April 23, 2014. Game four of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. With 11:10 gone in the first period, the Columbus Blue Jackets trailed the game 3-0 and the series 2-1. The Blue Jackets were well on their way to a blowout loss on home ice to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Head coach Todd Richards called timeout to settle his troops, and the tides turned on that night.
At the 16:39 mark of the first period, Boone Jenner got the Blue Jackets on the board. His power play goal, assisted by Mark Letestu and James Wisniewski, got the crowd back into the game.
With 5:40 remaining in the second period, Ryan Johansen brought the Blue Jackets to within one goal of the Penguins, with assists from Artem Anisimov and Brandon Dubinsky.
The third period was a back and forth affair. Sergei Bobrovsky made several big saves to keep the game close, and Marc-Andre Fleury made several saves to keep the Jackets from tying the game.
Until 22.5 seconds remained, when his gaffe became lore as Ryan Johansen and Brandon Dubinsky combined for one of the most iconic moments in franchise history.
Tie game. Bedlam in the arena. But the players had to focus in the locker room. Overtime was looming, and the Jackets still faced the prospect of losing the game. In the locker room, however, Nick Foligno offered a prophetic quote:
Nick Foligno, who just returned from a lower body injury in Game 3, asked his teammates if they minded him scoring the overtime winner.
No one objected then, nor did they when he beat Fleury glove-side at 2:11 of overtime to win Game 4.
“I didn’t actually think it would work, but it ended up working,” Foligno said. I can thank my lucky stars tonight that it ended up working, but I’m just happy to get that win for the guys.
The Jackets won the game at the 2:11 mark of overtime, tying the series and sending it back to Pittsburgh. The first home playoff win in franchise history.
I was in the arena for game four. Sitting in section 215, I was despondent after the Jackets fell behind 3-0 just 11 minutes into the game. After Boone Jenner scored, the arena started to come back to life, as did my spirits. By the time Johansen scored, it was pandemonium. The Jackets just needed to find a miracle in the third period.
The third period aged me more than any hockey game ever has. Sitting in that seat, stewing that the Jackets were going to let one get away despite playing well enough to die it.
Then Brandon Dubinsky happened.
Works cannot express the sound in the arena. It was cathartic. It felt like there was no way the Jackets were not going to win that game.
Of course, they didn’t. It remains zone of the coolest sporting events I’ve ever attended in my life. I literally cried on someone’s shoulder that I had never met before in my life because I was so overcome with emotion when the game was over. I stayed out and partied at R Bar until I lost my voice because I wanted to be a part of that environment forever.
I’ll never forget the reaction to Brandon Dubinsky’s tying goal.
Here’s what some of our other writers had to say about that night.
Ryan Real:
Brandon Dubinsky’s game-tying goal is easily one of the happiest moments of my life. Probably top three.
My South Carolina friends, who were recent converts to Blue Jackets and NHL hockey, had purchased Game 6 tickets with me at the start of the playoffs. Everyone was over at my tiny house, crowded around my even tinier television. I think I was streaming the game through the now-defunct hockeystreams.com.
Nobody spoke those final couple of minutes. The CBJ were staring down a 3-1 hole against the mighty Penguins, and they barely managed to take Game 2. Tense times. As the puck came up the ice, I distinctly remember thinking, “Well, you can’t have a miracle finish on a last-minute goal if you’re not down by a goal in the last minute.”
We were, no doubt, the loudest group of people in South Carolina at that exact moment when Dubinsky scored. During overtime, my then-girlfriend’s sister brought by something she’d borrowed from her. We couldn’t convince her to stay. She was a block away from the house when Foligno scored. She couldn’t believe how loud it was. The win was great for all the obvious reasons—first home playoff win, tying the series, beating the Penguins—but it guaranteed us a trip to Ohio for our first ever in-person playoff experience. The less said about that particular Game 6, the better, but the moment stands.
There are some things I hope I’ll remember for the rest of my life, and there are some things I know I’ll remember. I’ll remember Pierre McGuire admonishing Marc-Andre Fleury: “IF YOU’RE GONNA PLAY IT, PLAY IT. IT’S A ROLLING PUCK!” I’ll remember Sidney Crosby lying face-down on the ice as the Blue Jackets celebrate. I’ll remember Bob Cole saying “Right in front, they score! THEY SCORE!” I’ll remember the pure joy on the CBJ bench while the Penguins bench sat the hell down in this video.
The Foligno goal won the game, sure. But for me, the Dubinsky goal meant more to me. It was the kind of play you dream of watching, and our little team did it.
Will Chase:
“I wish I could remember exactly what went through my head five years ago. I even watched the highlights on YouTube just now in order to relive the Game 4 experience. It was crazy how whichever team scored first — and each loser through the first four games had at least a two-goal lead — relinquished the lead and lost each time. I know I remember thinking the Jackets could play with the Penguins, and that series left me thinking they were on the same plane as Pittsburgh moving forward. But in that Game 4 moment, there was nothing sweeter than the Jackets beating their rival on playoff home ice for the first time. And overcoming a 3-0 deficit to boot.”
Pale Dragon:
The start of that game was a punch in the gut, as the Jackets fell behind 3-0 quickly. It was the opposite of Game 3, when the Jackets jumped out to the same lead and eventually blew it. The goal late in the first to get on the board made me feel better. Each game in the series had been won by a team that trailed 3-1, so why not make it 4/4?
For the last 10 minutes (at least) of the third period, the whole crowd was on their feet. My heart was pounding as the game entered the final minute. I was in the lower bowl at that corner, but it was hard to tell exactly what was happening with all the bodies flying around. But I saw the puck end up in the net thanks to Brandon Dubinsky, and the place erupted.
That buzz lasted through the entire intermission. I didn’t sit down at any point. Partially due to superstition and partially because I was too amped up to sit still. I had to keep bouncing in place.
Thankfully Nick Foligno scored quickly in overtime and I couldn’t stop screaming and jumping. I high fived everyone in a three row radius. I have never experience a sporting event that felt so LOUD (A few moments in Game 3 vs. Tampa and Game 4 vs. Boston this year came close). It was like a party in Nationwide and no one was in a hurry to get home.
I felt like I was floating as I left the arena, with everyone chanting “C-B-J!” as we walked through the concourse.
I brought a friend to the game who I had been trying for years to turn into a Jackets fan. He was a full convert after this game. How could you not be?
Where were you when the Jackets won their first ever home playoff game? Share your stories below!