Hockey season is back in full swing, and the Blue Jackets played their first home game on Tuesday, October 15, against the Florida Panthers. The Jackets lost 4-3, but the score wasn’t the only thing on people’s minds. Before the game, the Blue Jackets organization held an emotional ceremony to honor Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau. In addition to a tribute video, a banner was raised to the rafters memorializing Johnny Gaudreau with his name and number. The Gaudreau family was also in attendance for the ceremony.
Both teams participated in honoring Johnny Gaudreau by wearing sweaters with his name and number on them for their pregame warmup.
They paid further tribute to Johnny Gaudreau at the puck drop. The Blue Jackets started only four players, leaving the left wing open. When the puck was dropped, Sean Monahan passed it to the left wing position, and both teams stood still for 13 seconds. It was an emotional moment for many as the crowd started cheering, the players tapped their sticks, and the absence of Johnny Gaudreau was felt by all.
Now playing for the Florida Panthers, Matthew Tkachuk had been teammates with Johnny Gaudreau for two seasons while playing for the Calgary Flames. Tkachuk could not attend the game due to illness but posted this statement before the game:
“Unfortunately, I won’t be there tonight in Columbus. Johnny was a huge part of the hockey community but to me he was much more than that. A great friend, teammate, and family man. Not a day goes by without me thinking about Johnny and Matthew.
The biggest thing I’m going to miss about tonight is not being able to see Meredith, Noa, little Johnny, Guy and Jane. Would love to give them all big hugs! Johnny will be my teammate forever.
He also had the idea for the Florida Panthers to arrive with purple Gatorade and Skittles as a nod to some of Gaudreau’s favorites.
The Blue Jackets had some other ways to honor Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau. Inside Nationwide Arena is a memorial that displays jerseys with their names and numbers from when they played at Boston College and other teams. Also at the memorial are signs, sticks, and other memorabilia that people left in tribute. Every person in attendance received a number 13 patch similar to the ones on the players’ sweaters. The players also wore stickers on their helmets with the numbers 13 and 21.
The night was all about Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau, and much of the talk after the game was about them. When asked what the night meant to him, Sean Monahan answered, “I don’t know, to be honest, I’ll reflect on it probably tonight and in the future,” but he mentioned how much the way the team and league have honored the Gaudreau brothers has meant to the Gaudreau family.
When Monahan had scored, he pointed up to the banner with Johnny’s name and number on it, when asked about it he said,
“I felt like Johnny [was] watching down on us today. I had a feeling I was going to get one, fortunately enough I did. We lost which sucks but I could definitely feel John today.”
Cole Sillinger was asked about “playing for Johnny,” and if he approached the game thinking about how Gaudreau would have played, he said,
“That’s been our mindset for quite a while now. You know ‘What would Johnny do?’. Obviously in this situation he would want to win hockey games, play for his teammates, his brothers, and that’s what we did tonight, Johnny’s one of our brothers.”
Head coach Dean Evason was asked if losing a game like this hurts more than a normal game, here’s what he had to say,
“They all hurt equal, but yeah. Did we want to have a win to give to Johnny, sure, of course. But we talked to the group after the game, we told them we are playing winning hockey, we just didn’t win tonight. But the way we’re playing is winning hockey. I don’t buy into you got to learn how to win. We’re playing winning hockey, we just have to continue to do that and wins will come our way.”
He talked about some other events in the game and how it can hurt the momentum of their team and that they have some things to “clean up”
The Game
From the start of the game, the Blue Jackets players were determined to win. Their fast pace, combined with accurate passing, helped them score first. The first period was scoreless, but just 41 seconds into the second period, Cole Sillinger scored a short-handed goal to make it 1-0 Columbus. Four more goals were scored in the second period. First, Anton Lundell answered back for the Florida Panthers. Sean Monahan scored a minute later to put the Jackets up 2-1. Dmitry Kulikov tipped in a shot 12 minutes into the period, and Sam Reinhart scored with two seconds left in the period to put Florida up 3-2 at the second intermission.
As time wound down in the third period, the effort of both teams increased. Florida’s Eetu Leostarinen got a fast breakaway with just under five minutes to go and increased the lead to 4-2. The Blue Jackets pulled the goalie to put a sixth skate on and turned the heat up even more. Their effort was rewarded when James van Riemsdyk deflected a puck into the back of the Panther’s net. Unfortunately for the Blue Jackets, they were unable to score a tying goal, giving Florida the win 4-3.
The Blue Jackets’ next game is at Nationwide Arena on Thursday, October 17, at 7:00 PM EST against the Buffalo Sabres.
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