its gonna be a LOOOOOONG year

wow we looked great out there. i realize its only one game and sanderson was out but atlanta sucks, and we still dont know how to get the puck out of our own end or keep it in the offensive end

Same ol' *****:

--Giving up goals with 2:00 left in games on the road
--Running around blindly while the opponent cycles the puck in our zone for 45 seconds at a time
--Poor passing through the neutral zone

New *****:

--Mind-numbingly poor power play
--No offense whatsoever
--Tyler Wright reverting to "Two Minute Tyler" form by yapping at the refs


A poor first game. I'm gonna hope that this was a result of a tough environment to play in, but I'm stumped where the offense is gonna come from this year based on that performance.


Oh, and what's up with Nash only getting 12 minutes of ice time? I thought Whitney was let go so Nash could get more ice time?

There is a lot I could complain about but I'l lkeep it brief.

I'm rolling back the play in the corner just before the goal and I just can't see how McEachern got that puck away from Sydor. Sydor was facing the boards, the forward places both arms around the defenseman and does, nothing really, and ends up with the puck. Sydor looked soft in the corners tonight, and that one cost us a goal.

One game does not a season make, but when you have a much hyped team that was overhauled to play differently, you get ticked when the play is the same.

On the bright side:

Our fourth line looked great.
Our third line looked good.
I liked MacLean's suit.

Saturday had better be one helluva contest.

On the bright side:

Our fourth line looked great.
Our third line looked good.
I liked MacLean's suit.

I agree with these. I thought the 4th line should have seen a little more time out there. The pass Ling made to Neddy on our goal was sweet. Fritsche didn't look out of place.

I thought the 3rd line was 2/3 good. I always noticed Letowski and Pirjeta when they were out there, but Tyler was pretty invisible.

MacLean's suit was indeed nice; it matched his hair perfectly. :)

Our PK was way too passive. You can't have the other team keep the puck in the zone for the full two minutes, giving their sniper numerous chances to score on the one timer.

Our PP was HORRID. Two passes and it's lost in the corner or out of the zone.

Way too many stupid and needless penalities.

Spacek sucks.

Lachance sucks.

Rusty looked good.

Duvie looked good.

Nedorost was hit or miss.

I'm hoping a light bulb went off in Doug's head when Fritsche poked it to Ling, who flinged a beauty to Nedorost who blasts it past Pasi. Shelley was a major non factor and needs to only play in games where his one assest is used.

What a waste.

There is no way that second goal should go in. Denis was way too deep in the net, and on the wrong side - totally out of position! Virtually any starting goalie in the NHL makes that save routinely.

For me, it made for a very short season. I can use the time to catch up on my reading. At least my wife won't have to watch "Survivor" in the bedroom any more.

Peace.

The Jackets have turned losing games like this into an art form. Same script, different players.

What a waste.

There is no way that second goal should go in. Denis was way too deep in the net, and on the wrong side - totally out of position! Virtually any starting goalie in the NHL makes that save routinely.


I don't agree. The 1st goal was a weak one and Denis should have had that one. I know Kovalchuk has a great shot, but unscreened from the point should be stopped most of the time. 2nd goal was Tamer having all day to wind up and shot the puck with a 3 man screen in front of Denis; there wasn't a routine save to be had there. There were two Thrashers and 1 Jacket in front of Denis (around the hashmarks in the slot). You weren't in Denis' shoes there and neither was I, but three guys in front of him does not make that a soft goal or bad positioning. That's why a Jackets forward is supposed to cover the point and why the D are supposed to move the screeners. Let's not blame Denis because he couldn't bail out the Jackets when they broke down again.

Having ACTUALLY been at the game(and with extremely good seats) I'll actually comment on several of these.

1.There is no way that second goal should go in. Denis was way too deep in the net, and on the wrong side - totally out of position! Virtually any starting goalie in the NHL makes that save routinely.

Denis wasn't even close to the net(3 feet in front of crease) and your saying he was too deep? He had three people in front of him, and didn't even see it before it was by him. Wrong side of the net? You play shots on the right side on the right side, not the left. Having said that though Denis did look lost when the shot was low and to the left.

The one he should of had was the first which seemed to go right underneath his pads. Then again I hardly saw any shots that were blocked by our defense, and can't remember a single time when someone hit the ice trying to block. It was a shooting gallery from the point all night long

Lachance sucks. Rusty looked good. Nedorost was hit or miss.

Rusty had some moments where he looked lost when the puck was in the offensive zone, but that was primarily in the first. After that he was everywhere. There was a time(both PP units, followed by 5 on 5) where I swear Rusty didn't leave the ice for 5 minutes.

I found it interesting that Rusty and Duvie seemed to get the most time on PP, but I haven't looked at the actual numbers they were on the ice. What is up with Duvie being paired with Sydor and Rusty with Lachance? I thought we brought Sydor in to "tutor" Rusty

As for Lachance, there isn't a single time I can remember him standing out(which is good, because he didn't screw up then)

What is up with the hatred for Nedorost? He seemed to be parked in front of the net or digging the puck from the boards the whole time. His goal came as a result of busting his butt to get involved and he got rewarded for it. I was scratching my head when I saw he was on the first line, but Andrej seemed to be someone to contend with

I'll tell you who sucked though was Vyborny and Richardson. There was three times alone where the puck was two feet from Vyborny and he seemed to just stand there looking at it until a Thrasher came and got it, not to mention the numerous passes that seemd to go right off his stick. Richardson, just looked lost

Shelley was a major non factor and needs to only play in games where his one assest is used

Shelley lead the rush on three seperate occasions and seemed surprised when his linemates were switching swifts. Fritche did seem to be better, but Shelley was descent when given the chance.

Oh, and what's up with Nash only getting 12 minutes of ice time? I thought Whitney was let go so Nash could get more ice time?

AMEN! After the second, I turned to my roommate and asked him if he remembers Nash being on the ice all that much. There was one play where he seemed to back in with the puck, circle around the defender and seemed to start going to the net, but unfortuanetly was checked. The man has some serious skills(and longer hair, he looks rugged) I thought he was going to bury one at the end of the second and figured Columbus would feed off that, but they instead came out sluggish.

I always noticed Letowski and Pirjeta when they were out there, but Tyler was pretty invisible

Pirjeta had some very nice moves, just seemed to never have enough room to operate. You can add Cassels, Marchant, Spacek, and Sydor to the list of invisible. I saw them on the ice and that was it.

I did get to talk to Doug during war-ups and Don Waddell right after I got into the arena(he walked right by me and I yelled at him, then talked for a couple of seconds) Doug didn't say anything major, but the whole team seemed pissed. I never saw(or heard) any of them talk to each other during the whole warm-up and I was like 5 rows behind the bench at the time. I yelled Congratulations to Fritche and he seemed mad that I said something to him. Shouldn't the captain be the last one off the ice during warm-ups? because Richardson was the last one on(which is normal for a captain) then the first one off like three minutes later.

All in all, the young guys on this team were the ones that looked like they wanted to play(Rusty, Nash, Fritche, Duvie, Nedorost, Piretja). We need to let Fritche play rather than have Pronger center the 4th line.

After this game Doug probably was immediately on the phone to Russia, because Kovalcuk was giving us fits and seemed to have a non-stop motor. Something we definately need.

From the ceiling camera Fox has, you can see that Vyborny did the bird stance on the Kovalchuk goal, he might have screened Denis some. Throw the *** body down to stop that, Vyborny. :rant:

From the ceiling camera Fox has, you can see that Vyborny did the bird stance on the Kovalchuk goal, he might have screened Denis some. Throw the *** body down to stop that, Vyborny. :rant:

Even Nedorost tried to block it the right way, he was just too late.

Looks like we all saw the same things last night. Lets hope Doug and staff saw them too and can fix them.

The worst was Sydor in the corner and Vyborny on that second goal. . . .

Not everything was bad, though. When the Blue Jackets did get the puck in our zone, they seemed to move it quickly, especially Sydor. He made a few good passes with Thrashers all over him.

I all, it did look like a different team. Or more to the point, it FELT like a different team. Hopefully after a few games (and a few wins), this group will start getting their act together. However, with the Rangers and Vancouver in the next few days, the CBJ will likely start out 0-3 at least. I hope not . . . .

The disappointing thing is the team *still* plays with no heart... there just doesn't seem to be any chemistry on the team at all... When you see a player pass the puck (in either end) and just stop skating as soon as he passes it, with his shoulders slumped, it's a BAD sign. I couldn't tell you how many times I saw that last night. We'll NEVER score if we keep that up...

One thing that's quite obvious is, at least last night, we had NO offense... we couldn't have scored on a pee-wee team the way our offense was working. Disorganized and rushed.

Players weren't digging for pucks, and if they did, they took one swipe and immediately stood up on their skates and waited for the next thing to happen, as if the puck would magically come to them if they wished it.

I was sorely disappointed by last night's effort. The only player that struck me as working hard the whole night was Marchant. Other than that it was pretty sad.

Winning at home means NOTHING. The jackets aren't going to prove anything to me one way or the other against the rangers win or lose.

No offensive rythm against a team that is near the bottom every season in GAA... Unacceptable. How do you lose a game when you you win over 60 percent of the faceoffs?

Maybe Doug MacLean "Killer Conditioning" practices have begun taking a toll, the Jackets looked very Sluggish, not to mention all the penalties they took in the opening 20. By the end of the broadcast (I had to work so I listened to half of it and got home in time to see the other half) I was sick of the announcers saying it was a good game considering Columbus was on the road, and emotions were very high on this Thrashers team, it just didn't look like they were anything more then the regular Atlanta Thrashers minus Heatley.(Well except for that late third period goal)

Since there has been all of one game played, isn't a little early to start the long year, and the sky is falling crap?

I guess since nashville won last night, they are going to win the cup-right?

Since there has been all of one game played, isn't a little early to start the long year, and the sky is falling crap?

I guess since nashville won last night, they are going to win the cup-right?

I can understand where people are coming from, but it is a little much, yes. It's early. One game. They get a pass from me on this one, but not Sydor. I was really dissapointed with that play in the corner before the goal.

Anyway, I took plenty out of that game that I am pleased with too.

In response to alosufan1:

One game does not a season make, but when you have a much hyped team that was overhauled to play differently, you get ticked when the play is the same.



This is exactly how I feel. I couldn't have said it better myself. I think most of the posters up to this point would agree. Sometimes fans have to vent their feelings, and what better place to do it but here.

We all saw way too many of the bad trends from last season in last night's game. We can only hope that MacLean will take the necessary measures to correct them, instead hearing from him after the game about what a lousy job the refs did, or what a tough environment it was to play in, etc. At some point there has to be accountability for performance. Hopefully we will see it as the season progresses.

Since there has been all of one game played, isn't a little early to start the long year, and the sky is falling crap?

I guess since nashville won last night, they are going to win the cup-right?


It's not *that* they lost... it's HOW they lost that warrants the comments.

My point is it was only a 2-1 game. If Rusty's shot with 2 minutes to go goes in, instead of hitting the post, then this thread probably isnt even started.

lets give them a little time to work together before we start ripping them. that's all.

Since there has been all of one game played, isn't a little early to start the long year, and the sky is falling crap?

I guess since nashville won last night, they are going to win the cup-right?

yes :D

With all the emotional baggage both teams brought in, this game was a wash from the beginning.

RELAX!

If they stink this bad on Saturday, then lets get on them. But this game is a poor example. Neither team should have had to play with that much on thier mind. Atlanta was going to find a way to win no matter what on that night.

You would think that with Nedorost on a point-per-game pace, you guys would be excited.

A few notes

Klesla, Nedorost, and Letowski looked very good out there

Just about everyone else didn t play well

Tyler Wright was especially bad

Hopefully, its a sign of things to come(losing for draft position)

Not at all... All is not lost, but chemistry will come in fits and starts for Columbus, with a bunch of new players in the lineup its just that way. I'm upset for many of the same reasons everyone else is...seemed they had no desire to play. Kudos to Fritsche, Ling, Shelley, Nedorost and Rusty. I thought these guys had a decent in what was otherwise a complete disappointment of a game. Knock our revolving 4th line guys all you want, but the bottom line is, without there solid forechecking and their ability to hem the Thrashers up in their own zone at once particular time, this is a 2-0 loss on the road to start the season. One thing that also bugged me was I expected Capt Jacket to come out and have the guys fired up...thats why he's the captain...

I can't believe your talking draft position now... Who ever is taken won't be playing next season, and the jackets won't win the lottery anyway...

Denis wasn't even close to the net(3 feet in front of crease) and your saying he was too deep? He had three people in front of him, and didn't even see it before it was by him. Wrong side of the net? You play shots on the right side on the right side, not the left. Having said that though Denis did look lost when the shot was low and to the left.

Really? Who won the game you attended?

Because in the one I recorded (and I'm looking at the videotape right this moment) when the winning goal went in about three-six inches inside the far post, Denis' left skate is in the crease, and his right skate is just outside it. He is off-center, not square to the shooter, and leaning to the right, as though he is expecting a shot to the near post.

Once the light went on he skated out about 10 feet. Maybe that's what you saw.

Either way, Denis choked, just as he has so many times in the past. For me, that's the bottom line, and what has pretty-much killed any enthusiasm I had for this season.

I also have the game taped and on that second goal Denis is clearly out of the net when he tried to make that save. He also seemed to be pretty squared to the shooter. Clearly the goal was a result of him being screened more than him being out of position. Savard, McEachern, Sydor, and Vyborny were all right in front of him. Personally, I blame Sydor for being real aggressive in the corners.

I also have the game taped and on that second goal Denis is clearly out of the net when he tried to make that save

Thank You. Don't you just hate it when people can't except that their wrong? Oh well, there's got to be one on every board.

Since I have it as well, I just looked at it. Denis was at the top of the crease when the shot came off the stick. He was down and one skate was in, the rest of him out. I don't care about the positioning really, but he was playing it up high.

[B]Thank You. Don't you just hate it when people can't except that their wrong? Oh well, there's got to be one on every board.

May I assume you mean "accept?" If you can't be civil, can you at least shoot for literate?

Should we assume you didn't have time to read 3mta3's post where he confirm's Denis's skate was in the crease, which is what I said? Which sort of refutes your "he was three feet out of the crease" comment, I should think.

Can you except that?

May I assume you mean "accept?" If you can't be civil, can you at least shoot for literate?

Should we assume you didn't have time to read 3mta3's post where he confirm's Denis's skate was in the crease, which is what I said? Which sort of refutes your "he was three feet out of the crease" comment, I should think.

Can you except that?

TBJF - Lighten up a bit, man. Your point may be valid, but take it easy on the grammar lessons. Taking cheap shots at posters' typos or grammatical shortcomings is weak. By the way, your 2nd to last sentence is a fragment. ("Which sort of ..."). It's a subordinate clause. Touche'.

FYI: You should also say "IN WHICH he confirms," not "WHERE he confirms."

This is a hockey board, right? Let's keep it that way.

TBJF - Lighten up a bit, man. Your point may be valid, but take it easy on the grammar lessons. Taking cheap shots at posters' typos or grammatical shortcomings is weak. By the way, your 2nd to last sentence is a fragment. ("Which sort of ..."). It's a subordinate clause. Touche'.

FYI: You should also say "IN WHICH he confirms," not "WHERE he confirms."

This is a hockey board, right? Let's keep it that way.

You're right, of course. Sometimes my intoleerance for certain things catches me at a weak moment. It won't happen again. Well, at least not today .... :D