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BOX SCORE
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- For a while, the Columbus Blue Jackets
looked more like a playoff contender than an expansion team.
|  | | Chicago's Steve Sullivan looks for an opening around Blue Jackets goalie Ron Tugnutt. |
"But hockey's a 60-minute game, not a 12-minute game,"
Columbus goalie Ron Tugnutt said Saturday night after the Blue
Jackets frittered away a 3-0 lead in the first game in franchise
history to lose 5-3 to the Chicago Blackhawks.
Reto Von Arx and Tony Amonte each scored twice for Chicago,
while Columbus helped on three Blackhawks goals with sloppy play.
For most of the last two periods, the Blue Jackets looked like the
collection of expansion draftees, castoffs, career minor-leaguers
and unproven rookies that they are.
"Nobody said it was going to be easy," Blue Jackets president
and general manager Doug MacLean said.
Bruce Gardiner, David Vyborny and Steve Heinze scored goals in a
2-minute first-period blitz for Columbus as a capacity crowd of
18,136 at Nationwide Arena roared its approval.
"We were on our heels. We weren't playing well enough
defensively," said Amonte, the Blackhawks' captain. "They took it
and ran with it in the first period. I think we expected it but
they kept on coming."
At the break after the first period, Chicago coach Alpo Suhonen
questioned his team's effort. Amonte said he might have even said a
swear word.
Von Arx broke a 3-3 tie when he scored early in the third period
-- after Steve Sullivan stole a pass from Columbus rookie Rostislav
Klesla behind the Blue Jackets' net. Sullivan tried to score on a
wraparound, but Tugnutt blocked the shot only to have Von Arx ram
it in.
"I'm just trying to stay on the team," said Von Arx, a rookie.
Amonte, who earlier scored after stealing an errant Columbus
pass in the Blue Jackets' end, added an insurance goal on a
breakaway pass from Bob Probert.
Chicago lost 4-2 to Buffalo in its season-opener Thursday night.
Gardiner, who scored three goals last season in 41 games with
Ottawa and Tampa Bay, recorded the first goal in franchise history,
with 7:34 gone, when he lifted the puck over the pads of a
sprawling Jocelyn Thibault.
"It was nice. Somebody had to put it in," Gardiner said. "The
only thing that takes away from it is the end result."
Just 26 seconds later, Vyborny jammed in a shot from heavy
traffic in front of the net.
Another minute and 20 seconds later, Heinze beat Thibault high
on the stick side with a wrister, with Blue Jackets captain Lyle
Odelein and alternate captain Geoff Sanderson assisting.
The Blackhawks didn't get off a shot until Tugnutt made a glove
save on Boris Mironov with 12 1/2 minutes elapsed in the opening
period.
The Blackhawks, who misfired on their first 11 shots, scored on
two of their next three. First Von Arx scored on a slap shot from
the top of the left circle, then Alexei Zhamnov added a goal with
some help from the Blue Jackets.
Zhamnov was handling the puck behind the Columbus net, looking
for an opening, when he fired a shot between the post and defender
Frantisek Kucera. The puck ricocheted off Kucera and into the net.
The Blue Jackets, 3-5-1 in the preseason, also helped out on the
tying goal.
Columbus' Petteri Nummelin started up the ice with the puck from
behind his own net, then flipped a centering pass for a teammate.
But Amonte intercepted the puck with his left hand and swooped in
for the goal to tie it.
"We had a couple of big-time mistakes," Columbus coach Dave
King said. "All we can hope is that we learn from this."
The Blue Jackets didn't have a shot on Thibault -- who finished
with 21 saves -- until midway through the final period.
"Chicago came back and showed lots of poise," Columbus coach
Dave King said. "After giving up three goals early, Jocelyn
Thibault settled down and really played a solid game."
After the game, the crowd gave a standing ovation to the new
franchise.
"Overall, it was a fabulous night," MacLean said.
Game notes
The Blue Jackets were 0-for-6 on the power play. ...
Columbus became the 36th opponent for Chicago, one of the Original
Six NHL franchises. But it was not the first time that the
Blackhawks have played a Columbus pro team. In 1966, Chicago played
an exhibition game against the Columbus Checkers of the
International Hockey League. ... More than 125 media credentials
were handed out, including a writer and photographer from Sweden.
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NY Rangers 2
Atlanta 1
Buffalo 5
Los Angeles 3
Washington 3
Carolina 3
Ottawa 3
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Philadelphia 1
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Montreal 0
Chicago 5
Columbus 3
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AUDIO/VIDEO
 Bruce Gardiner scores the first goal in franchise history for the Blue Jackets.
avi: 617 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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