Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Jackets earn comeback win over Flames Tuesday night

The Blue Jackets continued the best start in franchise history last night at home with an impressive 2-1 victory over the Calgary Flames.

Last night's defeat was the third in a row for a Calgary team that began the season an unblemished 4-0.

The focus, however, especially in Columbus, was on a Jackets club that continues to win in a variety of ways.

After falling behind last night 1-0 late in the first period, Columbus came out in the second period like a house on fire putting 13 of its 33 total shots on goal in that second period.

The Jackets' persistence finally paid off at 15:32 mark of the second period while on the power play when Anton Stralman was assisted by Derrick Brassard and Rick Nash to net the first Columbus goal of the game, squaring the contest at one.

Columbus would take the lead for good 2:04 later when Kristian Huselius fielded a nifty pass from Nash to beat Flames netminder Miikka Kiprusoff.

Nash's pair of assists last night marked the fourth consecutive multipoint game of the season for the Columbus captain.

After taking the lead, Columbus got back to what it does best--playing really good defense.

That defense, of course, is anchored by Calder Trophy winner Steve Mason who stopped 22 shots in the win, including some huge saves down the stretch in heavy traffic.

Mason was pulled in his last outing in San Jose during a 6-3 defeat at the hands of the Sharks and did not play in the team's 2-0 win against the Phoenix Coyotes last Saturday.

Tuesday night's win marked the fourth consective Columbus victory over Calgary; the Jackets have won 13 of 17 all-time against the Flames in Nationwide Arena.

The Blue Jackets killed off their only shorthanded situation of the game last night, it was the 18th penalty kill in 19 chances this season; that's the best penalty kill percentage in the league thus far.

The Jackets are in action again Saturday night when the Kings come to town.

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