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Published November 19, 2009 Life Goes On After The Detroit Debacle...I drove into the Arena District for a morning meeting last Thursday, November 12, and saw something that only mildly surprised me. Nationwide Arena was still standing. Okay, I didn’t actually expect it to not be there. However, one would think the jewel of the Arena District would have collapsed – or at the very least, spontaneously combusted – judging from how the Detroit Red Wings took the Columbus Blue Jackets out to the proverbial woodshed the night before. But… nope. Our beloved arena is still there. The home team is still standing, too. And that’s what matters. Yes, that one loss to Detroit is obviously embarassing, devastating, and a plethora of other negative adjectives. Yes, Blue Jackets performances against Detroit are major indicators of how good this team really is. Yes, Detroit games are important. "Blue Jackets performances against Detroit are major indicators of how good this team really is. But the Blue Jackets don’t play 82 games a year against Detroit" But the Blue Jackets don’t play 82 games a year against Detroit… just six. The Jackets do have to win a few of those, but Detroit doesn’t make or break a Blue Jackets season by itself, as long as the Jackets perform well (or at least well enough) against other teams. Thus far, they have. Look at the big picture: In the last eight games, the one blemish in the Jackets’ 5-1-2 record is that 9-1 loss to the Wings. Given, that blemish resembles a cheek-wide patch of black-and-blue from a police baton (with a Taser shot for good measure). However, the reason the Jackets are still keeping pace in the Central Division (just two points out of third in the West, and still a point ahead of Detroit) is that they have earned points in the standings in seven out of the last eight games, including the last two wins since the Detroit Debacle. In those games, the Jackets finally found a way to win in the shootout, too, so that’s a bonus. Make no mistake, the pressure is on for the good guys to keep it up, starting tonight in Dallas – the first game of a five-game road swing in eight nights. The Stars have had an up-and-down season so far, and have struggled to find consistency. However, they are all-even in the standings with the Blue Jackets, and everybody knows how important those points in the standings are, we matter where we are in the season. The Jackets are not well-known as a road team, either... at least not yet. This Dallas Stars team should be a good test tonight. "[The Nashville Predators] will scratch and claw (and in Jordin Tootoo’s case, sucker-punch and bite), and do whatever it takes to put on a show." Moving on to Saturday, the Blue Jackets will visit Nashville for what is only the second Central Division game for the Jackets all season. I realize that Nashville gets a lot of comparisons to a certain Greatest Movie Villain of All Time, but we have to believe these are different times. Plus I personally believe that referring to the Nashville Predators as such actually cheapens the “Darth Vader” brand. Anyway, Nashville is above .500, so you certainly won't hear any talk from me about steamrolling them. They got off to a start that was about as bad as Detroit's, and then, just like Detroit, they woke up. And we know what happened when Detroit woke up. Anyway, the Preds have won seven of their last nine games. The game is still in their arena, and you can be sure that they will scratch and claw (and in Jordin Tootoo’s case, sucker-punch and bite), and do whatever it takes to put on a show for the 12,000 or so people that bother to show up. After those two, the Blue Jackets return to the Eastern Time zone and play a trio of the Eastern Conference opponents to wrap up the trip -- a back-to-back on Monday and Tuesday with the New York Rangers and the Montréal Canadiens, and to date on Thanksgiving Day with the Ottawa Senators. The Rangers have struggled of late, managing only three wins in their last nine games, but you can't really ignore the potential firepower of the Rangers get from guys such as Chris Drury and Marian Gaborik. And while Henrik Lundqvist has not had a great year so far, he is still winning games. Montréal is struggling. They are just below .500, and they seem to be dealing with yet another goaltending controversy. Jaroslav Halak is competing for time with former Calder winner Carey Price for time, and the NHL rumor mill has had the Canadiens shopping Price lately. Price (5-8-0) has struggled out of the gate this season, but I for one think it is too soon to write him off as another Jose Theodore just yet. Then again, as hockey crazy as Montréal is, it is a franchise that has not seemed to handle its goaltenders well, especially since the trade that sent Patrick Roy to Denver in the mid-1990s. They have simply never recovered from that. Thanksgiving Day Special: Steve Mason vs. Pascal Leclaire -- mark your calendar. Ottawa is currently outside of the Eastern Conference's top eight, but not by much. All they need to do is find some momentum and heat up. However, the angle of this game that matters to Blue Jackets fans is the matchup between CBJ netminder Steve Mason and former CBJ goalie Pascal Leclaire. Either cut back on the turkey, or put on a pot of coffee after dinner, because Jackets fans will not want to fall asleep for that matchup. But that’s still a week away, so I’ll wait to write more on that later. In the meantime, it’s time to sit back and watch some hockey, starting tonight. Go Jackets!
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