The Jackets delivered Claud Noel his first win in his first game as an NHL coach last night by a final of 2-1 over the Stars.  Granted it was against one of the worst road teams in the NHL but a win is a win.

STOPLIGHT GAME REVIEW
vs Dallas
02.04.10
SCORE: Jackets2 Stars 1

GREEN
* Congrats to Noel on this first win.  There is always a 10 game bump when a new coach takes over so I'm not getting too excited but it's always a special night for a coach when he coaches that first game at the highest level and gets a 'W'.

* Ice time.  The most interesting part for me going into last night's tilt was how was the ice time was going to get distributed.  Again it was just one game but I like what I saw.  The young guys got their time with Brassard and Voracek getting close to 15 mins.  Russell checked in with over 18.  The most interesting part was Marc Methot teamed with Jan Hejda carried the load the load defensively with over 22 mins each which led the team.  While still getting their minutes Tyutin's load was eased with close to 20 as well as Nash who just over 17.  The only guy without double minutes in time was Chris Clark with 8:45.  I really liked the distribution.

* Stralman finally got a goal off a seeing-eye knuckle ball to get the Jackets on the board first.

* How about that effot by RJ Umberger on that empty net?  He worked harder for that goal than most guys do when there is a goalie in the cage.

* Nash has the best shift of his season on one of the PKs.  Need much more of that from the captain.

* There just seemed to be a differently feeling in the arena last night from the players to the fans.  Like it was a breath of fresh air or something.  The team looked loose.  The young kids looked re-energized.  It was just one game but it felt refreshing.

* Mase looked good.  Played his angles well.  Didn't give up many rebounds.  Same he didn't get the shutout but I'm happy with a solid start.  He needs to build off that game.

* Turco was pretty good himself.  I think he's a Wing at the deadline.

YELLOW
* Modin actually looked like he had some hop in his strides.  Had to laugh at my buddy who said he's just getting in game shape for the Olympics.. he'll play well there and come back in a boot and be untradeable.  Jaded? Yes.  Possibly some truth in there?  Yes.

* PK was good killing off both penalties.

* 14k in attendance was better than I thought we'd see.  Crowd was pretty loud too!

* Not really a good or bad thing but I didn't quite realize how small Brad Richards was until I saw him next to Vermette... Of course the "official" NHL stats say he's over 6 ft... if that is the case then so am I.

* Quite game in terms of the rough stuff which was a bit surprising.  Both teams were physical with the Jackets throwing 36 hits to the Stars 35.  Marc Methot led the way for the Jackets with 6 thumpers.

* Speaking of hits -- but I think I saw Jake Voracek throw a hit.  In fact he was credited with two of em.

* Lots of chatter about that Kovalchuk trade -- Oduya is a nice player but thought they'd would get a higher price tag.  Thrasher's GM Don Wadell must have some dirt on someone in Atlanta to keep his job as long as he has.  As I mentioned via twitter last night that probably close the kind of return Rick Nash would have gotten if he didn't re-sign this summer.

RED
* Giving up that late goal to kill the shutout and put Jackets fans back on the edge.

* Not one PP for the Jackets.  C'mon - the Stars weren't perfect.

3 BRIGHT LIGHTS ON THE NIGHT
1 Noel's debut and first 'W' as an NHL coach
2. Umberger diving empty netter.
3. Mase looked good

A nice start to Noel's interim coaching career and a congrats and his first "W".

Not to end on a sour note but what I really don't want to happen is for Noel to win a bunch of games and this franchise not go through a thourough coaching search.  Again that 10 game bump with a new coach can be a mirage.  For me I'll judge his performance based on how the team plays the last 10 games over the first 10.  That will be a truer barometer of how focused he can keep them when all they will be truly playing for is tee times.

...and I couldn't resist that headline!!

-LTL

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