Once the flood gates opened in the second period there was nothing Marc Denis could do to shut them.
The Columbus Blue Jackets’ goaltender gave up four goals in the opening 11 minutes of the second period that paved the way for a Washington Capitals’ 5-3 victory Saturday night at Nationwide Arena.
The goals led to Denis being pulled in favor of back-up goaltender Fred Brathwaite. Denis left the ice to a chorus of boos from the unhappy crowd of 17,158 in attendance.
“They capitalized on their first couple of goals, and I gave them the other two,” Denis said. “The guys didn’t allow themselves to stop working just cause I couldn’t make a save in the second. We tried to comeback, but it was just too little too late.”
After a scoreless first period, the second period started off with a bang as a game of can-you-top-this started with the teams trading goals early on.
Fifty-eight seconds into the period, Blue Jacket left wing Rick Nash got the scoring started with his 14th goal of the season followed 17 seconds later by the Capitals’ Jaromir Jagr’s ninth goal of the year.
Right wing Tyler Wright made the score 2-1 in favor of the Blue Jackets later in the second period. Wright has been slowed by injuries this season and energized the crowd with his first goal of the season.
“It’s the first one of the year, and I think I can contribute a little bit more to this team,” Wright said. “I haven’t played in the last four or five games; I’m just trying to get back and get healthy.”
The crowd went from energized by the Blue Jacket offense to upset from what was about to happen.
Over the next five minutes the Capitals netted three goals, two by right wing Peter Bondra and one from center Brian Sutherby, which led to Denis being pulled from the game.
The Blue Jackets would not go down without a fight and got on the board early in the third period with Nash’s 15th goal of the year.
“I owe a lot to, as I said before, my linemates and power play,” Nash said. “They played well and they found me.”
As quickly as Nash got the Blue Jackets back into the game, Bondra put it back in control of the Capitals with his third goal of the night to give him his 19th career hat trick.
The loss forces the Blue Jackets to look at what they did not do on Saturday night and it comes down to one thing.
“We didn’t get the point so that’s the main thing,” Nash said.
Twenty-three games into the season, this is not how the Blue Jackets had planned for things to be. They said they expected to have more points this far into the season.
The Blue Jackets are near the bottom of the Western Conference standings with a record of 7-12-3-1 (18 points) and are looking to get healthy and begin clicking on all cylinders.
At the start of the season, the team had hopes of making a run at the playoffs and achieve some of the success the Minnesota Wild had last year. The Wild came into the league the same year as the Blue Jackets and made it to the Western Conference Finals last season.
This year has turned out to be a roller coaster ride for the Blue Jackets as they have had their share of positives and negatives.
Inside the confines of Nationwide Arena, the Blue Jackets have been a solid team posting a record of 7-4-2-0. Away from home is where the team struggles, still winless on the year with a record of 0-8-1-1.
The Blue Jackets jumped out of the gates hot, going 3-1 to start the year. After the quick start the Blue Jackets went on a seven-game winless streak where the only point they earned came when they suffered an overtime loss to Edmonton. Five games during the stretch were played on the road.
One of the key factors hampering the team this season has been the injury bug. Three Blue Jackets are now on the injured reserve. Captain Luke Richardson is out with a fractured finger and is joined by center Espen Knutsen and defenseman Duvie Westcott.
Left wing Geoff Sanderson started the season on injured reserve, and early into the season left wing Trevor Letowski and Wright spent time on the list. Also, nagging injuries have cost the Blue Jackets throughout the season.
“It’s tough when your key players, guys like Tyler Wright and Luke Richardson, aren’t in the line-up,” Nash said.
The bad luck continued Saturday when defenseman Rostislav Klesla went down with a knee injury in the first period.
“He’s going in for a MRI, and I suspect he has a torn MCL,” Blue Jackets general manager and coach Doug MacLean said.
One bright spot for the team has been the play of the rising star Nash. The 19-year-old leads the team in scoring with 17 points. He is also tops in goals with 15.
Not only is Nash at the top of the Blue Jackets scoring statistics, he is also near the top in the NHL statistics. Entering the game Saturday, Nash was tied for fourth in the league with his 13 goals.
Right wing David Vyborny is second on the team to Nash with nine goals and 14 points. Center Todd Marchant paces the team in assists with nine.
Dan Fritsche, the second round draft pick and Ohio native, has played in 18 games and scored his first-NHL goal on Nov. 20 against Detroit.
After leading the NHL in minutes played last season, Denis has posted a 6-10-3 record with two shutouts. Brathwaite was brought in to take some of the load off of Denis’ shoulders and has gone 1-3-0 this year.
Brathwaite might get his chance to see what he can do between the pipes on a consistent basis following the loss on Saturday.
“I’m going to look at starting (Brathwaite),” MacLean said. “I’ll make that decision in the next couple of days.”
