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Johnny Gaudreau's impact felt in Blue Jackets Stadium Series victory
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- Johnny Gaudreau's impact felt in Blue Jackets Stadium Series victory
Shortly after taking the job last summer as the Blue Jackets ' head coach, Dean Evason paid a visit to his new team's top scorer.
That's when he met Johnny Gaudreau in South Jersey for the first and only time. Evason left the meeting impressed by Gaudreau's thoughts, which he heard not long before the Blue Jackets star and his brother, Matthew, were tragically killed in South Jersey when struck by a vehicle while riding bicycles.
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"I just wanted to get a feel for him and him a feel for me, and what struck me is that not one time did he say, 'I want to play with this guy, or 'Our power play should be this setup,' or whatever. All he said was just, 'I want to win. I want to win, and I want this to be a close team.' And that's what our guys are."
The family of Johnny Gaudreau, Jane, left, Meredith, right, and his children walk to Ohio Stadium before the NHL Stadium Series game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday, March 1, 2025 in Columbus, Ohio.
The Blue Jackets have shown it from the start of training camp through their showdown Saturday night at Ohio Stadium against the Detroit Red Wings in the 2025 NHL Stadium Series matchup. Gaudreau's presence was felt throughout the day, including each team giving a nod to the memory of Gaudreau and his brother.
The Red Wings exited their bus at the stadium clad in jerseys worn by each Gaudreau brother throughout their careers, while the Blue Jackets arrived for the NHL's version of an OSU Skull Session at St. John Arena wearing a different kind of Gaudreau "uniform."
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Every player wore Johnny Gaudreau's favorite outfit away from the ice, complete with light blue hoodies, black pants, black ballcaps and even black Uggs on their feet.
The Blue Jackets walk to Ohio Stadium prior to their NHL Stadium Series game against the Red Wings. Players wore an outfit similar to that Johnny Gaudreau regularly wore.
"He loved the game, and he loved his teammates," Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner said. "He loved everything about it. He loved his family, and that family skate (Friday) would've been special for him too. So, we think about him and what he would do a lot of times: 'What would Johnny do or what would Johnny say?' and 'How would he approach this?'"
Gaudreau would've savored every second of Saturday's fanfare in Columbus, the city that he stunningly picked as a free agent in July 2022 to continue his NHL career. Gaudreau's only two seasons for the Blue Jackets included a lot of losses, many frustrating nights and always the feeling that it was short-term growing pains for a team he believed could develop into a playoff contender.
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The game Saturday night had a playoff atmosphere, and not just because it packed 94,751 fans into a historic college football stadium as the second-largest crowd in NHL history. The Red Wings and Blue Jackets held the top two wild-card spots in the NHL's Eastern Conference, in that order, and the winner was set to skate away with the first top spot at 68 points.
The 5-3 win, off a game-winner from Justin Danforth with just over two minutes remaining and an empty net goal from Adam Fantilli to seal the victory with 68 seconds left, went to Gaudreau's Blue Jackets.
Those are the kind of stakes Gaudreau dreamed about bringing to the Blue Jackets and Columbus, and in a way that's exactly what he's doing in spirit.
Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Elvis Merzlikins' helmet has a depiction of Johnny Gaudreau shooting a puck at Matiss Kivlinieks during practice at Ohio Stadium in preparation for the NHL Stadium Series game against the Detroit Red Wings on March 1.
The Jackets carry his No. 13 everywhere they go.
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They hand out a donkey hat as a postgame locker room award following wins because Gaudreau called all of them "a donkey" at one time or another. Goalie Elvis Merzlikins included a mural of Gaudreau shooting a puck at Blue Jackets goalie Matiss Kivlenieks , who was killed July 4, 2021 in a fireworks incident at former goalie coach Manny Legace's home.
The Blue Jackets were also led out of the home tunnel Saturday night by Meredith Gaudreau, Johnny's wife, and coaches on both benches wore No. 13 pins on their winter coats. It was simply a night for "Johnny Hockey" to shine once again on one of his sport's biggest stages.
"There's no doubt he would've had a blast and we're going to play for him (Saturday) like we have all year and honor him that way, the best way we can," Jenner said Friday. "He would've loved this, everything about it."
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets Stadium Series win: Gaudreau's impact felt
