 34 of 36 shots but he blinked first. Mase has to stop that shot at the end to preserve the out come of this game -- it's a stop he made last year.
* PK was decent.... not a whole lot of quality chances... the one goal it gave up was on Mase.
* Through the first 39 minutes the Jackets took only 1 penalty.... unfortunately the ref evened it out through the final 21 minutes sending the Jackest to the bin 3 times.... and the Sens made em pay on that final trip..
* I'm on the fence about the delayed penalty call that resulted in the Spezza goal... yeah the ref could have blown it but I've seen those guy both ways.... end of the day the Jackets shouldn't have taken the penalty and should have done a better job getting control of that puck before Spezza ripped it.
RED
* Failure to put the nail in the coffin. The 2nd best PP had 6 stabs at it. It's hard to rag on the PP considering it's been the lifeline of this team so far this season... it did get a goal but only scoring on 1 of 6 chances really handcuffed this squad. There were a couple of duds in there but I'd say 3 or 4 of those PPs really created some chances... unfortunately Elliot was there.
* The word is out -- if you want to score on the Jackets... take the play behind the goal line.
* The Sens scored a goal less than a minute after the Jackets did... any momentum gained quickly vanished. That is a coach's nighmare.
* Want to watch mis-management... just watch the Jackets in the final minute of this game. Ottawa had them tired and running around like pee-wee hockey.
* Both Voracek and Brassard need to get it going... they just haven't produced enough offense for the roles they are both carrying on this team. Juice carried that line all night long. Both struggled on the PP as well. I think these are two of the players Hitch was referring to at his post game conference when he said they are players who think they are playing at a high level but aren't -- especially offensively.
* Only 3 points out of a possible 10 on this road trip ending with 3 straight regulation losses. Not quite a disaster but damn close. They are now 6-7-1 on the road. Just not nearly good enough.
3 BRIGHT LIGHTS ON THE NIGHT
1. Kristian Huselius was excellent.
2. Defense re-committed.. at least for a game.
3. Jackets hockey on Thanksgiving.. hey, I could get used to this!!
Losing sucks and no loss should be looked upon as good but at least the team was pointed in the right direction for this game...especially given the blowouts and blown leads this team has been involved in thus far this season.
Now it's time for some home cookin. The Jackets get their next 5 of 6 at home. The Calgary game on Saturday is a must win. 4 losses in a row (including Nashville SO loss) is bad enough but it can't go to 5... this has to end now, at home, on Saturday night.
I love the Jackets-Flames games... always a battle. Expect this one to follow suit as the Flames are better on the road (7-1-3) than they are at home (7-5-0).
Catch ya there tomorrow night to see if the Jackets are in it to win it!! They'd better bring their hard hats.
-LTL
