Well that was a great hard fought game against an up and coming Blue Jackets. It was classic grinding hockey with hard hits, fights and hard checking from the start of the game. The best player of the game was a healthy Mathieu Schneider. It was a great game and if you missed the game, I hope you recorded the game because it was actually worth watching.
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Official Ducks Coverage of the game
Welcome to the team, Mathieu Schneider.
The veteran Ducks defenseman, playing his first game of the season, made it count with 25:25 of ice time and the only goal in the shootout as the Ducks downed Columbus, 2-1.
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Schneider, who missed the Ducks’ first 13 games of the season with a broken ankle, helped hold the Jackets to just 20 shots through regulation and overtime. Then he lit up Honda Center with his shootout goal, a wrister from straightaway that trickled off Columbus goalie Fredik Norrena and bounced over the line. Showered with cheers from a Honda Center crowd that hasn’t seen many shootout goals over the last three seasons, Schneider pumped a fist and broke into a big smile.
"I would have never imagined that finish," Schneider said. "I thought we played a great game. We deserved to win that in regulation or even in overtime. We had some great chances. "
Giguere had 19 saves and stopped all three shootout attempts.
Schneider's goal came after Anaheim’s Ryan Getzlaf went first and couldn’t convert. But Ducks goalie J.S. Giguere forced Sergei Fedorov to clank his attempt off the post, drove Rick Nash to lose control of the puck, then kicked away David Vyborny’s attempt to extend the shootout.
Choosing Schneider in the shootout was a surprising move for the Ducks coaching staff, which like most teams, won't use a defenseman in that situation."We decided to change it up a little bit," said coach Randy Carlyle. "With Schneider not having been available to us for quite sometime, we felt it was time for him to earn some of his keep."
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AP Coverage via CBS Sports
Mathieu Schneider scored the only goal in a shootout in his Anaheim debut, lifting the Ducks to a 2-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday.
Schneider, a defenseman signed as a free agent during the offseason, beat Blue Jackets goalie Fredrik Norrena with a shot between the pads, the puck trickling across the goal line as the goalie frantically reached back to try to stop it.
Jean-Sebastien Giguere blocked shots by Sergei Fedorov, Rick Nash and David Vyborny during the shootout, finishing it with a glove save of Vyborny's shot.
The win ended Anaheim's four-game losing streak and snapped a four-game winning streak by Columbus.
Giguere finished with 19 saves.
Schneider, signed to help fill in the vacancy left by Scott Niedermayer, sat out the first 13 games with a broken ankle. He had never taken a shot in a shootout before his go-ahead goal against the Blue Jackets.
Shortly after Anaheim's Rob Niedermayer broke a scoreless tie 13 seconds into the third period, Nikolai Zherdev tied it on a power play with his third goal of the season.
Columbus goalie Pascal Leclaire, who has a 6-2 record and 1.25 goals-against average, was given the night off, so Norrena got his first start in nine days. He finished with 33 saves.
Rob Niedermayer, sidelined three games because of a groin injury, put the Ducks ahead with a fine individual effort. Skating down the right boards, he slicked to his left across the crease and got off a shot that Norrena blocked.
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MVN Coverage of the game
It was time for the Ducks to turn the calendar on November and start a new month fresh. October saw a 4-7-2 start for the Ducks, with losses in their past four starts. Not a great start for the defending Stanley Cup Champions, but considering the amount of injuries to key players it is understandable. The Blue Jackets, on the other hand, have started the season with a 7-3-1 record and goaltender Pascal Leclaire has been exceptional with four shutouts thus far. Leclaire was recognized as the second star of the NHL for the month of October with a 1.25 goals against average and .953 save percentage. Perhaps the best news for the Ducks was that Fredrik Norrena would get the start in goal against the Ducks, as Leclaire played the previous night in the Blue Jackets 4-1 win against the Kings.
The Blue Jackets came into the game with the best penalty kill in the league at 93% which means that the Ducks power play will likely remain in 28th place with a 10.5% success rate. Mathieu Schneider’s reinsertion into the line up from the injured reserve list would be a welcome addition to helping turn around the power play statistics. Also returning to the line up for the Ducks were Ryan Getzlaf (2 games for a hand injury) and Rob Niedermayer (3 games for a groin injury). All three players would give the Ducks a well needed boost.
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AnaheimDucks.info has a look at tonight's game
In what proved to be an extremely physical affair, the Anaheim Ducks got a big win over the Columbus Blue Jackets 2-1 in the shoot-out. The Ducks, who traditionally haven’t fared well in the shoot-out in the past, decided to go with shooters Ryan Getzlaf, Mathieu Schneider and Chris Kunitz. Mathieu Schneider, playing in his first game this season after suffering a pre-season injury, scored through the five-hole on Fredrik Norrena. Jean-Sebastien Giguere didn’t let any Blue Jackets score on him to seal the deal and earn the extra point.
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The Press-Telegram has coverage of tonight's game
On a night when the Ducks out-shot the red-hot Columbus Blue Jackets 32-17 in regulation, they probably were expecting more.
A power-play goal by the Blue Jackets' Ron Hainsey tied the contest 1-1 less than four minutes into the third period, but the Ducks pulled out the 2-1 victory when Mathieu Schneider scored the only goal of the shootout.
The Ducks clearly were energized by the returns of Rob Niedermayer, Ryan Getzlaf and Schneider.
Niedermayer scored the Ducks' first goal, and his first of the season, just 13 seconds into the third period. He skated in toward Columbus goaltender Fredrik Norrena, attempted a shot and poked his own rebound behind Norrena. Getzlaf returned to the Ducks' top power-play line alongside Chris Kunitz and Corey Perry. It was his first action since leaving a game in Dallas on Oct. 20.
Schneider, making his season debut after breaking his ankle in preseason, took an active role in the Ducks' offense from the outset.
The veteran defenseman said after practice Wednesday he expected to play a conservative game, but quickly erased that notion by taking a team-high four shots in the first period.
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SBRForum has coverage of the game via SportsTicker
Mathieu Schneider returned to the lineup and made an immediate impact in his first game of the season.
Schneider logged nearly 25 1/2 minutes of ice time and tallied the shootout winner and Rob Neidermayer scored in regulation for the Anaheim Ducks, who notched a 2-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday.
Jean-Sebastien Giguere stopped 19 shots in 65 minutes and turned away all three shootout chances for the Ducks, who snapped the Blue Jackets' four-game winning streak.
Ryan Getzlaf had the first shootout chance for Anaheim but was denied by goaltender Fredrik Norrena, who stopped 33 shots before the bonus format. After Sergei Fedorov hit the side of the net on Columbus' first opportunity, Schneider squeezed a shot between Norrena's pads to put the Ducks in front.
Signed as a free agent over the summer to help alleviate the absence of Scott Niedermayer, who still is contemplating retirement, Schneider suffered a fractured ankle in the preseason and missed Anaheim's first 13 games.
Giguere stopped Rick Nash and David Vyborny to clinch the win.
Despite Anaheim totaling 22 shots in the first two periods, the game remained scoreless until the final session.
The Ducks struck first just 13 seconds into the third, when Rob Niedermayer took a pass from Samuel Pahlsson and skated from the right faceoff circle past defenseman Kris Russell to the slot, where he took a shot that went between Norrena's pads but came out to the side of the net.
Rob Niedermayer drew blue-liner Ron Hainsey to the ice and skated to the front before finding the loose puck and putting it past the goalie's right skate for his first goal of the season.
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