Alright. We made it through December.
The Blue Jackets have endured their fair share of injuries. They've had their hearts broken a few times. They've shot themselves in the foot a few others. And still, they're right in the thick of the playoff race in both the Metropolitan Division and the Eastern Conference.
After a mesmerizing month in which they experienced the full gamut of emotions, the Blue Jackets will happily welcome the new year and a lighter month of January – one that features exactly zero (0) division opponents and only 10 games over 31 days.
Breather? Not exactly. A chance to settle down and work through some adversity? That's more like it.
Seven of their 10 games in January are against the Western Conference, and the Blue Jackets are already 1-0-0 after a 2-1 win over the Dallas Stars on Tuesday. They're in Denver tonight to face an Avalanche team that's not the bottom-feeder it was a year ago; in fact, Colorado's game has been quite good of late and they just took down the Central Division-leading Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday.
This won't be an easy game.
Looking further ahead, they've got three Atlantic Division games: vs. Florida, at Toronto and at Buffalo next week. At first blush it's an opportunity to bank some points, but this is the NHL and there are no pushovers, as the Blue Jackets found out with a rude and somewhat embarrassing loss to the Ottawa Senators last week.
Then it gets a little tricky.
The Blue Jackets face the Vancouver Canucks and Dallas Stars (both at home) before making their first trip to Vegas later in January. The Golden Knights have been dismantling everyone who comes through T-Mobile Arena, which should be great just before they head to Arizona for a game against the Coyotes to complete a two-game swing.
January ends at home against the Minnesota Wild, another tough opponent. But this is how it spells out for the Blue Jackets: do your best to take care of business at home and bank points against the out-of-conference opponents while you can. It's their best opportunity yet to make up ground – or at the least, stay in the fight – as they wait for their several injured players to heal.
If they can get some additional points on the board, we'll have a clearer picture of their "contender" status once February hits.
YOU SHOULD BE READING
- Remember Jonathan Marchessault? The one-time Blue Jackets forward signed a six-year, $30 million extension with the Golden Knights yesterday.
- Winter Park is returning once again, and the public rink at McFerson Commons is slated to open early February with daily skating sessions.
- In the first edition of the Heat Check, we're looking at Oliver Bjorkstrand's big night and what it could mean for his season going forward.
- Sergei Bobrovsky is only the 88th goaltender in NHL history to win 200 regular-season games.
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