Nobody could have planned for the amount of baggage the Columbus Blue Jackets wound up taking to Chicago. Though it wasn’t the player’s suitcases that were full, it was their emotions. Bound together by thoughts of an eventful past two days, the team faced off against the Chicago Blackhawks in its first game under direction of interim coach Todd Richards.
Neither team scored in the opening period, though the Blue Jackets outshot their opponents 10-5. However, the offensive edge was a double-edged sword. Columbus’ focus resulted in six minutes of power play time, though its inability to score with the man advantage saved Chicago from falling behind.
Blackhawks’ defenseman Steve Montador was responsible for the majority of his team’s shorthanded situations. After taking exception to a hit along the boards, Montador dropped the gloves with Jared Boll. Following the altercation, the defenseman was assessed a double minor for instigating a fight with a face-shield.
In the second frame, the game started to open up. Four minutes into the period, Chicago notched the first goal of the contest when Marian Hossa connected with Dave Bolland for a shorthanded tally.
The goal was scored in the mist of the Blackhawks’ second instigator penalty of the game. Once again, Boll had drawn the ire of his opponents after he finished his check into the end boards. Despite winning his previous bout, the Blue Jackets’ forward took the brunt of round two as he fell to the ice clutching his hand.
With Boll sitting in the sin-bin, Columbus was able feed off newfound momentum and even the score. At 7:54 of the second period, R.J. Umberger made it 1-1 as he picked up his seventh goal of the season off a scrappy play in front of the net.
Five minutes later, Chicago’s Victor Stalberg, whose recent success against the Blue Jackets has become somewhat of a storyline, released a quick snap shot past Curtis Sanford to give the Blackhawks the 2-1 lead.
Although he allowed four goals, the play of Sanford kept the Blue Jackets in the game. His lateral movement in the crease denied Chicago a plethora of early scoring chances, many of which came from the team’s intimidating top line.
Six minutes into the third period, the Blackhawks took a commanding lead when they tallied two goals in 27 seconds to make it 4-1. Columbus had briefly let down its guard, a monumental mistake to make against such a high-caliber opponent.
Along with focus, another aspect of the Blue Jackets’ game that started to collapse was discipline. Although Columbus stayed out of the penalty box in the early parts of the game, the theme of clean play deteriorated as the team finished with 20 penalty minutes.
Antoine Vermette picked up a late goal to make it 4-2, but his tally would be only a statistic in the Blackhawks’ 15th home victory.
Victor Stalberg recorded his first career hat trick with an empty net goal.
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