Columbus Blue Jackets pull off shock 2-0 win over Colorado Avalanche - NHL Update
Once again the Columbus Blue Jackets surprised all their doubters including this author with a brilliant performance shutting out one of the National Hockey League’s (NHL) most inform offence as they beat Colorado Avalanche 2-0 on Thursday, March 1, 2012.
No one had given the Blue Jackets any chance of taking all two points from the game against an Avalanche side that had recently been scoring for fun both at home and on the road.
However, results like these are what make the NHL such a wonderful sport to watch as the underdog Blue Jackets showed the world that they have life in them still and two goals from Nikita Nikitin and Fedor Tyutin helped Columbus end a three-game skid.
Colorado’s loss keeps them still behind eighth placed Dallas Stars by a single point as they rank 10th in the Western Conference with 70 points.
Avalanche left wing Gabriel Landeskog had no reason for his team’s poor performance and said after the game.
"It's frustrating for sure. We definitely weren't ready to play. I don't know what the reason was, but we weren't sharp enough. We were chasing the game after the first period."
Columbus goaltender Steve Mason put in an impressive shift in front of the net holding back the Avalanche’s offence and keeping his team’s lead intact.
The goaltender made 33 saves during the game and was happy with his contribution to a big win for the Blue Jackets.
"It was, `Just make the timely saves.' As a goaltender, that's your job," Going into the third period, I was fully confident we were going to be able to pull it out. They did get their chances but that's to be expected because they're a hungry team, but
we were able to walk away with the win."
The Blue Jackets entered the game on the back of a three game skid but played with full confidence outshooting Colorado in the first period by 11-8.
Their attacks were rewarded at 12:53 when Nikita Nikitin took advantage of the power play and his powerful shot beat Avalanche goaltender Semyon Varlamov.
The home crowd was stunned as the Blue Jackets took an unexpected lead but there were more shocks to follow.
Fedor Tyutin put Columbus 2-0 up in the second period as the Pepsi Stadium looked on in disbelief with their playoff chasing side trailing by two goals to the league’s worst team.
Colorado desperately tried to spark a comeback in the third period outshooting the visitors 12-4 but Mason was up to the task and his wonderful saves kept Columbus in the game.
The Blue Jackets will take great confidence from this win when they travel to face the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday. Colorado on the other hand will look to get their chase for a playoff berth back on track against Pittsburgh Penguins.
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