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Columbus Blue Jackets: Ranking Possible Playoff Opponents

By Lansing Murphy

COLUMBUS, OH - APRIL 18: General view of Nationwide Arena before game 4 in the 1 round of playoffs between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Pittsburgh Penguins held at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio on April 18th, 2017. (Photo by Jason Mowry/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
COLUMBUS, OH - APRIL 18: General view of Nationwide Arena before game 4 in the 1 round of playoffs between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Pittsburgh Penguins held at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio on April 18th, 2017. (Photo by Jason Mowry/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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#1 Boston/Tampa Bay vs WC2 Blue Jackets

Columbus Blue Jackets
BOSTON – MARCH 19: The net ends up on top of the Bruins’ David Krejci as he and the Blue Jackets’ Ian Cole, left, battle in the second period. The Boston Bruins host the Columbus Blue Jackets in a regular season NHL hockey game at TD Garden in Boston on March 19, 2018. (Photo by Jim Davis/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) /

This wouldn’t be good.

First off the Blue Jackets would have to be play pretty poorly in their last three games to drop down to the last wild card spot. Going into the playoffs with no momentum is a bad plan no matter who you play.

But if you end up playing the top team from the Atlantic, you better be playing your best hockey. The Bruins are on fire of late and even though they just lost Brandon Carlo, the team is getting Chara and Charlie MacAvoy healthy at the right time. The top line of David Pasternak, Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand are arguably the best line in hockey.

And if they aren’t then Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos and J.T. Miller probably are. The Lightning have scoring depth oozing from all corners of their roster and a deadly defense corps to supplement the scoring.

Both teams would present matchup nightmares for the Columbus Blue Jackets and both could counter in net.

Next: Columbus is the Hottest Hockey City in North America

Also, selfishly, Boston and Tampa are not nearly as easy for me to drive to as Pittsburgh, Philadelphia or D.C are and I plan on going to a road game in the playoffs.

All teams present challenges, its the playoffs after all. But for the Columbus Blue Jackets to win a playoff series for the first time in franchise history, they should avoid that second wild card slot and shoot for home ice advantage.

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