After a summer of madness in Columbus, Ohio, the Columbus Blue Jackets have finally opened up the 2014-15 hockey season. Ever since the Blue Jackets lost game 6 in the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs to the Penguins, fans have been counting down the days. Well boys and girls, it finally arrived although not without a little nail biting by the team and fans. The game ended much to the delight of Columbus fans with a 3-1 win over Buffalo.
Injuries have crushed this team so far. Between losing Nathan Horton, Boone Jenner, Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Murray, and the whole Ryan Johansen saga, fans turned from excited to anxious as the season neared. Well not to fear, Sergei Bobrovsky and company will still take the ice and give us all they have. And it started tonight, in Buffalo against the Sabres.
Jack Skille scored the first goal of the game, a laser beam wrister past Buffalo goalie Jhonas Enroth. Skille, who was picked up on waivers just last week and said he is very happy to be in Columbus, smoked one past Enroth. It is worth noting that Columbus let Skille walk during the summer, but quickly picked him back up last week.
Zemgus Girgensons scored just a few minutes later to tie it up. All the while, Jhonas Enroth was keeping the Sabres in the game despite being peppered with shots by the Blue Jackets. That lasted until 12:45 into the third period when Cam Atkinson broke the tie to make it 2-1. Just a few minutes later, Artem "Arty-Party" Anisimov shot one in off of a Sabre defenseman to make it 3-1. That all but sealed the deal.
The Sabres only managed 22 shots on Bobrovsky, who at times looked like he was mid-season form, while Columbus had 40 shots on Jhonas Enroth.
The Jackets now go home for the season opener against the Metropolitan Division rival New York Rangers. The building should be electric and filled with 5th Line Maniacs.