The Columbus Blue Jackets were all set to celebrate their first win of 2011-2012, but everything changed with 40 seconds left. Equally, the upstart Colorado Avalanche were less than a minute away from exiting last night’s match without a single point. The youth, instead, prevailed for the Colorado Avalanche and breathed life back into the game as 18 year-old 2nd overall draft pick of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, Gabriel Landeskog, scored his first ever NHL goal to tie the game with just 40 seconds remaining in the game. I’m not sure if it was yelling, or the fans collectively exhaling, but the sound heard throughout Nationwide Arena was miles away from what it was sure to be.
"I didn't know if I got it," the Swede said with a grin. "I didn't know if it went off something else after me. I jumped and it hit my skate and I saw that the guys were cheering. I just started jumping."
The initial shot came from defenseman Jan Hejda as Landeskog and Daniel Winnik drove to the front of the net and screened goaltender Steve Mason. The carom shot went off of Landeskog as he jumped in the air.
Landeskog’s first ever NHL goal wasn’t really a thing of beauty, where he powered his way through a couple of defensemen for a give-and-go top shelf backhander with Milan Hejduk like everyone thought it would be, but it was just as sweet for the kid and his teammates.
"Finally! And it was such a big game," Landeskog said of his first NHL goal. "It's a big road trip for us. It's huge for team bonding as well to get those two points. You always dream about scoring in a crucial moment of a game, especially on the road like this in the third game of the season. So, it was a huge relief for me, and for the team as well."
The game was then sent to a shootout, where 3rd overall draft pick of 2009 Matt Duchene clinched the victory with a beautiful deke on Columbus goaltender Steve Mason for the 3-2 comeback victory as he placed the shot perfectly through the five-hole.
"I just tried to open him up and tried to see if I could find some daylight," Duchene said. "I was able to slip it between his legs."
Rick Nash, Columbus’ captain and star player was the leader in points through the game. Nash scored the Blue Jackets’ first goal and his second of the season after he single handedly turned the puck over deep in the Avalanche zone, shot the puck, and buried his own rebound on the backhand. He would assist the Jackets’ only other tally off the stick of defenseman Radek Martinek’s early third period goal. Nash also did his best to steal the game back as he buried a gorgeous shootout goal, but his efforts weren’t enough for a victory last night.
For the Jackets, it was the last shot on net in the third period before the Avs tied the game within the last minute. The Blue Jackets went without a single shot for the last 22:36 of the game.
"We got back on our heels," Jackets coach Scott Arniel said. "We got a lead and we were trying to protect the lead and we were a little bit afraid of making a mistake."
The Avalanche put the pressure on Steve Mason, who finished with 30 saves. Through the entire third period, the Avalanche outshot the Blue Jackets 16-1.
"It's obviously not the way we wanted to start the year," said Jeff Carter, acquired by the Blue Jackets in the off-season to provide Nash a scoring center to enhance the offense. "There was a lot of excitement coming into the season about the team. The fans showed that on the first night. If we expect fans to come out and cheer us on and pay their hard-earned money to come out here, we need to start putting wins on the board."
The Blue Jackets were 0-4 on the powerplay last night, for a total of 0-20 on the early season; a huge disappointment thus far.
Though Nash and Landeskog were obvious highlight makers on the night, much attention does need to be paid to Avalanche goaltender Semyon Varlamov, who continued to play solid for the Avalanche after coming over via trade on the offseason. Varlamov made 31 stops in the game, including Jeff Carter’s last ditch effort in the shootout to keep it going for the Blue Jackets. Though he didn’t face much rubber at all in the last 23 minutes of the game, he kept his head in it. Sometimes fewer shots is a negative thing for goaltenders. The save percentage was near dead-even between Varlamov and Mason, who finished .939 and .938 respectively. Varlamov improves his record to 2-1 with a .960 save percentage and 1.30 goals against average and one shutout, which was claimed in the Av’s last game against the mighty Boston Bruins. Varlamov is currently 2nd in the NHL in save percentage and goals against average behind only Dallas’ Kari Lehtonen.
The Avalanche have been re-tooling, and with the addition of youth mixed through a scattered amount of veteran leadership, the Avs are really rolling now.
"I like the fact that we were resilient," Colorado coach Joe Sacco said. "It's hard to win in this league. We found a way to come away with two points tonight."
- Kendall Grubbs
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