After enjoying their 5-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night, the Columbus Blue Jackets come home ready for two important early-season tests. How these elements play out during the season will go a long way in determining whether the Blue Jackets will make the playoffs.
The blue jackets hosts the Washington Capitals on Friday evening. Then on Saturday night they make the trip down I-70 to play the red-hot Pittsburgh Penguins.
If you look closely enough, you can see what both tests are. The first test consists of a pair of matches against their division. The second Test is their first of 15 consecutive matches this season.
The mighty metro
The Blue Jackets open Friday’s game with the fewest points the Metropolitan Division. There is some nuance to this.
The Blue Jackets enter action on Friday having played the fewest games in the division with six. All other teams have played at least seven games.
While the Blue Jackets have the fewest points at six, they don’t have the lowest points percentage in the division. That distinction belongs to the New York Rangers with their .444 points percentage. The Blue Jackets enter Friday at .500.
The Blue Jackets are coming off an impressive 5-1 win in Dallas. Why do they seem so far back on the subway? The top teams are off to an incredibly good start.
Between the top four teams in the Metro, the Devils, Hurricanes, Penguins and Capitals are a combined 23-6-0 to start the season. The Capitals enter Friday’s game in Columbus with a winning percentage of .714 and are in fourth place. It’s very early. But this photo perfectly illustrates the importance of this first test.
The Blue Jackets have business to take care of against Metro Division foes. This is especially true at home at Nationwide Arena. Considering how quickly the top of the division has started, the Blue Jackets need to win games to keep up.
The only way teams are guaranteed a playoff spot is by finishing in the top three of their division. Otherwise, it depends on how the rest of the teams in the conference do in terms of wildcard positioning.
If the Blue Jackets want to make the postseason, they need to play better against the teams in their division. Friday’s game against the Capitals becomes increasingly important knowing that in 24 hours a trip to Pittsburgh awaits them against the 6-2-0 Penguins. This is where test number two comes into play.
Dreaded back-to-backs
Every team in the NHL faces a large number of back-to-back games on their schedule. That’s what the Olympics will do.
Teams that want to make the playoffs will have to play these games when their energy levels are lower on the second night. How will the Blue Jackets adjust after struggling uphill for most of last season?
The Blue Jackets will face 15 sets of back-to-back matches in 2025-26. The problem they ran into last season was that they fell behind early in those games. It will be up to Jet Greaves or Elvis Merzlikins to hold down the fort, especially in the second game. Merzlikins is expected to start Saturday in Pittsburgh.
Before the first period was over, the games would be 2-0 or 3-0. The Blue Jackets then had to spend their time chasing the game. Emphasis will be placed on better starts and easier play to stay in these games.
As has been well documented, the Blue Jackets missed the playoffs by two points last season. An extra win here or an extra extra-time loss there could have made the difference in positioning. While the team will focus on the match at hand, they must be ready to play a rested team in the Penguins in the second game.
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As last season progressed, the Blue Jackets got better in both divisional and back-to-back games. A lot of that was due to teams not being in the hunt or not having anything extra to play for. Now we’ll see if they can continue that success against teams with all the incentives to rack up points early in the season.
At 3-3-0, the Blue Jackets feel good about making it two wins in a row. These two games against the Capitals and Penguins will provide a good litmus test to see where the team stands.
Division success. Back-to-back gaming success. If the Blue Jackets can make enough progress in these two areas, it should give them the confidence to know they can make the playoffs in 2025-2026.
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