Rumblings from the Cellar

Last night, another team record was broken, 4 straight road wins. Now if we played all of those games in St. Louis, Chicago, and Phoenix, sure, no problem. The things is that three of these games were against formitable opponents, and games that the Jackets owned the other teams: Colorado (3-0), Edmonton (4-0), Dallas (3-1), and don't forget that home win last Saturday against Ottawa (6-2). These are tried and true powerhouse franchises, and the Blue Jackets are putting them to shame.

The three top lines are not only all getting scoring chances, they're scoring goals. Since the first of the month, they've outscored their opponents 22-6. Fritsche has 5 points in his last four games, Nash scored 2 in the Ottawa game, Vyborny had a nifty goal in the Dallas game last night after Turco mishandled a pass. Chimera capped the Dallas game with the afterburners, as he stormed through the D for a mini-breakaway. Other mentions go out to Anson Carter, who's recking up the helpers, and Fredrick Norrena, who has played some outstanding hockey. (You'll see his name at number four on the save % leaderboard, and number 3 on the GAA leaderboard)

Looking ahead, the Jackets play in Phoenix tomorrow, and are back home saturday to play the Blackhawks. If they stay hot, the Jackets can improve to 28 points and continue the climb from the cellar of the conference. As Tyler's last post states that Hitch dropped the "p word," Lets take a look at the numbers:

Based on last year: 95 pts needed
Currently 28 pts, 53 games left, 67 points 33.5 wins needed (.632)

Based on Calgary's pace at #8 in the west:
need (.536): 29.4 wins

These aren't the worst numbers to achieve, but I'm not counting on anything yet, there are still 50 games left and anything can happen.

Columbus Blue Jackets 3, Dallas Stars 1

Record: 11-16-2
Box Score