• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Nash leads Blue Jackets past Ducks

Oct 6, 2007 - 3:50 AM By Dave Holstein PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Ticker) -- Rich Nash wants to change the culture in Columbus.

Nash had two goals and a pair of assists as the Columbus Blue Jackets opened their season with a 4-0 victory over the road-weary defending Stanley Cup Champion Anaheim Ducks on Friday.

Sergei Fedorov and defenseman Ron Hainsey added power-play goals for Columbus, which is trying to end the embarrassment of being the only current team never to make the postseason.

"Tonight is a step in the right direction," Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock said. "The Ducks were a little surprised at the start, but we didn't stretch the lead until late."

Goaltender Pascal Leclaire also earned his first win of the season by stopping all 28 shots he faced. He made five saves in the first period, 10 in the second and 13 in the third en route to his second career shutout.

"The shutout is nice, but the most important thing is the team winning," Leclaire said. "The Ducks are the defending Stanley Cup champions, so it's nice to get off to such a good start against such a great team."

Columbus won its season opener for only the second time in history. Its only other opening-night win was a 2-1 triumph over the Chicago Blackhawks on October 10, 2002.

"We have to remember not to get too high, it is just one game," Nash said. "We just have to take it one game at a time."

While this was the first game for Columbus, it was the fourth contest in six days for Anaheim.

"We had to come in here after Detroit and practice yesterday," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "We didn't have the energy that was necessary to be at the level Columbus played."

The club opened the season last weekend in London, splitting two games with the Los Angeles Kings, before suffering a shootout loss Wednesday at Detroit.

Nash, who netted a team-high 27 goals last season, opened the scoring when his sweeping shot from high in the slot went off the skate of defenseman Shane Hnidy and past netminder Ilya Bryzgalov at 6:44 of the first period.

"It was a good start," Nash said. "I felt good out there. My linemates were finding me. Anytime your teammates play well, it shows up on the scoreboard."

Fedorov extended the lead 2:06 later, when he fired a shot from the right faceoff circle that beat Bryzgalov just inside the near goalpost at 8:50. The Blue Jackets were by far the more aggressive team in the session, outshooting the Ducks, 16-5.

"It just seemed like we couldn't get anything going," Carlyle said. "They got two quick goals. We tried to regroup, put a stop to the bleeding, but then took penalty after penalty."

Overall, Columbus had a 37-28 advantage in shots.

With Columbus already leading, 2-0, and on the man advantage in the third period, Fredrik Modin's shot from the point bounced off Bryzgalov to Kris Russell. The rookie defenseman made a cross-crease pass to Nash, who knocked the puck into the net to increase the lead to three at 7:53.

The assist was the first career point for Russell.

Hainsey netted the Blue Jackets' third power-play goal of the game when he took a pass from Nikolai Zherdev in front of the net and blasted a shot past the diving Bryzgalov.

"The way we stayed with it for three periods gave us a chance to play our hockey," Fedorov said. "The most important thing is that we didn't have lots of turnovers."

Nash also assisted on the tally for his career-high fourth point.

"It was a tough game," Bryzgalov said. "It seemed like they were on the power play a lot, so it was hard for us to come back when the game is like that."

Bryzgalov - who faced 42 shots in the loss to the Red Wings on Wednesday - made 33 saves for the Ducks, who won both games here last season.

"The Jackets are a good group, we had some tough battles with them last year," Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf said. "They are a good skating team and have a lot of young guys that last season got a year of experience under their belt. They are really good."