Game 66/St. Louis: My Take

The Columbus Blue Jackets played the St. Louis Blues for the second time in three nights and lost, 4-3, in overtime tonight at Nationwide Arena.

After a scoreless first period, the Blue Jackets went on a 3-0 tear in the second with goals by Voracek, Umberger and Mackenzie. The Blues then scored 3 unanswered goals (1 in the 2nd, 2 in the 3rd) - and took the game in overtime.

That's right, up 3-0 and then losing 4-3. Not much more needs to be said.

NEXT UP: The Blue Jackets host the Los Angeles Kings at Nationwide Arena on Friday night.

The Phoenix Coyotes conundrum

Beyond the incredible soap opera of the Phoenix Coyotes
ownership, what does it all mean to the larger world of
pro sports - and the Columbus Blue Jackets?

While I am first and foremost a Columbus Blue Jackets fan, it's impossible to follow the CBJ without at least a passing interest in the bigger picture stories and issues around the NHL.  Take the whole Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy story in relation to the late NHL pugilist, Bob Probert.  Or the ongoing drama that is the attempted sale of the Phoenix Coyotes to Matt Hulsizer.

As I understand it (and I'm almost certain to be incorrect on some of the presumed facts): The NHL - current owner of the 'yotes, having brought the team out of bankruptcy - and Hulsizer have an agreement in principle for Hulsizer to buy the team.  The deal is contingent, however, on a host of considerations from the City of Glendale, Arizona - where the 'yotes are the prime tenant in the relatively new Jobing.com arena.  The last, and biggest, of the concessions is the City issuing $100 million in public bonds (For those who don't understand public finance, it's like a municipal mortgage.  You issue bonds to finance big, debt-incurring projects like road or building construction and then pay the bonds off over the course of years - principal and interest.) to subsidize Hulsizer's deal.  The City then gets a guarantee that he won't move the team until 2041 at the earliest.

Games that matter, 3/9/11

YESTERDAY: No Columbus Blue Jackets game last night, as both the CBJ and the St. Louis Blues needed to rest up before their final matchup of the season.

• Wild beat Avalanche
• Canucks beat Coyotes in overtime
• Sharks beat Predators in overtime

Blasted 3-point games are keeping the standings from shaking up much at all.  The CBJ lost another .1% last night, dropping their playoff chances to 5.8%.

Game 65/St. Louis: My Take

The Columbus Blue Jackets completed perhaps their most crucial road trip of the season - 5 games going through Western Conference rivals Nashville, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and St. Louis - with a 5-4 shootout loss to the Blues last night.

The Blue Jackets emerged from the road trip with a 0-3-2 record.  When any rule of thumb suggests that a ".500" record on a road trip is acceptable, the Blue Jackets didn't come close to the five standings point bar.  They ended up with just two points. If you follow my "Games that matter" series, you know how big the playoff hurdle has become.  The CBJ have not just been cemented in their standings position (12th) but now are starting to lose traction in the number of points needed to simply get into 8th place in the West.

That's not to take away from what was perhaps one of the more fascinating games in recent memory, and by far the oddest single period in memory.  Period.

Games that matter, 3/8/11

YESTERDAY: This is the point in the season where "Loser Point" is so apt.  The Columbus Blue Jackets needed two points against the hapless St. Louis Blues and only got one.

• Blues beat Blue Jackets in the shootout
• Stars beat Kings in overtime

And with that, both games ended up counting negatively against the Columbus Blue Jackets playoff chances. Those chances dropped by another 1.2% to 5.9%.

Games that matter, 3/7/11

YESTERDAY: All three games went the Columbus Blue Jackets' way, if only by a hair...

• Canucks beat Ducks
• Sabres beat Wild in overtime
• Flames beat Predators

The CBJ playoff chances improved by .7% to 7.1%.  Nice, but not as amusing as The Hockey News' daily blog email this morning that suggested that the Preds trade Shea Weber.  Bet that'll go over well in the hollers.

Games that matter, 3/6/11

YESTERDAY: The Columbus Blue Jackets didn't play, and the rest of the NHL's Western Conference bubble teams kept on, keepin' on.

• Coyotes beat Red Wings in shootout
• Stars beat Sharks
• Canucks beat Kings
• Blackhawks beat Maple Leafs

The Canucks' win was the only bright spot of a night that saw the Blue Jackets' playoff chances drop by another .57% to 6.4%.  And perhaps just as important, the CBJ fell another point behind 8th place.

Game 64/Calgary: My Take

The Columbus Blue Jackets wrapped up their Canadian tour of the NHL Western Conference's Northwest Division with a 4-3 loss to the Calgary Flames last night at the (some sponsor) Saddledome.

Craig Rivet, Antoine Vermette & Jan Hejda had goals.  All three were good news stories in their own right.  It was nice to see Rivet come out of a six-week game-playing hibernation dating back to his time in Buffalo and nail one home.  Vermette has been trying very, very hard recently (too hard?) and deserves the glory of a goal.  Hejda had his second goal in two games.  Gotta feel good about all of them.

Games that matter, 3/5/11

YESTERDAY: Outside of the loss to Calgary, which really, really hurt the Columbus Blue Jackets' playoff chances, the rest of the West did Columbus no favors.

• Flames beat Blue Jackets
• Ducks beat Stars in overtime
• Blackhawks beat Hurricanes

Yeah, even the Anaheim-Dallas game went to overtime.  Columbus fans didn't even care who won that one as long as it stayed in regulation.  It was that kind of night.

All told, the CBJ playoff chances dropped 5.4% to 7%.

Seen on Twitter

The avatar photo for @Czechtacular:

I'm sure we'll all be lighting candles for Taylor Hall.  Seeing as he picked the fight with Derek Dorsett.  Stupid, stupid kid.  Probably good to get that life lesson out of the way early in his NHL career.