Columbus, Ohio - On the final day of 2014, the Blue Jackets went through their game day morning routine with a relaxed demeanor. This in spite of the fact that entering Wednesday night's tilt versus the Minnesota Wild, they have lost 223 man games due to injury.
After breezing through the first 11 games of December with a 9-1-1 record, they have just 60 minutes of hockey left in this calendar year. Despite that stellar record over the last 30 days, they still trail a wild card playoff spot by nine points. Every game is critical for this young team.
"I don't know how much carryover there will be," said coach Todd Richards of the 6-2 win over Boston last Saturday, "but I think it just elevates the guys' confidence as far as doing the right things. We had a good two days of practice, but now you have to carry it over into a big game. It's a big two points."
Columbus (15-16-3) can get back to .500 for the first time since Oct. 26 with a win over the Wild. Thirty-one days ago, they were dead last among 30 teams in the league and looking at a high draft pick next June. They needed a winning streak to get them out of the funk they were in.
"It's been a good month," Richards said. "But, we had to have a month like this. We basically dug ourselves a huge hole in the first two months of the season. We've put ourselves back in a decent position, I wouldn't even say a good position or a great position... we're in a decent position. We have to keep winning games and keep getting points."
While the Blue Jackets may be the most-injured team in the league, the Minnesota Wild just happen to be the NHL's sickest. Between battling the mumps, stomach viruses and even a bout of food poisoning, the Mike Yeo-coached Wild amassed a record of 17-13-4. It's a big game for them, also.
It may seem like a daunting task, and have no doubt that it is, to climb back into the playoff conversation, but this team has shown time after time for the last few years it has the resiliency to make that push. Will they be able to secure a playoff spot when the dust settles in April?
"Only time will tell," said Richards. "Right now we're winning hockey games. If we weren't winning hockey games, we'd be falling farther behind, so we've got to keep winning. We can only worry about things that we can control, and that's our game tonight."
Fast start
The Blue Jackets hope to get off to a fast start with a jump to their game when the puck drops. Replicating the effort shown in the win over Boston would go a long way towards securing two points. They've had three days since their last game to practice and rest some bruised bodies, but Richards knows that a fast start is far from guaranteed.
"I don't know," he said, "I hope so. Sometimes the days off can lead to somewhat of a slow start. I thought we had two good days of practice and the guys worked hard, especially yesterday. Now we've got to carry it out into the game."
Blue Jackets (projected) lineup
Forwards: Hartnell / Johansen / Morin
Calvert / Dubinsky / Tropp
Foligno / Wennberg / Skille
Cracknell / Chaput / Boll
Defense: Johnson / Savard
Tyutin / Prout
Connauton / Wisniewski
Goal: Bobrovsky, McElhinney as backup
Scratches: Leopold, Goloubef, Collins
