Nash's play not enough in Jackets loss

It takes more than one player to win a game. The Columbus Blue Jackets found this out the hard way in a 4-1 loss against the Detroit Red Wings at home Saturday night. The loss was their second in a row to Detroit.

The lone Blue Jackets mark on the scoreboard came just one minute into the period when forward captain Rick Nash skated without offensive help into the Detroit zone and fired on past Detroit goalkeeper Dominik Hasek. The goal at the time cut the Detroit lead in half and gave Columbus a real shot at winning.

But shots were a problem in this game for Columbus. The team only registered 12 shots on goal. Detroit had a 2-0 lead from a 5-3 power play goal by Nikolas Lidstrom and a power play goal from Henrik Zetterberg before Columbus could even register their first shot of the game. That came from Blue Jacket forward Jiri Novotny.

Columbus played hard for most of the third period, but when Johan Franzen gave Detroit a 3-1 lead with seven minutes left, that seemed to take what little energy Columbus had away. This was exemplified when Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk scored on a shorthanded breakaway just a few minutes later.

“Their special teams are better than ours, they got a couple power play goals and a shorthanded goal and we were the other way,” Nash said. “Be got to get that power play clicking to win games. I don’t think we’re getting it set up, we are not hungry enough at the other end retrieving pucks, and when we don’t retrieve pucks and get set up it is tough to score.”

But one bright spot for Columbus was Nash’s play. He had 1/3 of his team’s shot count with four, as well as leading the team in checks at five. Hitchcock was quick to point to Nash’s play in the game.

“Our captain tried to carry us on his back and we just didn’t have enough people going with him,” Hitchcock said. “He tried to win the game by himself and tried to drag as many people into the fight as he could. We didn’t have enough people dragged in.”

To beat Detroit, your defense has to be on top of its game. Datsyuk is fourth and Zetterberg is seventh in the league points. Datsyuk added to his total with two assists and a goal along with Zetterberg’s goal.

“If we keep those guys off the (score) sheet, we really have a good chance of winning the game,” Blue Jacket defenseman Rostislav Klesla said. “They’re just one of the best in the league. They great skilled, good speed, they read off each other… they play really well together and find each other well on the ice.”

With just seven games left in the season, Columbus is seven points behind Colorado for the final playoff spot in the west. Hitchcock said that for the team to have a chance at getting in, they have to finish the season undefeated. Next challenge is a road game against Nashville Tuesday followed by a home game Wednesday against Chicago.