A complete game
Jackets hum for all three periods; Zherdev returns and tallies two goals
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Michael Arace
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
</IMG> The Blue Jackets? Rostislav Klesla, left, collides with Ed Jovanovski of the Coyotes during the second period.
</IMG> Rick Nash (61), David Vyborny (9) and Nikolai Zherdev celebrate Zherdev?s second goal during the second period.
The Blue Jackets put together three strong periods against an undisciplined team at Nationwide Arena last night. This was a whipping with a distinct snap to it.
Nikolai Zherdev returned with all of his snake-charming wiles and scored a pair of goals. Rick Nash and Duvie Westcott each had a goal and an assist. David Vyborny had three assists and Anson Carter scored his first goal in Jackets blue.
The Blue Jackets rolled to a 5-1 victory before an announced crowd of 16,298. Is it too early to mention that they?re in first place and lead the league in power-play goals with eight?
"Yeah," Westcott said. "I don?t want to jinx it."
After playing one good period in Game 1 and two good periods in Game 2, the Blue Jackets (2-1) did a cha-chacha over the Coyotes for 60 minutes. The visitors helped by taking 12 penalties.
"First of all," Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky said, "they (the Jackets) played a nice game. They?re a much better team than they were last year. I tried to explain that to our guys. It was a mismatch tonight. They embarrassed us, it?s as simple as that."
The Blue Jackets got instant energy from Zherdev, who signed a three-year, $7.5 million contract Sept. 28 and needed more than a week to work through visa issues and get to Columbus. He arrived Sunday, practiced with the team at yesterday?s morning skate and supplied a jolt by weaving through Coyotes and burying his chances, with help from Nash.
"We picked up right where we left off last year," Nash said. "It was fun."
Zherdev scored 61 seconds into the first period, lifting a rebound off a shot from Nash into the net. The Coyotes tied the game midway through the first period on a goal by Ed Jovanovski. What a wicked shot that was. The teams traded penalties through the middle of the game, and then the Blue Jackets assumed command.
Vyborny threaded a sublime pass to the top of the crease for Nash at 11:08 of the second period. Nash tipped in a nobrainer with a five-on-three advantage.
Just 40 seconds later, Nash was barreling around Derek Morris, driving the net and leaving a gift of a pass on the doorstep for Zherdev. It was the sort of rush that can mark the Blue Jackets, who do not lack for gifted forwards. It gave the Jackets a 3-1 lead and offered comfort to goaltender Pascal Leclaire (23 saves).
Leclaire made the big save ? on a shorthanded breakaway by Owen Nolan in the final seconds of the middle period ? and the outcome seemed inevitable.
"I wouldn?t say they made it easy on us, but (the Coyotes) took a lot of penalties in the second period and gave us momentum," Blue Jackets coach Gerard Gallant said. "The key to the hockey game is we converted on the power play and kept on the gas all night."
The Blue Jackets went 3 for 12 on the power play. They?re 8 for 25 (32 percent) through three games. The word will soon be out: Given their forward strength, and with the addition of Zherdev, they are death with the man advantage. New assistant Gary Agnew has the PP humming.
"We?re young and we?re learning ? that mentality is out the door now," center Manny Malhotra said. "In this league, you?ve got to play three periods. We talked about it coming into this game. We hadn?t done it yet."
Now they have. For only the 10 th time in their 413-game history, they won by more than four goals. There was only one black mark. Center Dan Fritsche suffered a shoulder injury when he struck the boards awkwardly in the first period and did not return. More will be known on Fritsche?s condition today.
marace@dispatch.com