Washington 3 : 2 Columbus

Wednesday October 5, 2005 Opening Night

The new-look Jackets came up just short, in an old-look Jackets sort of way, against the new-look Capitals and their young (multiple) goal scorer Ovechkin, on the first night of the new-look National Hockey League. Rick Nash left the game in the second period with "soreness" in his ankle, which had been sprained earlier keeping Nash sidelined during the preseason. Without Nash the Jackets looked like a club without its finisher in front of net, and if it wasn't for the individual skill of Dan Fritsche who did well to put two across the line, we may have been held scoreless.

Still, it was 2-1 CBJ in the 2nd when the Jackets picked up eight minutes in penalties in just under forty seconds. Balastik, Letowski and Foote (who inadvertently drew blood when his stick, which was aiming for the airborne puck contacted the nearest Capital: 4:00 minutes.) The Caps tied the game just after the two-man advantage had ended, shortening Foote's penalty box stay to 2:00 minutes more. Just shortly after the Caps made it 3-2 and staved off the Jackets the rest of the way including a penalty kill in the last 1:30 of the game.

Gil-bert Bru-le played tough in his Jackets debut. LeClaire got the start ahead of Denis. Rimer was a notable disappointment in the play by play booth (give me back my old team!). And it was nice to see Foote finally skate around in the Red White and Blue and small bit of Electric Green.

Game recap:http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/recap?gid=2005100523

David Vyborny watch: I have decided to make a special note on each performance by my favorite and least favorite Blue Jacket going into the season just to see how this plays out. Vyborny is my boy. Tonight, Vyborny took a crucial penalty in the 2nd which killed our PP and led to a slew of CBJ infractions. He also had trouble holding on to the puck and finding space to skate in. Furthermore, he'll need to improve on his poor performance tonight quarterbacking the power play in Nash's absence.

Luke Richardson watch: LR is usually old, slow, ineffective, and my least favorite Blue Jacket, but tonight he had a sweet assist on Fritche's second goal and didn't make any forehead-slapping plays that I can remember. I hope that this is a good omen for the coming season.

Record: 0 - 1
Home Record: 0 - 0
Away Record: 0 - 1