Columbus Blue Jackets fans are ready to break out the brooms…only it’ll have to be metaphorically and not literally.
That’s because Nationwide Arena is banning spectators attending Tuesday’s Game 4 against the Tampa Bay Lightning from bringing brooms into the building to commemorate what will be a series sweep if they can emerge victorious.
The facility passed along the following message from security Tuesday.
Columbus is on the verge of completing an improbable sweep of the NHL’s best regular-season team in 23 years. It would not only represent the biggest upset in recent Stanley Cup Playoffs history, but it would mark the first playoff series win in franchise history.
The Blue Jackets have qualified for the post-season four previous times but accrued only five total wins, being eliminated once by the Detroit Red Wings, twice by the Pittsburgh Penguins and letting an early series lead slip one year ago against the eventual Cup champs in Washington.
With franchise goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and star forward Artemi Panarin pending unrestricted free agents, general manager Jarmo Kekäläinen went all in ahead of the trade deadline, acquiring Matt Duchene, Ryan Dzingel, Keith Kinkaid and Adam McQuaid. They barely squeaked into the playoffs but now appear poised to eliminate the Presidents’ Trophy winners and go on a lengthy run.
Hart Trophy frontrunner Nikita Kucherov is set to return to the Lightning lineup for Game 4 after serving a one-game suspension for boarding. Unfortunately for them, Lightning defencemen Victor Hedman and Anton Stralman remain out with injuries and forward Alex Killorn is a game-time decision.
Through three games, Kucherov and Hedman, plus 40-goal scorers Steven Stamkos and Brayden Point, are among the Lightning players yet to register a point in the series.
If the Lightning manage to pull off the 0-3 comeback they’ll join the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, 1975 New York Islanders, 2010 Philadelphia Flyers and 2014 Los Angeles Kings as the only teams to accomplish the feat.
The broom-ban tweet won’t have an impact on the result of the contest, of course, but it did result in some amusing replies. Some fans seemed upset (on the internet, of all places!) while others enjoyed the implications of the tweet.
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