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Predators emerge from 4-1 hole to beat Columbus

eratap

James

After gathering with torches and demanding the head of the Scotts (Howson and Arniel) in Columbus a while, the firing fire seemed to die down. The angry mob likely disspiated thanks to a combination of great work by Curtis Sanford and general shock that the Blue Jackets’ duo simply weren’t going to get canned.

The furor might rise again, however, after the Blue Jackets coughed up two three-goal leads to the Nashville Predators. Columbus went up 4-1 with about four minutes to go in the first period and 5-2 eight minutes into the second, but the Preds came roaring back. Martin Erat added injury to insult by depriving CBJ of a face-saving point by scoring a 6-5 game-winner with nine seconds left.

This loss is the humiliating cherry on top of a sundae of embarrassment for the Blue Jackets, but the Predators deserve credit for charging back into that game. Although the Predators’ 2.68 goal-per-game average is about on par with last season’s 2.6, Nashville came into tonight’s game with the 13th-ranked scoring average in the NHL. Maybe it’s just a few steps in the right direction, but teams shouldn’t assume that they can just sit on leads against the industrious Preds anymore.

Well, teams as bad as Columbus, at least.

There’s some talk that Sanford wasn’t really healthy enough to be in net, but context can’t save Columbus right now. You have to wonder if this might be the last straw, although most of us assumed the camel’s back was already broken months ago.