NHL
Blue Jackets 3, Wild 1: Mason strong in goal, Umberger scores twice to deliver road win
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Puck Rakers
A blog about the Blue Jackets and the NHL
One Signed, Two Set Free
The Blue Jackets have agreed to terms with defenseman Austin Madaisky on a three-year, entry-level contract, and the official deal should be announced shortly. Madaisky was a fifth-round pick (No. 124 overall) in the 2010 NHL entry draft.
Two other picks - right winger Petr Straka (2nd round, No. 55) and defenseman Brandon Archibald (4th round, No. 94) - have been informed by the Blue Jackets that they won't be signed, sending them back in the pool of draftable players for next month's draft in Pittsburgh.
Of those two, Straka is the mild surprise.
He had 28-36-64 in 62 games with Rimouski (QMJHL) during his draft year, but tailed off badly the last two seasons. In 2010-11, he had 10-15-25 in 41 games. This season, he had 18-19-37 in 54 games. That's fewer points the last two seasons -- 62 in 95 games -- than he scored as a 17-year-old.
However, Straka made a pretty good last-best argument for a deal with his performance in the QMJHL playoffs. He had 10-12-22 in 21 games, becoming a point-a-game player once again. The bet here is that he gets drafted his June, but certainly on Saturday (2nd through 7th rounds) and probably later in the day.
The Blue Jackets acquired the pick used on Straka with the 2010 trade deadline deal that sent winger Raffi Torres to Buffalo.
Madaisky, meanwhile, blossomed this season in his fourth year of juniors, the last three spent with Kamloops (WHL). He had 13 goals, 37 assists, 50 points and a plus-20 rating, all career highs. He also had 87 penalty minutes. He could play a fifth year of junior next season, or begin his pro career, likely with AHL Springfield.
Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson and the hockey operations department face one last difficult decision as it pertains to the 2010 draft class. Goaltender Mathieu Corbeil remains unsigned, and the Jackets still aren't sure if they want to keep him in the fold.
"We'll evaluate him in the Memorial Cup and make a decision," Howson said. "Not sure right now."
Corbeil is 50-11-2 in the last two seasons with Saint John of the QMJHL, which won the Memorial Cup last season and is a favorite to repeat. Corbeil, named the QMJHL's goalie of the year, is 16-0-1 in this year's playoffs, with a 2.18 goals-against average and .917 save percentage.
Those numbers will cause many readers to scratch their temples and wonder: "How could they possibly not want this guy?" What the Blue Jackets are trying to determine is if Corbeil is a product of a powerhouse hockey club or a goaltender with legitimiate NHL potential. These are the questions that keep scouts up late at night.
Two weeks ago, the Blue Jackets seemed to be leaning away from signing Corbeil. These days it seems to be leaning back the other direction, though no decision has been made.
-- Aaron Portzline
twitter: @aportzline
Blue Jackets goaltender Steve Mason stretches to make a save on a scoring attempt by Wild center Kyle Brodziak in the first period.
ST. PAUL, Minn. — With Curtis Sanford hampered by a sore back and out of the lineup indefinitely, the Blue Jackets have turned to beleaguered goaltender Steve Mason as their starter.
No one will say it, but the implications are clear: this might be Mason’s last, best chance to get his NHL career back on track and salvage his job in Columbus.
With more outings like last night in Xcel Energy Center, anything is possible.
Mason, decked out in new gear from toe to chest, had 34 saves and helped the Blue Jackets survive a hard-working, but messy affair with a 3-1 win before 18,958.
“It’s just been a tough year on every single front,” Mason said. “From not winning, not playing a lot, not playing up to my expectations. Obviously the team as a whole, we haven’t played up to expectations.
“There were a lot of emotions going on out there. It just felt really, really good to go out there and have fun.”
Mason earned his first win since Dec. 29 and his second road win (2-10-0) of the season.
Another player who has struggled this season, winger R.J. Umberger, led the Blue Jackets on the other end of the ice. Umberger had his first two-goal game of the season, and now has nine goals this season.
“My first one (late in the first period) squeaked through (Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom),” Umberger said. “That hasn’t happened much for me this season, and it kind of got me going.
“It’s been hard to get those bounces, but you have to create them. You have to keep working hard and believing that eventually they’re going to go your way.”
Umberger’s second goal came with 19.4 seconds left in the second period to give the Blue Jackets a 2-1 lead.
The third period was no beauty for Columbus. The Wild took the first 12 shots on goal and finished with a 15-1 advantage in the period. The Blue Jackets didn’t make Backstrom work until Jeff Carter redirected a puck from five feet away with 4:09 remaining.
“I was told a long time ago to never apologize for a win,” Blue Jackets interim coach Todd Richards said. “So, I’m not going to apologize.”
Defenseman James Wisniewski, playing in his first game since suffering a broken ankle on Dec. 29, scored an empty-net goal from 150 feet away.
He was trying to clear the puck out of the zone, as the Wild was pressing hard with Backstrom pulled for an extra skater. But the puck jumped upon landing in the neutral zone and reached the Wild net before Jason Spurgeon could track it down.
“We’ve been on the receiving end of outplaying teams and losing all season,” Wisniewski said. “We didn’t really play our best. They carried the game.
“Mase pretty much won us that game single-handedly. It feels good to get a road win when we played hard but didn’t feel our best. I feel like we deserved it.”
As Mason peeled off his new gear — chest protector, glove, blocker, pants and pads — he joked that he was “like a new robot out there.”
The Blue Jackets will take a repeat performance today against Anaheim.
“Nobody on this team has had a rougher season,” Umberger said of his road roommate. “He’s a guy who can be so good. You want to see his confidence get to where it can be. You have to think he’s riding high after tonight.”
aportzline@dispatch.com
