Like most Ohio sports fans, I’m accustomed to defeat. As a Blue Jackets fan I’m better than average about detecting the thinnest sliver of a silver lining. But after last night’s game in Detroit, I gotta say…. DAH-YNG! We might just make the playoffs for real!
For so many years, we’ve sent the boys to the Joe only to watch them get roughed up and humiliated. Hell, the Wings would come down here and leave with the Jackets’ lunch money. Sometimes the Wings wouldn’t even wake up until the third period, they were that confident of a win.
I’m not saying I expect every future game to live up to last nights. But an 8-2 victory over a relatively healthy defending Stanley Cup champion — in their own barn — was sweet.
Among the highlights last night were:
- most goals by the Jackets ever in a game, and widest margin of victory (how often have we been on the other side of that kind of score?)
- a goal from Rafi Torres, who I don’t think was even supposed to play
- 2 goals from RJ Umberger
- 3 goals in three minutes
- a hat trick from the Cap’n, Nash’s third against the Red Wings — and all unassisted. (The radio guys weren’t sure that had happened in the NHL before.)
Nash was typically modest after the game: “We would have been happy with a 3-1 or 1-0 win, but it was good to have an offensive explosion and we were due to have it. It was a must win after the Nashville loss and the guys showed up.”
What was equally rich was watching the stunned reaction of the Detroit fans. Which made the presence of some really loud Jackets fans who made the trek to Detroit even more noticeable. For years, the Nationwide has been packed with red-clad yahoos when the wings come to town — revenge is sweet!
And I love reading the Detroit paper’s take on the game:
From mlive.com:
The Detroit Red Wings dismissed last week’s debacle in Nashville as one of those complete collapses they might experience once every few years. But when it happens twice in eight days, alarms go off. And the Red Wings were alarmed by their second defensive meltdown in four games Saturday night, as they lost 8-2 to the Columbus Blue Jackets at Joe Louis Arena.
Henrik Zetterberg said he didn’t blame fans for booing the team as it left the ice. The Red Wings hardly resembled a team that entered the game tied for the NHL lead in points with San Jose.
All in all, I’m a happy little Jackets fans today!