A forgettable night at Nationwide
Wednesday night at Nationwide Arena was a rather forgettable evening for the Columbus Blue Jackets and the 15,659 in attendance that witnessed the 9-4 shelling the team suffered at the hands of the Buffalo Sabres.
The Jackets found themselves down early and with a steep uphill climb awaiting them. Buffalo winger Tage Thompson collected a hat-trick just 12:22 into the game as he and the Sabres were firing on all cylinders. When the first period horn sounded the Jackets were trailing by a 6-0 score line as a chorus of boos rained down to the ice from the fans at Nationwide.
“I just said in the other room, in 26 years pro, I’ve never seen that,” Blue Jackets Head Coach Brad Larsen said. “We never had a chance tonight.
“We talked about their skill, their power play, and the danger. We saw it. We didn’t have an answer for their one line. Tage Thompson just tore us up tonight.”
Columbus rallied to score four goals on the evening but the damage to the psyche had already been done as the celebrations were halfhearted from the home team.
“We sucked pretty much the whole game,” Blue Jackets forward Patrik Laine said. “You can definitely see that on the scoreboard. They were just pretty much playing with us the whole game. It just sucks.
“I’ve lost a lot of games, but I don’t think I’ve ever been a part of a game like this.”
The Jackets try to rebound on Friday evening when they welcome the Calgary Flames to Central Ohio. Puck drops at 7:00 PM.