In a season that began with the death of star left winger Johnny Gaudreau six weeks before opening night, the Columbus Blue Jackets are getting closer to ending a four-year playoff drought.
The Blue Jackets, who begin a key four-game road trip in Las Vegas on Thursday against the sputtering Vegas Golden Knights, are tied for the final wild-card spot in a tightly bunched Eastern Conference. Nine teams have between 56 and 51 points.
To make the playoffs for the first time since the 2019-20 season, the Blue Jackets will have to turn things around on the road.
Columbus is just 7-14-4 away from home, the worst road mark in the conference. But the Blue Jackets carry plenty of momentum into their trip opener, having gone 7-2-1 over their past 10 games, including a 3-2 overtime victory over the visiting Los Angeles Kings on Saturday — the Blue Jackets’ most recent game.
“We wanted to raise the bar,” said defenseman Zach Werenski, who scored a goal against the Kings to extend his home point streak to 19 games. “We know what we’re capable of in here and if we play the right way what can happen. We still have a lot of games left, but if we play that way and play to that standard, there’s going to be a lot of success.”
Kirill Marchenko’s goal at 3:45 of overtime won it for Columbus as goalie Elvis Merzlikins continued his hot play, stopping 31 of 33 shots to win for the sixth time in his past seven starts.
“All of us, we really want to get in the playoffs,” Merzlikins said. “I have really good faith and belief that we can really make it this year.”
“We have one goal in mind right now, and that’s to get into the playoffs,” added Columbus defenseman Dante Fabbro, who also scored a goal in the win over the Kings. “We’re all pulling the same rope, focusing on the present and treating every game like it means everything.”
Vegas limps into the contest in the midst of a 2-4-2 stretch over its past eight games, including a 4-3 overtime loss to the visiting Dallas Stars on Tuesday. The Golden Knights have one of the best home records in the NHL at 19-6-2 but have won just twice in their past six home contests (2-2-2).
The Tuesday loss to the Stars, on the heels of an impressive 4-1 victory over the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Sunday, was especially frustrating since the Golden Knights built a 3-1 lead in the first 24 minutes. However, Dallas rallied thanks to a natural hat trick by Wyatt Johnston, who scored the game-winner 20 seconds into overtime.
“We’ve been struggling for a while now,” forward Ivan Barbashev said. “There’s been some good stretches and some bad stretches. … We got (five) games until the break (for the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament). I think we just have to give it our all. I think it’s up to us to be better.”
After Thursday, the Golden Knights head to the East Coast for games against the New York Rangers, New York Islanders, New Jersey Devils and Boston Bruins. Vegas won’t play another home game until Feb. 22 against the Vancouver Canucks.
“Obviously, we need to string along some wins and make up some ground that that we lost,” Golden Knights forward Keegan Kolesar said. “You see the standings there, we’re starting to creep a little lower than we like, and teams are starting to catch up with us. …
“I think getting on a roll now, heading into the break, could get everyone feeling good, and then you don’t have that looming over you. Sometimes when the losses start to rack up, it can weigh on you.”
