Jackets Limp Home; Slide to 7th and Face Detroit in Round 1 of Stanley Cup Playoffs

Well, it wasn’t the best weekend for the Blue Jackets. All they needed was to get one point out of four possible, and they couldn’t manage it. They ran into a desperate St. Louis team on Friday night that needed a win to clinch a playoff spot, and the Jackets were out-muscled again. On Saturday, the Jackets jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead over the recently-eliminated Minnesota Wild, and it looked like they would cruise to a victory. And then they allowed five unanswered goals to Minnesota, going on to lose 6-3. The Jackets got help from Anaheim, who lost in a shoot-out on Saturday, thus guaranteeing the Jackets would finish ahead of them.

So, St. Louis held their fate in their own hands on Sunday, needing a win to tie the Jackets in record and to move into sixth by virtue of their head-to-head dominance over Columbus this season. Their opponent? The bottom-feeding Colorado Avalanche. That was all she wrote for Columbus. They fell to seventh place, and now match up with the Detroit Red Wings.

The first game is on Thursday in Detroit. The entire series schedule sets up as follows:

Game 1: @ Detroit, 4/16, 7 p.m.
Game 2: @ Detroit, 4/18, 6 p.m.
Game 3: @ Columbus, 4/21, 7 p.m.
Game 4: @ Columbus, 4/23, 7 p.m.
Game 5 (if nec.): @ Detroit, 4/25, 6 p.m.
Game 6 (if nec.): @ Columbus, 4/27, TBA
Game 7 (if nec.): @ Detroit, 4/29, TBA

Obviously, the Jackets probably would have preferred to have remained in sixth place to play the Vancouver Canucks, but coach Ken Hitchcock isn’t ready to fold up shop in the face of the defending Stanley Cup champions: “There’s not one person with any degree of sanity who is going to pick us to win. But it’s a great way for the Blue Jackets’ first playoff campaign to get started. Obviously, they’re our biggest rival. And it’s going to be a huge challenge. But, for me, and I’m sure the rest of the players, I’m really looking forward to it.”

The Jackets had their best year against their Central Division rival this season, going 3-3-0 against the Wings. They were 2-1-0 at Nationwide, and 1-2-0 in Detroit. We’ll break down the series in greater detail tomorrow in The 5-Hole and with a podcast with the excellent CBJ blogger Light the Lamp. Stay tuned!