Stop It Right Here: The Anatomy of a Goal

In the Blue Jackets victory over the Hurricanes last night, R.J. Umberger scored his first hat trick in three years, Derick Brassard was fantastic, and Jack Johnson contributed two assists, including the 100th of his career. However, I would like to take a look at the lone goal allowed by Steve Mason during his 39 save game. Before I get into the breakdown, let's take a look:


This goal was a typical hockey goal. That may sound reductive, but most goals are not the result of one great play by the offensive player or one terrible miscue by a defensive player. Instead, they come from one breakdown leading to another, then to another, with the cascade of mistakes leading to a goal. In my estimation, this goal includes eight miscues by seven different players. Let's review them in reverse order:

Game Recap :: Columbus vs. Nashville 1/19

On a snowy Thursday night in January, I was ready to forgive the small crowd at Nationwide.  I had an opportunity to make the 1.5 hour drive and backed out on account of the weather, but 17,233 other folks braved the storm and the team record in order to watch them play.  "Gotta See it Live" in full effect apparently, and if you're one of those who did attend, I commend you.  17k for a weekday game of the 30th place team (by seven points) is darn near unheard of.  The legitimacy of Columbus as a hockey market continues to grow.

Unfortunately the team didn't do the crowd any favours on the scoreboard, but they did manage to make a game of it, including a third period that saw them outshoot the Predators by a big margin (shots were 18-8).  Full marks to Rinne who played a tremendous game of hockey, but more on that later.  I did not like what I saw in the second period, as the Jackets were outshot and played a completely different game from the first.  Fortunately for those watching, it was short lived, and they found life again for the final frame, but it seems like the same old story for Columbus, where they simply can't put together a full sixty minute effort.

It was a shame to see all of those rebounds find their way back into Rinne.  Once again I will say his capacity to keep pucks out of the net was extremely high last night, but there were a couple of occasions where a raised puck or a puck shot in a better direction would have easily beat him.  In fact, Nash had two specifically exciting opportunities, but the reactionary decision was to hammer them on net low and hard, and unfortunately they were stopped.