17 was never a particularly special number for me. When I was younger, 10 meant “woo, double digit age!” and 16 meant you could drive and 18 meant you were an adult (legally, at least). In sports I wore 20 and now 15.
But, if you follow the Blue Jackets, yesterday, 17 was the most special number of all.
After all, it’s the NHL record for most consecutive wins set by the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins, and it’s one more win in a row than Columbus was able to get.
The game that became a roar of hype ultimately ended in a 5-0 whimper as the boys in union blue fell to the Washington Capitals to chants of “kill the streak.”
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Back to the matter at hand – the 17th win that wasn’t.
In-game reaction from Blue Jackets faithful ran the gamut from “oh no the sky is falling” to “I am so proud of our team!”
So we wanted to take a few quick minutes to explore why this was the biggest game ever…and why it really wasn’t.
Why the record doesn’t matter.
Ok here’s the thing. When it comes right down to it, what matters in the NHL is The Stanley Cup.
To get a shot at that, you need to get into the playoffs, and no team gets into the playoffs just because they rang off a certain number of wins in a row. To be clear, wins matter of course. But they matter because each win gets you standings points. And the more of those a team has, the better off they are for setting up post-season match-ups (theoretically…2015-16 Caps fans, avert your eyes…something something irony something).
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter whether those points come all at once or are spread out across 82 games. It doesn’t matter if you earned two points by beating a team by ten goals (even though the Jackets have done that…Montreal fans, avert your eyes), or if you beat a team in a shootout after being outshot at home (Kings fans, avert your eyes).
The other angle on this, is that, as John Tortorella has said:
“We have zero respect in this league.”
A win streak like what the Jackets had draws notoriety, but it doesn’t build respect. That comes in the post-season. After all, before the Jackets went on their run, how many fans (Pens fans are excluded from participating in this poll) could honestly name the consecutive wins record and responsible team?
And of course, the most important reason the record doesn’t really matter? Because we knew that ultimately, the streak would end.
Here’s what John Tortorella said Tuesday:
“(The streak) is going to end at some point. There’s going to be a down time with us, and we’re going to have to learn to be pros in those situations too. It’s easy to feel good when things are going your way and the team has forced them their way, they have. But we’ve gotten some breaks along the way here too…”
The awesomeness of Jackets fans and the Central Ohio community rallying behind their team need not end just because this streak did. Keeping the great things this team is capable of in mind will be important when it comes time to react after this loss…or a few…down the road.
Breaking the streak is not end of times.
But on the other hand…
Why the record matters!
The other day, someone asked me on twitter if I’ve ever had more fun being around hockey than during this streak…I had to really think hard if I had. This is a heck of a fun time to be around the Columbus Blue Jackets…soak it in.
Even though the Jackets fell short of the record, they still now hold the second longest consecutive win streak in history. As that handy NHL arm patch will remind you, the league is celebrating 100 years of existence this year. To achieve an accomplishment like the Jackets have is no small feat.
Also, that whole earning respect thing? Well, it’s not like no progress has been made. How fun is it to see Cam Atkinson, Nick Foligno and Zach Werenski on national sports channels? (and ESPN.) More from Tortorella:
“A lot of these guys haven’t been covered nationally, haven’t received too much information from outside or people covering them from the outside. I think this has brought a bit of light to the organization in a positive way. A number of things have been in a negative way with the organization over the years so, for me that’s what I like.”
And that quote above from Torts about the streak ending? Well let’s finish that one. Winning like this team has early and under pressure is an excellent training ground for the heightened experience that comes with a post-season run when wins are the difference between getting to play and packing up and going home.
“The team is getting a little bit of experience as far as exposure. If you have an opportunity to play in playoffs that focus is on you and it’s even bigger. And for such a young team it’s good we’re being spoon-fed some of this. This is nowhere near what the other (attention) is when we play for the real stuff, but this is a good start.”
Just as Torts training camp prepared this team for the regular season, this little string of wins is a training camp in and of itself for a young young team to learn how to deal with four times the media in the room; the opponent bringing their best night after night after night; heightened fan attention; the pressure cooker of “we have to win.”
Who else can get that kind of conditioning in the regular season? Not many.
So enjoy the ride, Jackets faithful. This is the kind of magic that hasn’t been seen much before, not just in Columbus but in the entire NHL. And even though the streak ended before hitting or breaking the record…it’s worth it to enjoy every second and continue to cheer on this remarkable team every game thereafter.
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