Forget January. It's not about that.
The Blue Jackets have had a light month. They haven't made the most of it.
Between now and the end of January, they'll play two more games: tonight in Arizona and then back home Tuesday against the Minnesota Wild. If they've got designs on being a playoff team for the second consecutive season, they'll strap their boots on and win both games. Seeing as both are winnable games, that would be a good idea.
That's the thing though, isn't it? We keep waiting for the Blue Jackets to wake up from this malaise and become the team we saw a year ago. A team full of confidence and "the right type of arrogance" as John Tortorella likes to say. For whatever reason, it hasn't happened that way.
The Blue Jackets are playing like a team that lost its confidence on the bus and keeps going back to the same spot looking for it. They might want to try somewhere else.
Now that January is effectively over in terms of games on their schedule, it's time to start looking ahead. February could well be the month that decides whether they're in or out, and it's because of a Metrpolitan Division-heavy schedule. It's going to be agonizing, challenging, all of the above...but if they can manage to find even some of their game from last season, they've got a fighting chance.
In February, the Blue Jackets' schedule is a bear:
- In total, they'll play 13 games between Feb. 2 and 26. This is not a space in which we do math, but it works out to 13 games in 25 days. Yikes.
- Of those 13 games, 10 of them are against division opponents.
- The Blue Jackets face the division-leading Washington Capitals three times in February: twice at Nationwide Arena and once in D.C.
- Their non-Metro slate includes home games against San Jose and Chicago and a road game in Toronto. Nothing to breeze past there.
So, you can see why we're keying in on February. The Blue Jackets are going to take their game-by-game approach as they should, but we have the benefit in this space of being able to take the long view without penalty. Get through January, bank some points and head into February champing at the bit to make every Metro game count down the stretch.
If they don't, it doesn't look good – and this team cannot afford to take a step backward and miss the playoffs.
YOU SHOULD BE READING
- Details are scarce surrounding Brandon Dubinsky's sudden departure from the Blue Jackets' road trip.
- The Blue Jackets' reunion with Wild Bill Karlsson did not go well for them, as he torched them for two.
- What did we learn last week? To start, Jarmo Kekalainen seems ready to make a move.
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