Blue Jackets break riptide with three straight wins

After a historically bad November (where the Columbus Blue Jackets managed to go 2-9-2), December seems to be treating the Blue Jackets a lot better. So far this month, three straight victories have come to the ‘W’ column. This is a spectacular news, considering that this team has played injured since day 1.

Exhibit A from Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch :

Told #CBJ C Artem Anisimov – out two to three months with a torn triceps – will not require surgery.

— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) December 1, 2014

This is nothing new; the Blue Jackets have been playing hurt the entire season — basically, a perpetual house of cards that keeps blowing over midway through completion.

It’s frustrating for the players, front office, and especially for the fans. With a great season last year, the hopes were high this season, but haven’t come to fruition. Even though the Blue Jackets find themselves tied for the penultimate spot in the Eastern Conference, there is still hope. The sky isn’t falling, the organization isn’t crumbling apart, Ted Mosby won’t inadvertently teach economic students architecture … oh wait. The point is this: injuries are part of the game, and they claim seasons and dreams. It happens, more so than others — in this case, the Blue Jackets are, like, three standard deviations to the right of average.

Remember, though, the Blue Jackets have a very competent front office. Just because things are going the wrong way, nobody is getting trigger happy in making trades, cuts, and who knows what. Jarmo Kekalainen (as I said before) is a wizard. He knows when to hold, when to fold, and when to wheel-and-deal. Right now, he’s in the hold process. It’s hard to judge a team completely, when the team is competing with half the roster injured at some point in time.

On Tuesday, the Philadelphia Flyers come to Columbus, and look to damper the Blue Jackets chance for four (!) straight wins. The Blue Jackets haven’t been in this position this season. As Mr.Portzline pointed out after the Tampa Bay Lighting victory, the Blue Jackets only have had a single instance this season of a three game winning streak.

#CBJ have won three straight for the first time this season. No, really.

— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) December 7, 2014

Fun stat for the article: the last three wins have accounted for 1/3 of the Blue Jackets win total this season. Jacket backers, players, and anybody associated with the team were on the struggle bus that cut through a riptide of injuries, bad breaks, and unfortunate events before the month of December arrived. Now, it appears things are going the Blue Jackets way. Even though it’s just a three game winning streak, and they are 11 points off the wild card spot, it’s a start.