Columbus Blue Jackets: February Make or Break Month
Columbus Blue Jackets enter a do or die month in February after a disappointing January.
The Columbus Blue Jackets are healthy and rested coming out of the All-Star break but that didn’t seem to matter against the Minnesota Wild. The Jackets are playing some of their worst hockey of the season and enter February following a shootout loss where they didn’t deserve a point.
Columbus faced an easy January with plenty of time off and a schedule that didn’t have too many challenging games. Despite a huge month from Sergei Bobrovsky, the Jackets only managed a 5-4-1 record with losses to Vancouver and Buffalo.
The CBJ netminder started nine of the ten games for the Jackets and posted an astounding .964 save percentage. Despite that, the Jackets only managed 11 points in the standings the entire month.
Columbus Blue Jackets
The offense has slowed to an anemic pace and will doom the Jackets in February if this scoring struggle continues. Sergei Bobrovsky and Joonas Korpisalo can only carry this team so far. They can’t put the puck in the back of the net for the Jackets, which they desperately need right now.
Metro February
If they don’t start scoring they will be run out of the metro race quickly in February. 10 of their 13 games in February are against divisional opponents. Not only do they need to score, they need to start winning in regulation to prevent their competition from sticking around in the playoff race with loser points.
But only two of the last six Jackets wins have come in regulation. They don’t have the killer instinct necessary to kick a team when they’re down and routinely let their opponents back in games late. If they do that in February, they will be out of the playoffs.
Metro February is a huge opportunity though. They Jackets haven’t played their best hockey yet this season and now is the time. After February they will only play divisional opponents three times in their final 19 games.
It is do or die month for the Columbus Blue Jackets. It all starts tonight against the San Jose Sharks at home.