RESULT: The Columbus Blue Jackets would win their 16th straight game over the Edmonton Oilers
DATE: January 3rd, 2017
LOCATION: Columbus, Ohio. Nationwide Arena.
WHAT HAPPENED: History was looming and the Blue Jackets had to stare it straight down. The team had an unbelievable amount of pressure on them to continue their winning streak after defeating the Minnesota Wild on New Year's Eve.
The Blue Jackets played a young upstart Edmonton Oilers club that was still trying to find it's feet. With Connor McDavid on your team, it doesn't take too much to get your team in the win column.
Deep into the streak, the games weren't just another opponent on the schedule. They suddenly became must-wins for the Blue Jackets. It sounds silly since teams want to win every night but they brought ferocity and guile to the ice every night. It made them a team that others feared.
If anyone was going to take them down it would be the fearless Oilers. They would fall behind early as the Blue Jackets would strike first on the power play. At the time, the unit was still flying high. They even got bounces that would allude them later on in the season.
Cam Atkinson would bounce the puck in off of Andrej Sekera to put the Blue Jackets up 1-0.
The Oilers would come back in the second period with a sharp goal from Oscar Klefbom but the Blue Jackets would bounce back with a William Karlsson power play goal later in the period.
The Blue Jackets just kept going after their opponent.
"When you play the right way and everything is in sync you tend to go on winning streaks, I guess. You could see everything flowing for them," said Edmonton Oilers forward Milan Lucic after the game. "It's easy to say their getting the bounces but they're working hard for those bounces and making it happen."
The hard work and the bounces were going their way but the skill was on full display as well. A couple of minutes into the second period, Nick Foligno would steal the puck in the Oilers' defensive zone and slam the door shut on any comeback attempt.
What an exclamation point on a 3-1 win. The streak would end in their next game against the Washington Capitals but it was a moment to relish for the home team.
Head coach John Tortorella after the game made sure that the context of the win was presented in the right way:
"I just want us to keep our head down and I just want us to play. You know what we are? We're a group of businessmen as far as I'm concerned. That's where I think they have really grasped, is they have accepted the thought of coming to work every day and learning about that day, playing that game and worrying about that game, not worrying about what happened, not worrying about what's ahead of us."
Win #16 amplified the fact that the Blue Jackets were around to stay. Any night they could come to an ice rink and out work you.
