Training Camp Wrap Up — Columbus Blue Jackets

Following is a quick look at the 2014-15 Pre-Season Training camp for the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets. It is my goal to provide more in depth daily information, but at this point I am playing catch up.

Here’s how things went leading up to the start of the 2014-15 NHL Season:

Sept. 18

The Blue Jackets opened camp with physicals at McConnell Spine, Sport and Joint Center and then began dryland fitness training at Nationwide Arena.

Sept. 19

On Ice sessions began at the Ohio Health Ice Haus. In all 55 players were invited to camp.

Sept. 21 

Columbus 4 at Carolina 3 

The Jackets started out the competitive portion of camp with a pair of split squad games and took wins in both.

The group that traveled to Carolina found themselves trailing when Andrej Sekera hammered a slapshot home 12:27 into the contest, but Cam Atkinson buried a snap shot just over two minutes later after taking a pass from Mark Letestu to tie the contest. Nick Foligno’s wrister on a powerplay with 2:15 to go gave the visitors a lead it wouldn’t relinquish with assists for Letestu and James Wisnieweski.

In the second period Mike Hoeffell scored to widenthe margin for the Blue Jackets, assisted by Trent Vogelhuber and Cody Goloubef just 3:37 in, but Riley Nash had the host Canes back within a goal just 35 seconds after that.

Atkinson’s second snapshot goal, from Foligno restored the two goal cushion 12:10 into the second and the lone third period tally came from Carolina’s Chris Terry.

Anton Forsberg went the distance for the Blue Jackets stopping 29 of 32 while Carolina split the work between Alex Nedelijkovic (27:46 5/6) and Cam Ward (30:45 10/13).

St. Louis 3 at Columbus 4 

The other squad stayed at Nationwide Arena and had an identical result against the visiting Blues although overtime was needed in this one.

Kerby Rychel’s unassisted wrister put the home side up just 2:02 into the contest, but Jori Lehtera tied it for the Blues with 6:07 to play in the frame.

The Blue Jackets grabbed another lead on Alexander Wennberg’s powerplay deflection from Boone Jenner and Dalton Prout with 5:44 to go in the second and Jenner added another for the hosts with his backhand goal from David Savard and Jack Johnson 19 seconds from the second period buzzer.

Vladimir Tarasenko started the Blues on the way back just 40 seconds into the third and Seastian Wannstrom tied it up at the 9:48 mark. That score stood up through regulation carrying the game into an overtime segment.

Dillon Heatherington ended the contest in favor of the Blue Jackets with his slapshot goal 2:36 into the extra period from Prout and Artem Anisimov.

The Blue Jackets duo of Curtis McElhinney (40:00 23/24) and Oscar Dansk (22:36 14/16) split the work in goal while Jake Allen (40:00 8/11) and Matt Climie (22:36 9/10) both got a turn between the pipes for the Blues.

Sept. 23

The Blue Jackets announced an extension of its affiliate agreement with the Springfield Falcons of the AHL for two more seasons (through 2016-17).

Pittsburgh 0 at Columbus 2

The Blue Jackets stayed perfect in the pre-season thanks to a combined shutout effort by Oscar Dansk (20:00 12/12) and Sergei Bobrovsky (39:47 30/30)despite being outshot by a hefty 42-27 margin in the contest.

After a scoreless first period, Michael Chaput scored with a wrist shot 14:27 into the second. That stood up as the game winner and was the lone goal until Cam Atkinson backhanded home the clincher into an empty Pittsburgh goal 73 seconds from the final buzzer. Atkinson and Chaput also both picked up assists along with Scott Hartnell and Artem Anisimov.

Tomas Greiss handled 26 of 27 going the distance for the Pens.

Sept. 24

The Blue Jackets returned junior Markus Soberg to the Windsor Spitfires (OHL) and defenseman Blake Siebenaler goes back to Niagara Ice Dogs (OHL). Goaltender Scott Munroe was released and was expected to report to Springfield, bringing the team’s training camp roster to 50 players.

Sept. 25

Columbus 5 at St. Louis 4

The Blue Jackets improved to 4-0 in pre-season play with a narrow edge against the visiting Blues, building up a 5-1 lead early in the second, then holding off the hard charging Blues at the end.

Mark Letestu’s snapshot opened the scoring 3:50 into the game from Nick Foligno and Cody Goloubef and Jared Boll doubled the margin exactly four minutes later on a powerplay with his deflection. Assists on that one went to Mark Dano and Simon Hjalmarsson. Before the halfway mark of the period, Ryan Craig added another powerplay marker from Frederic St. Denis and Dano and Fedor Tyutin also scored on the powerplay with a slashot tally from Hjalmarsson and Letestu with still 6:47 to play in the opening period.

Joakim Lidstrom pulled one back for the Blues late in the frame, but the four-goal cushion was restored 6:31 into the middle frame on a shorthanded wrist shot goal by Dana Tyrell, unassisted.

David Backes deflected one in with 2:29 to go in the middle stanza to make it a 5-2 game and Vladimir Tarasenko triggered a pair of unanswered third period goals that had the visitors within sight down the stretch.

Curtis McElhinney (39:56 23/25) and Anton Forsberg (20:00 7/9) both took a turn for the Blue Jackets, Brian Elliott going the distance for the Blues.

Sept. 26

Goaltender Anton Forsberg; forwards Lukas Sedlak, Trent Vogelhuberan and Riley Wetmore along with defensemen Hubert LaBrie and Thomas Larkin sent to Springfield. Meanwhile junior Nick Moutrey was returned to the Sarnia Spirit (OHL) and defenseman Dillon Heatherington to the Swift Current Broncos (WHL).

That leaves 42 players on the training camp roster.

Sept. 27

Columbus 1 at Pittsburgh 2

The Blue Jackets fell for the first time in five pre-season matches at Pittsburgh in a thriller.

Kasperi Kapanen and Andrew Ebbett both scored first period goals for the host Penguins and the second period was scoreless,. Brian Gibbons buried a wrist shot 2:08 into the final frame though from Alexander Wennberg and Oliver Bjorkstrand to get the Jackets within a goal.

Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 18 of 19 to pick up the win for the Penguins while Sergei Bobrovsky handled 29 of 31 shots in the Columbus goal.

Sept. 29

The Jackets announced the third jersey will be used a dozen times during the 2014-15 season, beginning on Friday, Oct. 17 against the Calgary Flames.

Other dates include: Oct. 28 vs. Ottawa; Nov. 15 vs. St. Louis; Nov. 28 vs. Vancouver; Dec. 18 vs. Washington; Dec. 22 vs. Nashville; Jan. 14 vs. Montreal; Feb. 6 vs. St. Louis; Feb. 28 vs. New Jersey; March 7 vs. Colorado; March 15 vs. Carolina and April 2 vs. NY Islanders.

Also

Forwards Josh Anderson, Sean Collins and Ryan Craig along with defenseman Jamie Sifers assigned to Springfield bringing roster total to 32 players still in camp.

Columbus 3 at Nashville 0

The Blue Jackets boosted its pre-season record to 5-1 with its second shutout.

The visitors collected one goal in each period, the first on a powerplay as Artem Anisimov snapped one home from Nick Foligno and James Wisiniewski. The second was a Wisiniewski slapshot, also on a powerplay, from Foligno and the insurance marker came from Jared Boll with help from Fedor Tyutin and Michael Chaput.

Curtis McElhinney picked up the goose egg in goal, turning aside 36 Nashville shots and it was Pekka Rinne going the distance for the Predators and making 24 saves.

Oct. 1 

Boone Jenner underwent surgery on a broken hand and is expected to be out of the lineup 5-6 weeks.

Carolina 3 at Columbus 6

The Jackets doubled the Hurricanes on home ice to run its pre-season record to 6-1.

Teams were even at 2-2 after two periods and it was still close when Victor Rask put in a powerplay marker with 9:57 to go to get the Canes within one at 4-3.

But Artem Anisimov responded just 12 seconds later with a wrist shot goal from Dalton Prout and Fedor Tyutin and Marko Dano’s empty netter with 58 seconds to go (assisted by Tyutin and David Savard) put it away.

Matt Calvert opened the scoring with the lone goal of the opening period, his wrister set up by Cam Atkinson and Alexander Wennberg.

Rask scored his first of two just past the halfway mark of the second and Carolina enjoyed a brief lead when Michal Jordan added another just over a minute later.

Calvert’s second, also a wrist shot tally, from Savard and Jack Johnson had teams even heading to the third.

The Jackets moved in front with Dano’s slapshot goal in the opening minute of the final period, from Wennberg and Calvert and Michael Chput added another just before the six minute mark from Prout and Corey Tropp.

Sergei Bobrovsky picked up the win, stopping 23 of 26 for the Blue Jackets while Anton Khudobin handled 26 of 31 in goal for the Canes.

Oct. 2

The Jackets assigned forward Simon Hjalmarrson and goaltender Oscar Dansk to Springfield and placed Dana Tyrell on the waivers with the intention of sending him to Springfield as well. These moved dropped the training camp roster to 29 players.

Oct. 3

Nashville 2 at Columbus 3

The Jackets wrapped up a 7-1 pre-season allowing its guest the opening and final goals while scoring three times in between.

Eric Nystrom opened the scoring with the lone first period goal for the Preds with an unassisted shorthanded wrist shot goal.

Nick Foligno added the only goal of the second, tying the game with 5:17 to go with his wrister from Scott Hartnell and Brandon Dubinsky. Another Foligno wrist shot tally 6:08 into the third gave the Blue Jackets its first lead of the contest from David Savard and Jack Johnson.

Cam Atkinson gave the Blue Jackets a 3-1 cushion from Johnson and Saveard with 4:53 to go and the goal stood up as the game winner after James Neal’s powerplay snapshot with 1:33 on the clock.

Sergei Bobrovsky picked up the win for the Blue Jackets with a 45 save performance while Pekka Rinne stopped 20 of 23 for the Preds.

Oct. 5

The Jackets claimed former Columbus player Jack Skille off of the waiver wire from the NY Islanders and at the same time, placed forwards Boone Jenner, Nathan Horton, and Sonny Milano along with defenseman Ryan Jenner on the team’s Injured Reserve list.

As a result, the roster now sits at 26 players.

Oct. 6

The Blue Jackets assisgned forward Kerby Rychel and defenseman Frederic St. Denis to Springfield. Also, forward Brian Gibbons was added to the Injured Reserve List and Jerry D’Amigo was placed on waivers. That leaves 22 on the roster.

Oct. 7

The Jackets claimed Adam Cracknell on waivers from the Los Angeles Kings and placed center Brandon Dubinsky on the Injured Reserve List. The team also announced Jerry D’Amigo cleared waivers and will move to the Springfield roster. The roster remains at 22 players now two days before the season opener.