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Jackets 3 Sabres 0
By Bethany | October 20, 2007
Sweet, sweet victory. Ya, I know it’s just one game but after the shalacking in Colorado and the brutal shootout loss at home to Dallas this win felt good, REALLY good. We had a solid goal tending effort by Leclaire who stopped all 21 shots he faced. Rick Nash played amazingly with 2 goals and an assist. He also received the first penalty shot of the season and missed but made up for it scoring 62 seconds after the failed penalty shot. Peca scored his first as a Blue Jacket and Nikolai Zherdev netted his first of the season. The Puck Rakers said that Hitchcock had spent most of Saturday studying the way the Sabres have played and well we played their style of play better than they did.
“We’re learning the lessons with our team that Buffalo learned five or six years ago,” Hitchcock said. “This team (the Sabres) never gets the credit for the work they put in. Yeah, they can finish (their chances), but it’s not like the other team gives them the puck and says, ‘Have a go at it.’
Michael Peca was centering the top line with Nash and Zherdev and that line accounted for all three of the goals. Zherdev finally got his first goal of the season and he looked really really good last night. Hopefully, notching his first goal of the season will help him with his confidence and also get his offense going! Zherdev has the talent, a lot of talent, and I’m really happy that he’s on our team…he’s playing extremely well.
“We’re a team that wants to win, and we’re not going to settle for mediocrity,” said Michael Peca, who added a goal and an assist while playing on a line with Nash and Nikolai Zherdev for the second straight game. “We’re not going to settle for complacency. We’re no longer the expansion Columbus Blue Jackets. We want to be a force in our conference.”
Leclaire, I have given him so much heat. But, if he keeps playing this way…he’s going to win my heart…(not over Norrena mind you) but he’ll have a spot. Granted he wasn’t tested that much but there were times when Buffalo was peppering him with shots that he looked great.
Foote and Hejda our top defensive pairing looked great. Hejda had four blocked shots last night. Hejda was a +2 last night. It was great to see Shelley out on the ice, Buffalo didn’t dress their enforcer granted he only played 2:51 but it was nice to see him and Curtis Glencross in a game.
Ken Hitchcock took a puck to the face and ended up getting stitches on the bench. When asked about it later he wouldn’t talk about it. Keep your head up Hitch we need you! However, I think he was pretty happy about the end result of the game to care about it.
Ole-Kristian Tollefsen was hit from behind or tripped from behind whatever you want to call it and went awkwardly into the boards. It took him a while to get up but after the game he said he was ok.
Fredrik Modin has a groin tear and is currently day to day. Modin is expected to miss 7-10 days. This is the third Jacket to go down with a groin injury this season. Tomorrow we are taking on the Vancouver Canucks and I will be there soaking it all in.
Topics: Columbus Blue Jackets, Buffalo Sabres |