DBJ's six-pack for Game 44: The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim

Columbus 3 - Anaheim 2 (OT)
21-16-7, 8TH PLACE IN THE WESTERN CONFERENCE

The Columbus Blue Jackets' twenty-first recreation of Sherman's March through Georgia continued tonight in California, where the visitors stole two standings points away from the host Anaheim Ducks in overtime at Honda Center.

And with that, my friends, the Blue Jackets have leapfrogged the Detroit Red Wings (!!!) and assumed sole possession of eighth place in the Western Conference.

That's right.  8th place.  If the season ended tomorrow, the Blue Jackets would be playing Stanley Cup Playoff hockey for just the second time in its history.

Wow.  Wow.  Wow.

Four games left in the regular season...

Thanks, Calgary, for everything.
And for beating Detroit tonight.

I crowdsourced this six-pack, so congrats to everyone who helped make this possible!

1. Beer number one goes to uber-CBJ optimist John Kemp's favorite Blue Jacket, Blake Comeau, for goal number one.  The first half of the game was a slog, with Anaheim playing the CBJ card and dropping everything but the kitchen sink back into defensive coverage to stymie the Blue Jackets' shooting.  Comeau tips a James Wisniewski shot in to loosen the game back up.  Huge goal.  Kemp weeps with joy.  (But he still won't tell his kids that Nash was traded.)

2. Beer number two goes to Matt Calvert. Union Marc suggested that "cause no one has left his heart on his sleeve" like Matty Ice.  I give him all sorts of credit for keeping the motor running, but the beer comes for production:

We're going to beat this photo like a dead horse.
It is nothing but meme fodder.  

3. The third beer shall go to your personal friend and mine, Detroit Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard.  "Jimmeh" let three pucks slip by, and that's all it took for Calgary to help Columbus vault into playoff contention.  (Hat tip to RedditCBJ and RobSal53)

4. My man, Fedor Tyutin, tipped in the game winner in overtime off a Nick Foligno shot - so let's give 'em one of those $9 Nationwide Arena tallboys to share.  Nobody apparently loves Tyutin, but trumarvel, jahykes, TheAngryJacket and MasonAnimation all love them some Foligno, the overtime specialist.

I like Tyutin.

There's something beautiful about an overtime winning goal.  It's like a walk-off home run.  We score, and that's it.  Start the party.

5. For enduring overtime hockey in Southern California, the fifth beer goes to The Blue Jackets Fans.  This 1AM wrapup stuff is for the birds, but it's the playoff chase and we stay up regardless.  Mellington73, stefanbneeley, WhalerJacket (who, I'll have you know, was one of the crew at the late, great CBJ blog, "Tea with Mrs. McGill") and danamctigue all made it to the finish line and reminded me that it's not about the team...it's about the fans.  True dat.

6. Yes, Erik, you can have a pity beer.  Poor soul.

@darkbluejacket My stream cut out about 15 sec before the GWG.Pity beer?
— Erik Bobbitt (@erikBobbitt) April 18, 2013

WERE THE BLUE JACKETS OUTPLAYED TONIGHT?  I felt all along that the Blue Jackets were applying the pressure...it was one of those games where we simply had to stay at the level of the opponent and stick around until the end.  They did, and they won.  So no, they were not outplayed.

NEXT UP: Because one night of late night hockey wasn't enough, we're going to do it all over again tomorrow.  Or I guess it's today by now.  How about, we're going to do it all over again later...say, at 10:30PM EDT?  That's right, the Los Angeles Kings will be hosting the Blue Jackets at Staples Center.