The Columbus Blue Jackets begin the second half of their season in position to make the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in five seasons.
The Blue Jackets their enter Thursday game against the visiting Seattle Kraken with 42 points and occupying the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference thanks to a 14-11 regulation-wins tiebreaker over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Seven teams below Columbus are within five points of the final playoff position.
The Blue Jackets haven’t made the playoffs since the 2019-20 season, when they lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning in five games in the first round.
Columbus, which has won two in a row and six of its past nine games (6-2-1), comes in off a 4-3 shootout victory over the Penguins on Tuesday. The Blue Jackets snapped a 15-game losing streak (0-10-5) at Pittsburgh that dated back to a victory on Nov. 13, 2015.
The Blue Jackets overcame a 3-1 third-period deficit on goals by Dmitri Voronkov and Adam Fantilli in the final eight minutes to send the game into overtime. Kent Johnson and Kirill Marchenko both scored in the shootout while Bryan Rust and Sidney Crosby failed for the Penguins, and enabling Columbus to leapfrog Pittsburgh in the wild-card race.
“Listen, this is a different team than in the past 10 years, whatever it’s been,” Columbus coach Dean Evason said. “We’re a different hockey club. We’re playing the way that the Columbus Blue Jackets play today in order to win. So, what’s happened in the past, it means nothing. It really does.”
Blue Jackets defenseman Jack Johnson said, “It means two points in the standings. It’s big. We were made aware today that it’s been awhile, it’s been a minute since the team won here. So it’s always nice to get a monkey off our back, but especially on the road.”
It was just the fifth road win in 20 games (5-12-3) for Columbus, which has excelled on home ice (13-5-3 with five wins in its past six home games). The Blue Jackets also lead the NHL with 86 home goals.
Seattle, which is still looking for its first win in 2025 (0-2-1), is starting a five-game road trip and has won five in a row over the Blue Jackets.
The Kraken are seventh in the Pacific Division and come in off a 3-2 loss to the visiting New Jersey Devils on Monday. Adam Larsson and Shane Wright both scored and Philipp Grubauer made 26 saves in the defeat.
“We’re well aware where we are at in the standings,” Seattle coach Dan Bylsma said when asked about the importance of the road trip. “We’re 41 games deep now into the season and this road trip is a part of that. … We have to be real focused on making some hay with the opportunities that we have.”
The Kraken activated starting goaltender Joey Daccord, who missed five games with an upper-body injury sustained in a Dec. 22 game against the Colorado Avalanche, for the trip. Daccord is 12-9-2 with a 2.51 goals-against average, a .912 save percentage and one shutout.
“I was able to skate the whole time so I don’t feel like I lost too much of a step there,” Daccord said. “I’ve been practicing for a little bit now. I was on the ice the whole time. I don’t feel like I’m going to miss a beat hopefully here. Feel pretty good.”
–Field Level Media
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