Out Of The Cellar...(?)

For sure… putting away the shootout in only two rounds would have been nice. Steve Mason's letting in the second shot from Alexandre biter-- er, Burrows... perhaps added a little suspense to a situation in which Columbus Blue Jackets fans could do without the suspense. However, the wrister from James Wisniewski that slipped just between the post and Roberto Luongo's left skate shut the door on any further, unnecessary suspense.

Thus, the Jackets split a pair of games with each of the defending conference champions from last year's Stanley Cup Playoffs.

As a bonus, the Jackets have also, for the time being, climbed out of the cellar of the Western Conference. No, really! Look!

CBJ not in 15th! It's on NHL.com, so it MUST be true!

Now, the Jackets obviously have way to go to reach 13th. However, no one said the climb was easy

Make no mistake about it... the climb to the Playoff line is pretty freaking monumental right now. We are at the 30 game mark now. That means the blue jackets have 52 games remaining in theh season… of which they need to win about 37 to get in (this is just an estimate, of course, based on the final standings of the last several years).

Hey, when you're a CBJ fan obsessed with making the Playoffs, especially after such a godawful start… you crunch numbers like this. When you're really bad, you lie awake doing this. It's our lot in life.

So, yeah, winning 71-75 percent -- see? I'm doing it now! -- of your remaining games is a pretty hefty task.

Doable? Sure.

Herculean? Absolutely.

But doable.

Speaking of doable... after playing a crazy-good stint in net all game, I thought Steve Mason was toast when I saw him go down on his side. I thought for sure he popped a groin or something... seemed like the most logical conclusion after seeing a guy down on the ice for that long after that split he did. Thankfully, it wasn't, and he got back in net after Curtis Sanford held down the fort for a few minutes. Man, that had to be some damn painful cramping to give people a scare like that.

It was Mason's first start since mid-November. However, on this night, Steve Mason was the freakin' man in the crease tonight.

And if he keeps that kind of stuff up in net... this season is still doable.

And dammit... I'll believe it's doable until it isn't.

Two more games left in the homestand, and the Kings are up next on Thursday.

Watch the throne....
Go Jackets!

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