Okay, first off, where the frak was my "Thanks, Jim Day"? Where was my "Thanks, Jim Day"!?

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Now that I got that off my chest, since I waited for the expected Rusty Klesla interview during the post-game (it had to be either him or Steve Mason considering the stars of the night, and Klesla was the one with the GWG and a new contract in his pocket, let's do something of a break-down.

-Speaking of Klesla and contracts, he certainly showed everyone why he signed for just a little under $3 million a year for 4 years with that game winning goal, as well as sound defensive play. Oftentimes Klesla seems to be trotted out as a prime example of how being kept around at too young of an age can have a detrimental effect on a player's growth i n the NHL, and he certainly needed more time to mature as a result. But over time he has come around, and a prime example is his short but still strong play during last year's Stanley Cup Playoffs.

-I know John Michaels -- that is his name, right? -- is new to the whole Blue Jackets Live gig, but the interview with Klesla was awkward. If I listened right, he only seemed to ask one whole question. Now given, Klesla may have been in a rush to get back to the locker room, but I don't know. Dude seems a little green.

-Nikita Filatov: Not much time on the ice, huh? A whopping 9:18, actually. Only two other players had less time off of the bench, and they were Andrew Murray and Jared Boll. The result of that ill-placed penalty he received in the 3rd period that resulted in Minnesota's lone goal tonight? Possibly. TOI nosedived to 1:29 in said period. Nice opportunity early in the game on Niklas Backstrom, however ... the only problem is that he seemed to get just a little too fancy with the puck, and ended up losing it along the way.

-Ken Hitchcock refers to Raffi Torres's play as "weighty" as I type this with the post-game show on, and every person with a "Hitchionary" lets out an amused chuckle. But Torres was playing a pretty heavy game tonight.

-One offseason later, Steve Mason looks as steady as he did last season. To be honest, if I had to sum up his play tonight with just one word, I'd use "sound". He played the proper spots, seemed to have his head on a swivel at all times, and were it not for a nifty little move by Andrew Brunette during that Wild Power Play, it's feasible he could have kicked off this season with a shutout. But give credit to Brunette for making sure that did not happen.

-How about that power play, huh? The first 5-on-4 advantage in favor of the Blue Jackets was well enough and showed that the team has seemingly upgraded a smidgeon when it comes to moving the puck around and not shying away from tossing the puck in to traffic near the net, let alone shooting. On the other hand, the double minor opportunity that the Jackets had was just plain brutal. It's just one game in to the season, so let's hope that this doesn't become habit like last year.

-As for the penalty kill, nothing to complain about. Save for Brunette's goal in the 3rd period, it was steady, and also resulted in one shortie thanks to R.J. Umberger. That goal was definitely a thing of beauty.

And that's all I got for now. Cut me some slack, eh? This is my first post-game analysis in ... ::Checks.:: ... ...

... wait, still looking ... ::Flips through the archives.::

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... okay, so it's been a long time! Stop looking at me like I'm some lazy sport blogger!