Blue Jackets honor Johnny Gaudreau, come up one short against Florida
Tuesday, October 15, 2024
By Kevin Rouch
krouch@cbussports.com
The family of Johnny Gaudreau, along with the Columbus Blue Jackets and Florida Panthers, watch as a banner bearing his number 13 is hoisted to the rafters at Nationwide Arena before Tuesday’s game. Photo: Kevin Lam
The capacity crowd at Nationwide Arena waited to see how the Columbus Blue Jackets would commemorate the life of Johnny Gaudreau, who passed away with his brother, Matthew, on Aug. 29 when they were hit by a car while riding bicycles near their childhood home.
What the Blue Jackets did in honoring Gaudreau left very few dry eyes in the house. A beautifully-produced video showed the undersized, yet continually successful winger take the hockey world by storm while becoming a devoted family man. His wife and children then came onto the ice to watch the raising of a banner with his number 13.
There would be one more moment that would touch the heart of hockey fans. The players took the ice leaving a spot open where Gaudreau would have positioned himself on the center circle. The face-off sent the puck to that spot and the players stood in place for 13 seconds while the crowd went silent. As the clock ticked down to 19:47, the roar of the crowd began, shortly reaching an overwhelming crescendo.
After the game restarted, the players had an understandably difficult time generating a lot of energy. Neither team dented the scoreboard in the first period.
Cole Sillinger celebrates his short-handed goal, which came less than a minute into the scond period of the Blue Jackets’ game with Florida Tuesday at Nationwide Arena. Photo: Kevin Lam
The first goal came just 41 seconds into the second period. The Panthers were on the power play but Kent Johnson took control of the puck inside the Jackets’ zone. He sent a backhanded stretch pass up the middle of the ice to Cole Sillinger, who had split two defenders, and Sillinger snapped a shot into the net.
That was the first of five goals scored in the second frame. Unfortunately for the Blue Jackets, three of those scores came from Florida. The other Columbus goal was a tip-in at the net by Johnny Gaudreau’s best friend in the NHL, Sean Monahan. Monahan, who had looked forward to playing with his former Calgary teammate this season, pointed toward the “13 banner” at the other end of the ice after recording the goal.
In the third period, Florida took a two-goal lead when a pass out of the Panthers’ zone took an odd bounce off the wall and came to the middle of the ice where Eetu Luostarinen collected it. He sped down the slot and beat Elvis Merzlikins for the score.
Much as they did at Minnesota in the opening game of the season, the Blue Jackets took Merlikins out of the net for an extra attacker and were able to score a goal late in the third. Damon Severson bounced a shot off the shin pad of James van Riemsdyk in front of the net to cut the score to 4-3. The Blue Jackets had a number of good looks after that but could not tie the score.
Columbus does not have much time to rest as they are back on the ice at Nationwide Arena Thursday when the Buffalo Sabres come to town. The puck is scheduled to drop at 7:00 p.m.