Written by Todd James at The Columbus Dispatch.com
OK, this is getting absurd.
The Blue Jackets used to find it difficult to win one game. Now they’ve won 16 in a row.
One more victory and the Jackets tie the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins for the longest winning streak in NHL history. The opportunity comes Thursday at Washington.
Why?
Why this team?
Why now?
None of this makes any sense when placed in the context of the Blue Jackets’ own history, and that makes this magic carpet ride even more enjoyable for the team’s long-suffering fans.
Hard-core folks have stuck with the Jackets even though they’ve made the playoffs only twice in their first 15 seasons. Columbus has had one home playoff win. One.
No wonder people are screaming, jumping, firing off the team’s cannon.
A crowd of 17,169 was rocking Nationwide Arena again Tuesday night when the Jackets won their sweet 16 th in a row, 3-1 over the Edmonton Oilers.
The Blue Jackets are 27-5-4 this season.
Last season they lost their first eight games and finished eighth in the Metropolitan Division. They were a tire fire.
Now they’ve won the second most consecutive games in the history of the NHL.
Why?
Why are they winning?
Even one of my daughters asked me that question last night. She doesn’t really follow sports, but she knows a good story when she hears one. She’s been hearing a lot about the Jackets.
She wants to know why this team, why now, why?
At the Fiesta Bowl last week in Arizona, several reporters from around the nation asked me the same question: “What’s up with the Blue Jackets?”
Everyone wants to know the secret now. Even the BBC is including Blue Jackets’ scores in their overnight roundups. Columbus is big news in England.
Why are the Jackets winning?
Why now?
Michael Arace, our veteran sports columnist at the Dispatch, has covered hockey for a quarter-century dating to his days in Connecticut working at his hometown Hartford Courant. He’s been around the Jackets since they were created. He knows the game.
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