The Columbus Blue Jackets are in the midst of an historic run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and their hard work earned them a few days off as they wait for a second-round opponent, something that center Matt Duchene put to good use.
Two days after the Blue Jackets, the second wildcard team in the Eastern Conference, closed out a four-game sweep of the NHL’s best regular-season squad, the Tampa Bay Lightning, Duchene posted a video of him singing to his infant son, Beau.
In the brief video, Duchene is shown sitting in front of his son and strumming on an autographed guitar while singing, “Shallow,” from “A Star is Born,” the smash hit movie starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper.
Co-written by Gaga and several others, “Shallow” won the Academy Award for Best Original Song earlier this year.
The video of Duchene singing to his son got more than 187,000 views, and the NHL’s Twitter post featuring the moment garnered more than 1,300 retweets and 9,600 likes.
Duchene shared the video on his Instagram and Twitter accounts. The Instagram post generated 65,341 views, as well as more than 1,400 likes on Twitter.
Duchene’s video was the second time he shared a special moment with his wife, Ashley, and Beau this week.
Prior to the Blue Jackets’ 3-1 win over the Lightning in Game 3 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus last Sunday, Duchene was photographed sharing a smile with his wife and son after they had walked down to rink-side to watch warmups.
Acquired by the Blue Jackets in a mid-season trade from the Ottawa Senators, Duchene was a key part of Columbus’ successes against the Lightning.
Duchene tallied three goals and four assists for seven points in the four games against Tampa Bay. Duchene finished the best-of-seven series plus-five, meaning the Blue Jackets outscored the Lightning by five goals with him on the ice. Duchene picked up a goal and an assist on the power play.
The Blue Jackets are still waiting for their next opponent, as the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins are locked in a 2-2 tie in their series with Game 5 set for tonight at TD Garden in Boston.