The Blue Jackets beat the Stars 2-1 in Columbus last night. Both teams now sit at 2-3-1 on the young, lockout-shortened season. Sounds unremarkable, right? Well, except for what might go down as one of the best plays of this entire NHL season, maybe.

In a show of how much NHL fans miss their sport, Columbus Blue Jackets bar, R Bar, in Columbus, Ohio, staged an XBOX 360 simulation of a Columbus-Vancouver game Friday night to the delight of Blue Jackets fans. Pretty fun idea to begin with, no? It gets better.

In what had become quite the lengthy saga, Rick Nash was finally dealt by the Columbus Blue Jackets to the New York Rangers. The move is a major one: Nash is a top-10 talent, and now he’s going to a major media market with one of the NHL’s best teams. Details, after the jump.

Columbus Blue Jackets netminder Steve Mason recently commissioned a new goalie mask from airbrush artist David Gunnarsson. And it’s really creepy! He tweeted pictures of the two sides on Tuesday. The first is predictable enough. The second? Not so much.

Hey NHL, here’s an idea: Because your popularity is already so high, why not find a way to alienate fans on a more personal level?

In what may be the most awesome story you’ll hear about a former NHL coach’s solid citizenship today, Ken Hitchcock, former Stanley-Cup-winning Dallas Stars skipper, helped thwart an attempted shoplifter in Kelowna, British Columbia earlier this week.