A beautiful day for soccer. A lovely night for hockey. Enjoy, Columbus.
On a sun-splashed boulevard of Designated Open Receptacle Areas, the Crew and Blue Jackets post victories and give out good vibes. Drink it up.
When the Araces moved to Columbus 27 years ago, the second thing we noticed was how the gray skies set in after Thanksgiving and didn't relent until spring. But the first thing we noticed, because we moved here in the fall, was how autumn lingers, beautifully, for weeks on end.
A blessed week of sunshine pushed on into the weekend and brought one of those Saturdays when the city's vibe thrums up and down its major thoroughfares, including Nationwide Boulevard.
Let us begin on the western terminus, down by the banks of the mighty Olentangy, at Fertilizer Field. Game-time temperature for the Crew-Toronto FC match was around 70 degrees. It was one of those afternoons when the shadow of one grandstand moved across the field as the game went on, which is one of the things we note about playoff baseball afternoons in roofless buildings.
After all of the energy the Crew expended in going 130-plus minutes and losing on penalty kicks to St. Louis City in the U.S. Open Cup final on Wednesday, it was hard to know what to expect of the Crew's lineup rotation, or what it would produce, against a Toronto team that had been on a little bit of a heater of late, and was coming off a full week's rest.
The Crew had no problem at all through the first hour-plus. They scored in the 16th minute when Santi Rodriguez chipped a perfect through ball into the final third, a ball Mo Farsi took in stride and crossed to Gonzalo Tapia for an easy tap-in. They scored in the 21st minute off a corner. They scored off another set piece in the 48th minute. And they pushed their lead to 4-0 after a lovely run by Taha Habroune and a neat assist by Dylan Chambost.
Defender Malte Amundsen registered the first brace of his professional career. “I think so. I have no idea when that happened last,” he said.
Winger Brooks Lennon had his first goal in a Crew jersey. "'I'm obviously very happy to score my first goal for the club," he said, "but I have to give a lot of credit to Dylan. So unselfish.”
Chambost had three assists, Rodriguez, two.
"I think we kept the same stuff as Wednesday, and we are confident," Chambost said. "We know that we are good. We know what we are able to do."
The Crew scored on two set pieces and defender Malte Amundsen was on the finishing end of both. This was his first-half goal, off a corner from Dylan Chambost. Left: The ball comes into the box, past a leaping Toronto defender. Middle: Amundsen sends the ball toward the left post as the goalkeeper, who knows he's beaten, watches. Right: The deposit.
The Crew had to hang on – we'll get to that in a minute – but they ultimately gutted out a 4-2 victory over the Torontos. Since Sept. 16, the Crew are 6-1-1 across all competitions, and they've outscored opponents 16-8. As the new guys have gelled with the group, the team has taken on an offensive ferocity.
“We were expecting Toronto to try to come strong at us because of the scenario of the past few games for us," said Crew interim-not-interim coach Laurent Courtois. "They did. We were able to resist, and slowly, we were able to find our rhythm."
Courtois was bothered that his team didn't have a bigger lead by halftime. Was he channeling the fans? A team cannot live on xG alone. With just a bit more finish ...
"We actually did some really interesting phases, but we couldn't capitalize the way we wanted," Courtois said. "This is something (where) we need to find resources, a killer instinct, or more nuance in the last pass to arrive at halftime in a better spot."
In Wednesday night's shootout loss to St. Louis City, the referee, Guido Gonzalez, either let the lads play or let the game get out of hand, depending on your viewpoint. Saturday's central ref, Chris Penso, was not as shy about calling fouls and issuing cards.
Courtois was pleased that his team could adjust to the contrasting officiating styles after just 64 hours between whistles.
"What the guys did, the turnover after what happened Sunday, Wednesday and perform like this up until the red card was incredible," Courtois said.
Ah, the red card.
Central midfielders Brais Mendez ("leg issue") and Andre Gomes (back) needed the day off, and neither dressed Saturday. Courtois moved Taha Habroune from the central midfield to an attacking position and inserted Sekou Bangoura into the starting lineup.
Bangoura, a sprightly and aggressive midfielder, is like a 16-year-old at a liquor store when it comes to drawing cards. He took a yellow on a dumb tackle in the first half. He took a second yellow – an instant red – on a dumb tackle in the second half. He left the Crew to play with 10 men over the last 20 minutes of regulation, and on through seven minutes of stoppage time.
Moments before Bangoura was asked to leave, the Torontos scored – Daniel Salloi beat Lennon to the back post – to cut the Crew lead to 4-1. Then, in the 81st minute, Josh Sargent found the inside of the right post from 18 yards out and the Crew lead was halved to 4-2.
Nervy moments.
On came the FCs, but the Crew bunker held as goalkeeper Patrick Schulte directed the defense.
Courtois was asked whether it was on him to leave Bangoura, with one yellow, on the field deep into the second half – or whether it was on the player to be smarter about his tackles.
“It's my fault at the end of the day, but this is something that we highly, highly anticipated, talked [about] and addressed," Courtois said. "We need collectively and me first to make sure that we learn from those.”
The Crew are dogfighting for one of the two postseason play-in slots (8th and 9th place) in the East. For a couple of hours Saturday evening, they were holding ninth place. Then, the New York Red Bulls beat Club Internacional de Fútbol Miami and the postseason picture changed.
"Now, we have three left," Courtois said. "It's going to be a tough away trip at Dallas against really a physical team and then back home against D.C. Recovery, recovery, recovery – that's all that matters.”
The Blue Jackets score on the power play!
After the Crew game, I walked up the boulevard to Nationwide Arena for the Blue Jackets-Vegas Golden Knights game. What a beautiful walk it is. DORA!
One way to judge how badly the Jackets needed a victory is to watch/listen to the latest episode of Cannon Fodder, recorded Friday night, which featured the Reign of Terror going through their favorite hockey team the way Sherman marched to the sea.
The Blue Jackets (4-5) defeated the Vegas Golden Knights (8-4-1) in overtime before a crowd of 16,451. The final score was 2-1. Backup goalie Cam Talbot was exceedingly sharp in making 26 saves on a night when every stop felt like a big one.
The game-winning goal, scored by Adam Fantilli, came on a 4-on-3 power play at 59 seconds of OT. It snapped 0-for-22 PP streak for the Jackets. It was just their third power-play goal of the season, and their first since opening night.
That one PPG was critical to a team that has been hinting (again) at fragility.
Kent Johnson – who Rick Bowness called "the best at power-play entries in the league ... he saw what nobody else saw" – took two Knights with him over the blue line and put a blind, backhand pass onto the blade of Charlie Coyle, who fed Fantilli at the bottom of the right circle. From a hard angle, Fantilli pured a one-timer that beat Carter Hart inside of the near post. Good god, what a goal.
It was the kind of play, and the type of shot, that will bounce around the interwebs for 24 hours. Crazy pass by Johnson. And Fantilli's cranker was gone almost too fast for slow-motion to capture.
"It (power play) has obviously been a point of focus recently," Fantilli said. "During the first 60, we weren't able to capitalize on the chances that we had. We still have to get back to the drawing board and fix those things, but to score on the power play, it was great."
Fans can hope that this was the kind of game that can flush some impurities out of the Jackets' system. After being outscored 12-0 in the previous four second periods, they went 0-0 in the second against the defending Western Conference champions. After going 2-for-25 on the power play through their first eight games, they got a game-winner in OT of Game 9.
After balking at their chance to take advantage of an early season schedule where seven of their first nine were at home, they can head out on a three-game road trip with a modicum of confidence. They gave their fans something to cheer for.
"That team over there (Vegas), they're big, they're experienced, (and they leave) no room out there," Bowness said. "You have to hang in there, and you have to battle it out with them. And we did. So, give the guys lots of credit for bouncing back after the Toronto game."
The Jackets are at Philadelphia Tuesday, at Carolina Thursday and at Dallas Saturday, Halloween night.
Sometimes, a road trip is exactly what a team requires.
Let us see.
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Michael Arace
