Mathieu Garon leads Columbus Blue Jackets to 2-1 win over Philadelphia Flyers
Mathieu Garon’s strong play in net led the Columbus Blue Jacket
to a close 2-1 victory against the Philadelphia Flyers at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus on Monday evening.
How it happened
The home team drew the first blood in the game, with rookie Kyle Wilson scoring his first career NHL goal. Wilson’s wrist shot found the back of the net at 12:19 of the first period, and
was assisted by Chris Clark and Marc Methot. It was the only goal scored in the opening period.
While on a power play in the second period, Derick Brassard fired a powerful wrist shot that beat Brian Boucher at 9:57 of the second period to give the Blue Jackets a 2-0 lead. The assists
went to Columbus captain Rick Nash and Jakub Voracek.
The visiting Flyers cut the Jackets’ lead in half at 14:59 of the third frame, when Ville Leino scored his second goal of the season. He tipped in Daniel Briere’s shot, which made it a
2-1 contest. Scott Hartnell had the other assists on Leino’s goal, which would be the only one that Philadelphia would score in the game. Hartnell later left the game with a 10-minute misconduct after being involved in a fight.
Garon was stellar in his first start of the 2010-11 season, turning aside 28 of 29 shots to earn the win while starter Steve Mason got a well-deserved break. Boucher made 23 saves on 25
shots for the loss.
What they’re saying
If there was one person who was disappointed with Philly’s loss to the Jackets, it was Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette. He was not happy with his team’s performance, stating that his
team lacked passion, among other things.
“It’s completely frustrating," Laviolette said post-game. “We got exactly what we deserved tonight. You don’t show up to compete, you don’t execute, you don’t play the game with energy
and emotion, you’re going to lose all the time.”
“The first 40 minutes there was nothing there. There was no jam to our game. We played mindless hockey without any energy, without any passion.”
Blue Jackets coach Scott Arniel, on the other hand, was pleased with the strong effort carried out by his charges.
“It was a solid three periods, and we came out early on and played hard,” Arniel said. “We did a good job of making them work on their end of the rink. We wanted to back up the good game
we played in Chicago with another one. It’s a big step for this young team.”
The Flyers, who have lost five of their last six games, will take on the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday, 29 October, while the Blue Jackets will wait until Saturday, 30 October to face
the Colorado Avalanche.
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