Norrena outlasts Hasek; Detroit

Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Fredrik Norrena said he found out seven and a half minutes before Sunday’s match with the Detroit Red Wings that he was getting the nod due to an injury sustained by Pascal Leclaire during pregame skate. Coincidentally that is about how much time it took for Columbus to knockout Detroit.

Maybe Columbus head coach Ken Hitchcock should start letting his goaltenders know when they’re starting on short notice after Norrena stopped 43 of Detroit’s 46 shots on goal. Norrena still however would like a bit more notice than the one he received Sunday.

“I would prefer to know the day before, but those are the things you have to get used to if you're a backup goalie,” Norrena said. “I did my preparation like a normal game day so that helped me a little bit. But of course, most of all, the guys in front of me helped out tonight."

The eight minutes Columbus needed to knockout Detroit was in the second period. Columbus went into the second with a 1-0 lead thanks to a Manny Malhotra goal just three minutes into the game. The goal came on a cross crease pass from Jackets forward Rick Nash with Fredrik Modin screening the Red Wings goaltender Dominik Hasek. The Jackets went on to outscore Detroit 3-1 in the middle of the second.

Columbus took a 2-0 lead with 16 minutes left in the second when forward Jason Chimera’s shot took a long rebound of Hasek to defenseman Ole-Kristian Tollefsen whose shot beat Hasek. Malhotra scored his second of the match just three minutes later when Nash dug out the puck from the midwall and found Malhotra in the high slot. Malhotra’s first attempt was blocked by Wings defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom, but that shot hopped right back to Malhotra who batted in the puck from stomach high.

“Tennis background,” Malhotra said. “The whole play started with Rick (Nash) making a great play, he sprung me on a half-breakaway and then I was pretty pissed when my shot got deflected and then I saw it in the air, there was a gaping net so I wanted to get something on it.”

Detroit got on the board when Tollefsen and Malhotra ran into each other causing both to hit the ice while Detroit’s Tomas Kopecky beat Norrena. Columbus got their game winning goal with eight minutes left in the second when Malhotra fed forward Nikolai Zherdev at point blank range. The goal chased Hasek from the game and Chris Osgood finished as Detroit’s goaltender.

Detroit rallied when Johan Franzen notched a goal late in the second, followed by a power play goal with two minutes remaining in the game. Columbus had to weather a flurry of scoring opportunities late in the third. Norrena made 19 saves out of 20 shots in the third to hang onto the victory. Malhotra had a chance for a hat trick late when Nash skated on his left and found Malhotra when Lidstrom deflected the puck into the glove of Osgood.

“Rick made a great pass and Osgood made a terrific save,” Malhotra said. It was one of those bang-bang plays and it would have been nice to get that goal and put a seal on the game, but he made a great save.”

But no question that Detroit had the most amount of chances throughout the game. Hitchcock said Norrena’s performance was good, but Detroit’s assault was to be expected as they lead the Western Conference in scoring.

“That is Detroit’s forecheck, their forecheck is shots on goal,” Hitchcock said. “They put the puck on the net all the time, that is their strategy. They do a great job with it that is how they play so you know as a goaltender; you’re going to see a lot of rubber.”

As Detroit has reached the 100 point plateau and has their 17th consecutive playoff berth on the way, Columbus reached their franchise record with 75 points Sunday. The team is still seven points from Vancouver for the final spot out of the west. When Hitchcock was asked about his thoughts on the team reaching an all-time high in points in a season, he replied: “Oh really? Whoopee.”