This is The Fuse. As the kids say, it’s about to be lit.
Around these parts, we’ll do our best to give you everything you need to know about the Columbus Blue Jackets. We’ll also fill you in on the stories you may not have heard about (or those you didn’t think you need to know about), the social media buzz around the league, along with a few random nuggets for good measure.
Think of it as your morning coffee with a shot Blue Jackets talk.
MARCH ON: Tonight, the Blue Jackets begin their first-round series against the Pittsburgh Penguins. You know, the team that won the whole damn thing a year ago and is seeking to join an elite club of back-to-back Stanley Cup champions; it hasn’t been done since the Detroit Red Wings (1997 and 1998), and if you’re at least #millennial age, you’ve heard of a few players from those legendary Scotty Bowman-coached teams.
If you’re in Columbus, you can catch Game 1 tonight (7:30 p.m. ET) on the USA Network nationally or locally on FOX Sports Ohio. Jeff Rimer and Jody Shelley have the call for FSO, which plans to carry at least Games 1-4 before the NBC family picks up the potential final three games of the series, if necessary.
RATINGS BOOM: Speaking of FSO, some encouraging news on the business front came down late yesterday: the Blue Jackets’ telecasts sprung to their highest ratings in franchise history, no doubt aided by a 50-win season and third playoff appearance.
Of note: half of the top-10 viewed Blue Jackets regular season telecasts in team history came this season. That’s impressive stuff.
If you’re more of a radio person (some of us have faces for radio), Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno was on 97.1 FM yesterday and basically admitted that he hates the Penguins.
Nick Foligno on with @971CandR: Put me down as a guy that doesn't like the Pittsburgh Penguins right now.
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) April 11, 2017
Welcome, Nick. You're officially one of us.
FRENEMIES: Bill West covers the Penguins for the Tribune-Review and he’s one of the good ones. This piece is thoughtful, hilarious, and detailed on the long-standing relationship between Tortorella and Sullivan.
Jeremy Roenick’s quote here is particularly great, referencing Tortorella and Sullivan’s time years ago on the Coyotes staff:
“When these guys got together, it would be like they were solving the world's problems,” said Jeremy Roenick, a star on those Coyotes teams and now an analyst for NBC Sports. “It was like, ‘If this is going to do this, then we've got to do this here. And what if I do this here? And this team loves to do this. This is how we can break it down.' Their whole lives are hockey.”
BACK to the ICE: The Penguins have been banged up big-time. If you’re a star player on that team, odds are you’re going on injured reserve at some point. For whatever reason(s), Pittsburgh has some of the worst injury luck in the league – but the GREAT news is that many of their walking wounded are getting healthy in time for the playoffs.
One of them is Evgeni Malkin. He’s really good. Like, reeeealllly good. And the Penguins sound pretty amped up to have him back for Game 1.
WELCOME to HOCKEY: For many Blue Jackets fans, the complete 180 this team has done in 2016-17 still hasn’t registered. Ryan Real from SB Nation put together an in-depth guidebook of sorts, one that essentially introduces newcomers to this young, fun and unpredictable team with a dash of painful history woven in.
This part stands out:
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Last year, the Jackets stumbled to the worst start by any team since 1944, got their coach fired and basically saw themselves out of the playoffs by Halloween. They finished 27th out of 30 teams. Over the summer they did little to improve to outside observers, adding no big-name free agents or pulling any blockbuster trades. So how does a team go from second-to-last in the Eastern conference to one of the league’s five best teams?
Enjoy Game 1 tonight, dear friends.
And remember: when you have Trilly on your side, anything is possible.
@BlueJacketsNHL Go blue jacketa
— Jimmy McGill (parody (@trillballins) April 11, 2017
TIME-LAPSE LOGO INSTALL: Want to watch a time-lapse video of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs logo being applied to the ice at Nationwide Arena? Of course you do.
ICYMI: Our Jeff Svoboda absolutely killed it with this piece on Columbus and how the city has been impacted by the Blue Jackets. It’s worth at least two reads, IMO... Brandon Saad, a Pittsburgh boy, is being counted on to kick some ass for the Blue Jackets in his first playoff stint with the club... John Tortorella and Mike Sullivan are best friends, and will match wits in this series. Quality work here from our newest team member, Sam Blazer... Golden child Zach Werenski is a go for tonight. That’s something to drink to... Here's Torts' presser from Tuesday... Roberto “Old as Dirt” Luongo, is not worried about the expansion draft.
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