Jackets hope to keep streaking vs. Blues
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Columbus Blue Jackets are on a roll. Where it stops, nobody knows. The St. Louis Blues would like to be the opponent that halts the Blue Jackets' 10-game win streak, which is tied for the second longest in franchise history, on Saturday night at Nationwide Arena. Not only do the Blue Jackets have a 10-game run overall, they've matched a club record with eight wins in a row at home while going from playoff outlier to Metropolitan Division contender. Columbus (42-28-5) reached 10 on Thursday night with a convincing 4-0 victory at home over the Florida Panthers. "We don't talk about the streak," Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. "That's not what this is about. This is about, at the end of the year, trying to get in. And I think that overlays everything. "We're just trying to take it one day at a time. That's what I like about what our team's doing." The surging Blues (41-28-5) are making a late-season push of their own. They've won four straight, including three in overtime, and six of their last seven after beating the Vancouver Canucks 4-1 on Friday night in St. Louis. "The last few games we've played great hockey," Blues center Patrik Berglund said after scoring two goals against the Canucks. "Obviously, every single point is huge for us. Hopefully, we can keep it going here." St. Louis did find out that defenseman Carl Gunnarsson will miss the remainder of the season after tearing the ACL in his left knee in the win vs. Vancouver. A quick refocus will be necessary with a back-to-back, but the Blues are locked into a fight for their playoff lives, hovering one point behind the Colorado Avalanche for the second wild-card spot in the West. They can't afford many more losses in the final two-plus weeks of the regular season to have a chance. Contributions are coming from multiple players, including recent game-winning goals from Berglund, Brayden Schenn and Jaden Schwartz. Vladimir Tarasenko returned Friday after missing two games with an upper-body injury and scored a goal 14 seconds into the third period. "We're playing a pretty quality team tomorrow that's playing good hockey," Blues center Kyle Brodziak said, "and we're going to have to do a better job tomorrow." The Blue Jackets understand the Blues' plight because, in a sense, they're still one of those teams that has nothing guaranteed yet. "Whoever we're playing, it doesn't matter," Columbus defenseman Ryan Murray said. "We have to go out there and be better than the other team. There's a lot of desperate teams in the league right now." Columbus is in third place in the Metro, four points behind division-leading Washington and one point behind second-place Pittsburgh but just one ahead of Philadelphia, the first wild card. Blue Jackets center Brandon Dubinsky, a healthy scratch in the past two games, will return to the lineup in place of injured Lukas Sedlak on Saturday. As one of the veterans on a young team, Dubinsky is relishing the opportunity to contribute down the stretch despite having a subpar season individually. "We still have an opportunity with seven games left to get home ice, to win a division, you never know," Dubinsky said. "We've just got to keep this thing rolling. That's all my focus is on. "We're not where we want to be yet. We're trending that way and obviously I want to be a big part of it. I spent a lot of years and a lot of hard work here and I've got to focus and push myself and be ready to go (Saturday) night." A big part of the Blue Jackets' late-season success is the play of defensemen Seth Jones (15 goals, career-high 50 points) and Zach Werenski (14 goals). Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, last season's Vezina Trophy winner, has won his last seven starts while posting a 1.86 goals-against average and a .940 save percentage. "We've definitely got confidence coming up in the locker room and it's nice to see, but that feeling is so fragile," Bobrovsky said. "You just have to be smart with it. You can't (get) too high and you can't get too low. ... You have to let it come to you and feel good about yourself, but it's a very thin line, where it's better to not cross." The Blues took the first meeting between the teams on Oct. 28 in St. Louis with a 4-1 victory. |