The Blue Jackets finally played host to a Stanley Cup playoff game. This was the party Columbus had been planning for eight years.

"Finally" himself might have even been there; it was just hard to tell. Before the third game of a series with the Detroit Red Wings and the first playoff game in Columbus, the streets around Nationwide were awash with happy people in Blue Jackets jerseys. At that point, no one knew that the Jackets were about to experience another not-so-historic 4-1 loss.

It was probably as close as the Arena District has ever been to Mardi Gras. The plaza in front of the arena's Front Street entrance was dressed to party. Two hours before the game, it seemed as if every hockey fan in town was huddled beneath a wide, football field-sized double-row of white tents, drinking beer and listening to a band.

They weren't. There were parties all around. O'Shaughnessy's Public House? Jammed. Gordon Biersch Brewery? Jammed? R Bar? Jammed. Strategically stationed port-o-potties? Jammed.

It might have been the most boisterous Tuesday night in the city's history. It didn't seem to matter to anyone that the Red Wings had easily disposed of the Jackets in the first two games in Detroit. The Columbus franchise had to get through 658 games to get here. It was time to relish a moment in the city's sports history.

The names on the backs of some of the Blue Jackets jerseys showed what a long, tough road this has been. Nikolai Zherdev? OK, he was a former first-round draft pick. Dan Fritsche? Not bad; a four-year Jacket and former second-rounder. But Jaroslav Balastik? Bryan Berard? Jamie Allison? Seeing those names was like awakening a repressed memory. It has been a hard go.

Most of the 19,219 who had tickets made it inside the arena early, but the party was just beginning. A video of season highlights was played on the scoreboard and the fans went crazy. John H. McConnell II, grandson of the team's late owner, carried the flag and the fans went crazy. The Blue Jackets took the ice and the fans went crazier, maybe offering up the loudest ovation in the building's history.

It was a grand party, at least until the game started. One minute, seven seconds in, while most of the fans were chanting "Let's go Jackets" in their outside voices, Tomas Holmstrom scored to give the Red Wings a 1-0 lead.

That was a historic moment. Never before has a Red Wing scored a goal in Nationwide without receiving wild cheers. For the first time in Jackets' history, only a handful of Wings' fans were in the building. This was a Blue Jackets' crowd.

Forty-six seconds before the end of the first period, the Red Wings' Dan Cleary scored another goal, and there was a growing sense of dread. Even the most devoted Blue Jackets' fans knew the odds: The defending Stanley Cup champions, 4-0 and 4-1 winners last week in Detroit, weren't likely to surrender a two-goal lead.

Although Detroit's victory was disappointing for the local fans, it probably didn't totally spoil the evening. The fans cheered every big hit by a Columbus player, and after R.J. Umberger scored the team's only goal to cut the lead to 3-1 with 3:53 remaining, they went back to chanting. For a lot of fans, this night was a destination in and of itself, with or without the victory.

That much will change. Three games into their first playoff experience, the Blue Jackets are still looking for their first win. If it doesn't happen in a series-clinching Game 4 in Nationwide on Thursday night, there's a good chance that dreaded word will be dredged up in next year's playoffs, or whenever the Blue Jackets "finally" get their first playoff win.

Bob Hunter is a sports columnist for The Dispatch. 

bhunter@dispatch.com