The Columbus Blue Jackets are fighting for their lives and a spot in this season's Stanley Cup Playoffs. After a miserable start to the season, they fired hard-nosed head coach Dean Evason and brought in veteran coach Rick Bowness and the results were immediate.
The Blue Jackets (38-24-11, 87 points) surged and steadily climbed up the Metropolitan Division standings and put themselves in playoff contention. They are in eighth place in the Eastern Conference with nine games to go in the regular season and they are fighting to hold off the Ottawa Senators, Detroit Red Wings and Philadelphia Flyers.
They have a chance to climb over the seventh-seeded Boston Bruins — those two teams play Sunday — as well as the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Islanders in the Central Division. The upcoming schedule represents the most critical time of the season, and the Blue Jackets are hoping to get out of recent lull that has seen them lose three of their last four games.
If the Blue Jackets are going to succeed by making the playoffs, defenseman Zach Werenski is likely to be the key. He is the team's leading scorer with 21 goals and 56 assists as the trigger to their offense and defense. He is clearly one of the best blue liners in the league and should be able to give Colorado's Cale Makar serious competition for the Norris Trophy.
In addition to Werenski, the Blue Jackets have an opportunistic attack that features Kirill Marchenko (25 goals, 59 points), Charlie Coyle (17 goals, 55 points) and Adam Fantilli (21 goals, 54 points). If those three can join Werenski in delivering consistent offense and goalies Jet Greaves and Elvis Merzlikins can hold up in the net, the Blue Jackets should be playing postseason hockey for the first time since the 2019-2020 season.
Blue Jackets can get to second place
The Blue Jackets have been as high as second place in the Metropolitan Division standings in March, but their recent losses have sent them back down to the second wild-card spot. The motivation to climb in the standings is clear, because finishing in second place would give them home-ice advantage in the opening round of the playoffs against the Islanders, Penguins or Flyers.
Finishing third would also give them a winnable series against any of those opponents, but they would not have home-ice advantage. It certainly would be better than finishing in one of the two Wild Card spots.
If Columbus finishes in seventh place in the Eastern Conference playoff structure, they will face the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. The Buffalo Sabres and Tampa Bay Lightning are engaged in an intense battle for first place in the Atlantic Division, while the Carolina Hurricanes hold a nine-point lead in the Metropolitan Division.
If the Hurricanes end up with the best record and highest point total in the East, they would face the No. 8 seed in the opening round. The winner of the Sabres-Lightning duel would become the No. 2 seed under those circumstances.
While both the Sabres and Lightning could be formidable opponents, the Lightning have the playoff experience to go into Columbus and dominate the series. Nikita Kucherov and Jake Guentzel are the keys to Tampa Bay's offense and goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy is among the best clutch goaltenders in the league. The Lightning would offer quite a bit of resistance and could be a nightmarish opponent for the Blue Jackets.
Sabres may be more vulnerable than Lightning in first round
The Sabres have nearly as much talent as Tampa Bay and have written one of the great turn-around stories in the NHL this season. The Sabres will be competing in the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since 2011, and they could start to feel the postseason jitters once the regular season concludes.
Tage Thompson, Rasmus Dahlin and Alex Tuch are the team's go-to stars, and the Sabres also have depth players like Jason Zucker and Josh Doan who can make key contributions. There is little doubt the Sabres will be fired up when they play their first postseason game in 15 years. They could blow out their opponents in Game 1 on home ice.
However, what happens if the Blue Jackets respond in Game 2 with a close win on the road? The Sabres may not be able to handle it and they could panic when the series moves to Columbus for Games 3 and 4. It could lead to a potential upset.
That's why the Blue Jackets should want to avoid the Lightning in the first round. The same holds true for a playoff-tested opponent like the Hurricanes. While Carolina has failed to get the Stanley Cup Finals in recent years, they have handled their first-round assignments successfully in six of their last seven seasons.
The biggest nightmare for the Blue Jackets would be failing to make the playoffs. However, having a first-round matchup against Tampa Bay or Carolina would likely result in a first-round loss, and it would be best to avoid either of those opponents.
