Saturday, October 06, 2007

End the season now!

The Blue Jackets start the season right: winning 4-0 against the reigning Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks. It's all downhill from here folks, so let's bask in teh glow for a while.

Many good things to point out. Shutout! Leclaire is back as starter in goal and he pitches all zeros against a good club. This performance goes a long way in answering questions about coming back from an injury plagued season.

Power play success. Three goals from three different players (Federov, Nash and Hainsey) as Columbus goes 3-10 on the power play and holds Anaheim to 0-7. Special teams advantage is a must if the team is to improve this year.

Shots on goal. It is not nit-picking to consider that Columbus needs to generate more opportunities in the offensive end. They have been routinely out-shot and they need to turn those tables by clearing the defensive zone and taking the open shot. The extra pass seemed to plague the team last year. Nash and Modin had 13 shots between them, and the Jackets out-shot the Ducks 37-28.

Now that's a good start.

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