Following 65 minutes of scoreless hockey at Nationwide Arena Friday night, Todd Bertuzzi’s goal in the fourth round of a shootout sealed the Blue Jackets’ loss of their season finale to the Detroit Red Wings 1-0.

 

Led by a strong performance between the pipes in which reigning Calder Memorial Trophy winner Steve Mason turned aside all 45 shots directed his way, the Jackets failed to muster any offense to help him out.
 

“Obviously we would have liked to get the win, but Mase looked like he found his game tonight,” Jackets captain Rick Nash said. “He was unbelievable.”
 

Offensively, the Jackets were only able to generate 22 shots on net. Columbus interim head coach Claude Noel said he believed fatigue played a part in their lack of offensive productivity.
 

“When I look at the game, it looked like it was our 10th game in 18 days,” Noel said. “The way we started the game, we looked like we were watching the game, and we looked a little tired.”
 

After two periods of play, which contained relatively equal offensive opportunities for both teams, the tide turned in the third period as Detroit found itself at home in its offensive zone, out-shooting the Jackets 23-4 in the final stanza and overtime.
 

“We hit some posts and we had some chances but clearly in the third they took it to us,” Noel said.
 

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Even with the offensive dry spell and barrage of shots on Mason, the Jackets never stopped fighting and were ultimately able to force overtime.
 

Overtime proved to be much of the same as the third, though, with the Jackets unable to produce any shots in the extra five minutes. But Mason delivered once again, stopping all four Red Wing shots and sending the contest to a shootout.
 

After goals from Nash and Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk in the first round of the shootout, both teams failed to score again until the fourth round.
 

Ultimately, the Jackets’ final contest of the year finished in familiar fashion, as Bertuzzi ended the game on his top-shelf backhander, beating Mason and handing Columbus its league-leading 15th overtime/shootout loss of the year.
 

“The frustrating part in that game is to lose it in a shootout,” Noel said. “But I think that the players gave it their all and I was certainly happy with what they gave us.”
 

While the Jackets dropped their final five contests of the year by a single goal each time, Nash agrees that the effort was there and believes it is something this Jackets team can build upon.
 

“I think it’s exciting for next year,” Nash said. “If we can carry the momentum that we did in the last couple games then it will be real exciting.”