Columbus, Ohio – The shots for the Columbus Blue Jackets were by a two-to-one margin against the Avalanche on Wednesday night.
The men on the ice for part of the last 90 seconds were by a two-to-one margin in favor of Columbus, while the Blue Jackets had the statistical edge in faceoffs, hits and takeaways.
Final score: Avalanche 5, Blue Jackets 3. An announced Nationwide Arena crowd of 16,007 saw the Avs win through a combination of top marksmanship on its limited number of scoring chances, superb goaltending by Jose Theodore and Blue Jackets ineptness at key times – not the least of which was a failed 6-on-3 power-play chance late in the game.
Theodore stopped 41-of-44 shots, while the Avs got goals from five players, including a Brad Richardson score with 5:12 remaining not long after Columbus had made it 4-3. The Avs are now 19-0-1-1 against the Blue Jackets.
The Avs didn’t exactly win going away – they were outshot 20-5 in the third period – but gladly took the two points into St. Louis for tonight’s game against coach Joel Quenneville’s old team.
“We gave up too much, whether it’s shots, chances, play in our end or power plays,” Quenneville said, “but we were fortunate. We weren’t at our best as far as having the puck like we normally do. (Richardson’s goal) was a big play. They had just got the momentum, and next shift we get the lead right back by two.”
Richardson, whose four goals have all come on the road, stole a puck from Columbus star Rick Nash, just as the public relations man was announcing the David Vyborny goal that got the Blue Jackets to within 4-3 at 14:21. Richardson came down the left side, with Mark Rycroft (one goal) on his other side, and beat Blue Jackets goalie Pascal Leclaire with a shot to the near post.
“I just saw a hole up top and tried to hit it, and was fortunate it did,” Richardson said.
The Avs did their best to get Columbus right back in the game, as first Antti Laaksonen was called for diving with 3:06 left, and Patrice Brisebois for slashing with 2:31 remaining. That gave Columbus a 6-on-3 power-play edge with Leclaire off for an extra skater. But some good penalty-killing work by Joe Sakic (one goal) and the sharp netminding of Theodore kept Columbus off the board.
“Jose was our best penalty killer tonight,” said Rycroft, whose goal at 15:18 of the second period was his first of the season and made it 4-1.
Theodore made two saves on Columbus veteran Sergei Fedorov (one goal, eight shots) on mini-breakaways and was especially good on shots close to the net – of which there were many for Columbus.
“You’ve got to be prepared for all situations. Last game against Minnesota, it wasn’t the same game, but tonight they were a team that was struggling and they threw everything at the net,” Theodore said. “They’ve got a lot of skilled players. But we didn’t panic and we got the win. I knew that tonight wasn’t going to be easy and needed to be on top of my game. I felt good.”
Adrian Dater can be reached at 303-954-1360 or adater@denverpost.com.
