The Columbus Blue Jackets had a remarkable climb up the standings, once sitting near the bottom of the Eastern Conference to into second place in the Metropolitan division on March 24. It was truly remarkable for the team, especially after they fired Dean Evason and replaced him with Rick Bowness. All the Blue Jackets had to do was keep up their pace at the time and a playoff spot would likely be theirs.
Since that game, the Blue Jackets lost six straight, including on Saturday night against the Winnipeg Jets. The Blue Jackets only gained one point in that span, and they are now on the outside looking in in regards to a playoff spot. After the Jets loss, the Blue Jackets held a players-only meeting.
While speaking with reporters, defenseman Zach Werenski still expressed confidence in the team's abilities, but said they wanted to focus on one game at a time.
Zach Werenski still confident Blue Jackets will make playoffs despite losing skid
“We’re not eliminated,” Werenski said, h/t The Athletic's Aaron Portzline. “We’re still in it. I believe in this group. I believe we can get it done, and it’s just doing it. I mean, we did it for two months. The last two weeks haven’t gone our way, but it’s in the room and it’s on us to just pull it out and get it done.
“But it starts with one game at a time. We can’t worry about what other teams do or whoever we have after Detroit (on Tuesday), our focus has to be on Detroit, and after that, we’ll figure it out.”
Werenski isn't panicking in regards to the team's playoff chances. They aren't eliminated from the running just yet. Let's not forget, they are only two points out of the final Wild Card spot and two points back of third place in the Metropolitan division. There is still a chance they can climb up the standings.
The problem is, the Blue Jackets haven't been playing well during this stretch. In these last six games, Columbus has scored a total of 10 goals. No team is winning those games with that little offensive production, especially since they surrendered 21 goals to the opposition. That's simply not going to cut, especially when there are, competing with the New York Islanders and Philadelphia Flyers for third place in the Metro, while also fighting off the likes of the Detroit Red Wings, Ottawa Senators, and Washington Capitals for the last Wild Card spot. It's incredibly crowded and very little room for error. Despite this skid, the Blue Jackets are lucky that the Red Wings and Islanders have been racking up losses too.
Columbus' remaining schedule is brutal, as the face the Red Wings on Tuesday, followed by the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday, the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday, the Boston Bruins on Sunday, and the Capitals on Apr. 14. That is an incredibly tough stretch of games for the Blue Jackets to stack up some wins and points.