The Columbus Blue Jackets lost to Dallas 3-2 at the Nationwide Arena tonight, a loss that dropped them to 0-5-1 on the year.
The loss left Columbus as the only Western Conference team without a victory. Dating back to last season, the Jackets have just one regulation win in their last 28 regular-season games.
Needless to say, things are pretty grim in Jacket-ville.
But if you thought the loss and awful record were the low points, you probably didn’t see the goal Stars LW Jamie Benn scored early in the third period:
Sweet fancy Moses.
Okay, let’s go through this. When Benn picks up the puck, he’s essentially one-on-four, surrounded by Columbus’ Rick Nash, Kris Russell, Derick Brassard and Alexandre Giroux. Giroux goes off for a change, at which point Benn moves into the attacking zone and beats Russell on the boards before being met by Aaron Johnson.
So at this point, Benn has now gone one-on-five -- and it’s about to get worse for C-Bus.
Johnson tries to knock the puck loose and whiffs (credit Rick Nash for his courtesy swipe), giving Benn an open shot at goal. Steve Mason is left sprawling, perhaps in shock and/or awe of what he just witnessed. The rest is predictable; Benn snaps the puck home as Jackets play-by-play man Jeff Rimer tries to make sense of it all.
“Oh my, getting behind the Jackets defense...Jamie Benn! As the Jackets’ miscues continue, Jamie Benn puts Dallas up 2-0.”
Give Benn credit for a nice display of strength and skill, but c’mon. The only other Star to enter the screen was Steve Ott, and that was at the very end of the play. A team as desperate as the Blue Jackets can’t allow an opponent to walk through the entire team.
The Ottawa Senators had their closed-door, players-only meeting already. At what point does Columbus do the same?