There's still a chance.
Where things stand, the Columbus Blue Jackets are in it.
You'd take that every season with five games remaining. Tied for the second Eastern Conference wild card spot with an opportunity to climb into the Metropolitan Division's top three.
When you zoom out, you know why the despair is deep within the faithful fifth line.
A 1-5-1 slump and six game losing streak, all coming at the most inopportune time. We talked on Friday about how the Blue Jackets weren't done, but their season was circling the drain. Maybe this moment was too big for this team?
"Time will tell on that, right?" head coach Rick Bowness said after Saturday's loss. "Here we are, we're still in it. We're still in the fight. Fortunately, the (New York) Islanders lost again. We've had plenty of opportunities here to help ourselves, and we haven't. So, is that not handling it well? Well, we're going to find out. You look at our last two games. We don't have a goal from a forward.
"I'm certainly going to have to look at me. And take a look at how we've got these lines constructed. We're going to start with that, and we're going to figure out ways to get more offense.
"Our top offensive guys ... they're going to have to step up, and time will tell — are they handling it well?"
Two weeks ago, the Blue Jackets had a 12-game point streak and a four-game winning streak snapped in a 1-0 loss by the Islanders. The Jackets gave up a goal in the first 85 seconds of the game and never found the equalizer.
Since beating the Philadelphia Flyers the next time out on Mar. 24, they haven't won since. And yet somehow this team has a chance to flush away everything that's happened since and get into the playoffs.
Of course, they'll need some help. And a lot of that comes from helping yourself, which the Jackets have not done. That can happen on Tuesday when they play a Detroit Red Wings team tied with Columbus in the standings.
After the Buffalo Sabres officially clinched a playoff spot over the weekend, breaking a 14-year drought, the pressure is squarely on the Red Wings as they aim to end a nine-year drought, which is now the longest in the NHL, followed by the Anaheim Ducks (seven years). The Ducks are poised to end that drought this year as they are tied for first in the Pacific Division, but they've lost five straight with a surging Vegas Golden Knights team one point back.
The Jackets' current play on the ice is far from what we've seen out of them leading into this slump. On Friday, I mentioned cracks in the foundation were forming during their 12-game point streak when the inability to put games away was resurfacing, a problem that ultimately cost Dean Evason his job as the Blue Jackets were last in the conference and forced to start the climb back into the playoff conversation.
It's now simply a gut check time to see if this team has in them what we thought they had when things were straightening out under Bowness in the back half of January and into the Olympic break.
Zach Werenski, a possible Norris finalist, was visibly frustrated during Saturday's postgame media availability. He has one assist in his last six games. Werenski hasn't scored a goal since the team's last win in Philadelphia, when he had his last multi-point game. He hasn't gone longer than three straight games without a point this season.
Charlie Coyle, who has never missed the playoffs in his career and whose name has been brought up in Selke conversation, has one point — a goal — in his last 10 games. He had a four-point game (one goal, three assists) on Mar. 17 against the Carolina Hurricanes. Since Mar. 12, he has five points (two goals, three assists).
Adam Fantilli, who is sitting at a career-best 55 points, surpassing last year's total by one, was second on the team with 16 points (seven goals, nine assists) in March. He has one goal and four points in his last nine games.
Kirill Marchenko has one goal in his last 11 games, but has five points (one goal, four assists) in his last four games. Sean Monahan has gone pointless in nine straight. Connor Garland has scored one goal since his consecutive two-goal games to start his Blue Jackets career. He has one assist in his last eight games. Mason Marchment might be the hottest Blue Jacket with a three-game point streak (one goal, four assists). Kent Johnson was a healthy scratch on Saturday.
Things might have finally hit a boiling point after a 24-minute closed-door players meeting following their sixth straight loss. What took so long, right?
Everyone is tired, everyone is gassed. This isn't a problem unique to the #CBJ.
— Ed Francis (@BlueJacketStats) April 5, 2026
But they are off Sunday & Monday and it will be the first time in three weeks and just the second time since the Olympic break ended that the team has had multiple off days.
4-1-0 could be enough.
The Jackets have a chance to rewrite the narrative, but they'd better find a way to get their big guns going. While they need help starting with Sunday's slate of games, such as regulation losses by the Red Wings, Flyers, Ottawa Senators — who currently have the last playoff spot — and Washington Capitals, that only goes so far if Columbus can't help itself. And it's already a tall task to depend on that much help.
But as they currently sit tied for the last playoff spot in the conference and one point out of the Metro's top three, they still have a chance.
It's going to be an interesting race to the end.
