Jackets 3, Blues 2 (OT)

Every time I think my interest level in this team has hit rock bottom, they manage to gut out a win and suck me back in for more abuse.

Last night’s game was hardly one of beauty, apart from a couple lovely saves by Garon. It was a tough, grind-it-out, physical hockey game. And for once, the Jackets came out on top in a game of that nature. Imagine that! And to do it in St. Louis, no less, a place that’s reached almost Nashvillean proportions as a place of horror for the Jackets. And, to top it off, they even managed to win after giving up a late tying goal, an event that normally signals a complete collapse by this team.

Maybe they’ve turned the corner at last?

Eh….probably not.

But it was good to see them win one like this, nonetheless.

Jackets 3, Preds 2

Nice one tonight by the Jackets. For once they didn’t give up an early goal. And in fact, they managed to jump out to a 3-0 lead over the hated Preds. Granted, when Nashville made it 3-1 and then 3-2 in fairly quick succession, I started getting that old familiar sinking feeling. But Mason and the defense gutted it out for the regulation win. Can’t beat a close win over a big rival.

The only downside tonight was that my HD cable box is on the fritz, so I was forced to watch this game in sad old regular definition like it was 1990 or something. Sheesh.

With the win tonight, the Jackets are…still in fourteenth place. Doh!

Kings in town on Thursday. LA’s been a surprising team this year, with a lot of young talent taking a step forward (sigh), so it shan’t be easy to turn this into a two game winning streak for the Jackets. But hope springs eternal, right? Maybe my cable box will even be working by then.

Two in a row!

Apologies for being quiet when the Jackets have actually managed to string together a princely two wins in a row. I’ve been continuing to fight this cold, which while not that severe, is doggedly determined to hang on forever, and just going to work is kind of taking everything out of me. By the time these late games start, I’m falling asleep. I didn’t make it through the first period of the Oilers game, and that was only at 9PM. But the handy NHL.com boxscore machine tells me the Jackets won that game 4-2.

I did manage to watch most of last night’s game against Calgary, and the Jackets looked pretty good. I’ll admit, when Calgary made it 3-2 in the third, I fully expected the CBJs to give up the tying goal, lose in a shootout, the whole pattern we’ve become accustomed to this season. But they didn’t. Garon held the fort, and the Jackets have now climbed up to 13th in the West.

It’s a modest winning streak to be sure, but it might have saved Ken Hitchcock’s job. For the time being at least.

Jackets 1, Wings 0

I know that all those silly sports fan superstitions that hold that some behavior on the part of individual fans can affect the outcome of a game are bunk. That what I wear to the game or where I eat before the game or whatever can somehow control what happens on the ice — come on now. But still…

YOU’RE WELCOME, EVERYBODY.

I decide to skip going to the game last night for a variety of reasons — which altogether added up to “I feel like sitting home on the couch” — and they pull off a hard-fought, tight, goalie battle of an OT win against the hated Red Wings. In front of a sellout crowd (at least I can say I was part of the sellout, since this game was in my 20-pack and as such, my ticket was bought and paid-for). What a night to miss. Although my couch was very comfortable and the already-been-paid-for beer tasted good.

The Jackets had been looking somewhat better in the games leading up to last night, even with the wins not coming, so hopefully this signifies that some sort of corner has been turned, and they can start putting some points on the board again. Hopefully. We’ve seen some false dawns already in the last two nightmarish months.

Jackets go again tonight on Long Island. We’ll get to see the CBJ debuts of Chris Clark and Milan Jurcina.

Something to look forward to

(for me, at least)

OSU women’s hockey schedule has been released, and at last the Skating Saints are making a trip to Columbus! I haven’t had a chance to see them play here since I moved to Columbus, so I am pretty excited for this.

Today is the day!

Here’s something to tide you over until 7PM:

PLAYOFFS!

Jackets 3, Wings 2 (OT)

Well, it may have come with an assist from Gary Bettman, but I certainly can’t begrudge the Jackets a win over the Red Wings at any time. Especially when the win comes in dramatic fashion like that — overtime, hat trick goal from Nash. And since the Jackets will never catch the Wings in the standings, giving away the loser point isn’t even a big deal tonight. Nice stuff, even if the SNOWPOCAYLPSE kept me home and not at the Arena (okay, seriously, my undisciplined spending of late kept me home and not at the Arena). I will be there on Friday night and hope to see another two points come at the expense of my erstwhile favorite team.

CBJ 5, Stars 4 (OT)

They looked set to give this game away on a number of occasions, but the Jackets pulled out the season opening road win in dramatic fashion, Rick Nash scoring the game winner late in OT. Way to start the season, especially for a club that has historically struggled so much on the road.

I was back and forth between this game and the St. Lawrence-Michigan tilt on the internet (bad guys won), so I didn’t get a comprehensive look at the Jackets, but the kids seemed to do pretty well tonight. Kris Russell was especially noticeable.

On to Phoenix tomorrow!

Cyclones win it!

Cincinnati is home to the Kelly Cup! Nearly 13k fans showed up at US Bank Arena for Game Six. Hopefully that strong attendance will carry over into next season, and hockey in Cincinnati will become more firmly entrenched after the near death experiences of recent years.

Congrats to the ‘Clones!