Mission Accomplished

The Columbus Blue Jackets closed out their regular season with a win over the Tampa Lightning on Sunday night, but it was the night before that a win over the Washington Capitals locked in their place as the one of the Lemieux Conference Wildcard Playoff teams. The result broke a curse that kept the Jackets out of the post season since the 2019-20 season. That playoff spot didn't come easy, it took a 20-4-0 record down the home stretch of the season, career best years from key contributors, an offseason coaching change and a monster trade to bring in a bonafide number one center. 

At one point in the season, the team was in the bottom 10 of league standings and flirting with bettering their odds in the draft lottery by selling off veterans. But some mid season shakeups to the roster by GM Andrew Payeur and some line tinkering by first year head coach Jay Woodcroft were just what the doctor ordered and the team took off like a rocket ship. The late season run was sparked by the top line, with trade addition Jack Eichel finding instant chemistry with Teuvo Teravainen, who had a career best and franchise record 89 point season.combined with Timo Meier's first career 30 goal season. Robin Lehner held down the fort as well during the season, ending with a .911 save percentage and earning a franchise record 40 wins.

The playoff clinching game however, came with a crushing blow. During that game, Jack Eichel went down with a lower body injury and is expected to miss most of, if not all of the team's first round playoff matchup against the Florida Panthers. Look for Ryan Johansen to step into the the role of top line center to play with Teravainen. It will be a tall task going head to head against a Panther's top line featuring John Tavares and Mark Stone, but coach Woodcroft thinks the veteran can handle it.

The Panthers won the season series bertween the two clubs with 2 wins to 1 loss, all closely fought battles. It will be interesting to see how this matchup shakes out and may simply come down to which goaltender, Lehner or Iliya Sorokin can steal the show. Jackets fans will recognize some familiar faces on the opposing bench. Derek Ryan who earned a cult following in Ohio following a 50 point season in 2020-21 only to fall victim to the aforementioned playoff curse, was a mid season addition for the Panthers and secures the teams fourth line and penalty kill. Meanwhile, Tyler Myers who had a brief stop over in Columbus in 2018-19 is playing top pairing for the Panthers and figures to be tasked with slowing down Teravainen.