Add it all up and it was a night in downtown Columbus that no one will ever forget.
"It's not just the game," head coach Brad Larsen said. "It was an exciting game, obviously, but to be part of this and close to this one -- I've seen some (number retirement ceremonies) before, but this was a special night. To honor Rick and see his humility as always, he's more about his teammates and his coaches and the organization and the community. There were some great speeches I thought. I thought it was just excellent. It was an hour long, but I didn't feel like an hour. I like how they did it.
"And the game itself was great. The fans are so awesome here. They are. We are playing on a back-to-back here and they are rested and it's a pretty good hockey team with Boston, so you're already a little bit nervous about what we're going to have in the tank, but that 5th Line carried them through. It does, it gives them energy. I think that they were real big for us tonight."
Voracek spent three years as Nash's teammate during his first stint in Columbus from 2009-11, and he acknowledged that some of the current Blue Jackets asked him around the locker room what it was like to play with Nash, who remains the franchise's all-time leader in games played, goals, assists and points.
The veteran winger, who played his 1,000th NHL game earlier this year to join Nash in that exclusive club, also said he enjoyed a pregame ceremony that featured speeches from Nash; CBJ president of hockey operations John Davidson; John H. McConnell II, the grandson of CBJ founder and majority owner John H. McConnell; former general manager and coach Doug MacLean; former coach Ken Hitchcock; and one of Nash's best friends, former teammate Aaron Johnson.
The team also played videos throughout the night that featured congratulatory messages from figures across the hockey world, including Wayne Gretzky, Sidney Crosby, Joe Thornton and such former teammates as David Vyborny, Luke Richardson, Pascal Leclaire and Manny Malhotra.