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Columbus Blue Jackets Start Favorable Four Game Home stand

By Lansing Murphy

COLUMBUS, OH - OCTOBER 7: A general view of Nationwide Arena during the game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Nashville Predators at Nationwide Arena on October 7, 2011 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
COLUMBUS, OH - OCTOBER 7: A general view of Nationwide Arena during the game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Nashville Predators at Nationwide Arena on October 7, 2011 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) /
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The Columbus Blue Jackets are come off a rough road trip with a favorable home stand to help them turn the tide on the season.

16 games left for the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2017-2018 campaign. The playoffs start right now after only grabbing two points out of six on the California road trip. The Jackets are clinging to the final wild card spot right now but Florida has games in hand and Carolina is right behind the Jackets as well.

The next four games though are going to be at the friendly confines of Nationwide Arena and the competition isn’t the stiffest. Only one of the next four games will be against a team in a playoff spot. Vegas, Colorado, Detroit and Montreal will all visit NWA in the next week and take on the Jackets.

Grabbing six home points has to be the goal in the next four games. The Golden Knights are going to be a tough out as will be the Colorado Avalanche but the Jackets have no choice but to win at this point. With Florida playing so well and having games in hand, the Jackets are essentially on the outside of the playoffs right now.

The Jackets were thoroughly spanked by the Golden Knights in January and will surely be looking for revenge in Tuesday’s matchup. The same case for the Avs in their Thursday night showdown as the Jackets were blanked by the surprise Avs in January.

The Jackets are 2-1 against Detroit and Montreal this season and both teams are well out of the playoff race. They both will look to play spoiler though the Canadiens will be doing so without captain Max Pacioretty who will miss the rest of the season.

Will We See Joonas?

This homestand is spread out over seven days and has one back-to-back on Thursday and Friday. With Joonas’ performance in Anaheim, I would imagine Bob is going to be used often in the final 16 games.

Tortorella has shown that he is willing to use Bob in back-to-backs and I would expect him to do so again. Joonas let in a few very bad goals and was shook in the Anaheim game. The Jackets just can’t afford any easy goals and will not take the risk by playing Korpi.

Next: CBJ Salvage California Trip with Win

Bob on the other hand is coming off arguably his best game of the year against San Jose. He was rock solid and made some stellar saves for the CBJ. It isn’t an ideal scenario but Bob can perform with little rest and the schedule out of this four game homestand isn’t that challenging with plenty of days off and only short trips until the end of March.

The Jackets need six of eight points in the next week. That may not be enough to keep them in a wild card spot as Florida’s games in hand will give them an opportunity to catch up quickly. But six in eight will build the momentum this team needs to continue to drive towards April with confidence.

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