As of Monday afternoon the Columbus Blue Jackets have not yet officially clinched a playoff berth, but let’s face it, they are going to be one of the eight teams in the Eastern Conference. It would take a monumental collapse over the next three games combined with the Florida Panthers pretty much winning out for the Blue Jackets to fall out of the top-eight. They are returning to the playoffs, and once they get there they are going to be going in as one of the hottest teams in the league.
Let’s just take a look at what they have done over their past 20 games.
The record: 15-4-1, the third best record in the league during that stretch behind only the Boston Bruins and Nashville Predators.
They have outscored teams by a 74-48 margin, a goal differential of plus-26. Only Boston’s plus-28 mark over that stretch is better.
Their 74 goals are third most in the league (again behind only Nashville and Boston). Their 48 goals against are tied for the second fewest (with the Los Angeles Kings) behind only the Anaheim Ducks’ 41.
They are also a top-10 possession team during that stretch, meaning that the process is there along with the results.
Driving the offense over that stretch has been Artemi Panarin and Cam Atkinson. Panarin’s 30 points over the past 20 games are tied for the third-most in the league (behind only Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon) while Atkinson has really started to find his game after a tough first half. Panarin is the one that has a chance to be the real difference-maker for this Blue Jackets team.
For as good as they were a year ago during the regular season, they really seemed to lack a true go-to-threat offensively. Coming over in an offseason trade with the Chicago Blackhawks for Brandon Saad, Panarin has become just that player for Columbus. He is scoring at a nearly a point-per-game rate, has been one of the best possession driving forwards in the league this season, and is playing some of his best hockey right now.
[The 2018 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs begin April 11 on the networks of NBC]
The two big questions for them: Will Sergei Bobrovsky give them a better playoff performance than he did in his first two postseason appearances (where his save percentage is only .896), and how will their center depth (probably their biggest weakness) hold up against a potential first-round matchup against Pittsburgh, Washington, Tampa Bay or Boston (all of which are potential first-round matchups)?
Those are two big questions, but for the moment the Blue Jackets have to be excited about the way their team is playing down the stretch. Right now there are few teams playing better.
That has them in the top-five of this week’s Power Rankings.
On to the rankings.
The Elites
1. Boston Bruins -- They cannot seem to catch a break on the injury front but all they do is keep on winning. They have to be the favorites in the Eastern Conference right now.
2. Nashville Predators -- It remains to be seen how much of an impact Eeli Tolvanen can make down the stretch and in the playoffs but he is certainly an intriguing addition to an already loaded team.
3. Winnipeg Jets -- With wins in seven of their past eight games they are starting to get on a roll as the playoffs draw near. The only concern is only three of those recent wins have come in regulation.
The Rest Of The Contenders
4. Columbus Blue Jackets -- They are the third place team in the Metropolitan Division, so why are they so high? It’s basically all about the way they are playing at the moment as we just described up above.
5. Washington Capitals -- They lost Justin Williams, Marcus Johansson, Kevin Shattenkirk, Karl Alzner, and Nate Schmidt over the summer. All they did was come back and win a third consecutive Metropolitan Division title.
6. Tampa Bay Lightning -- They have cooled off down the stretch and now Steven Stamkos is banged up. Not great.
7. Toronto Maple Leafs -- We probably have not paid enough attention to the type of season that Mitch Marner has had. Already 69 points in 79 games to lead the team in scoring. He is 20 years old.
8. Pittsburgh Penguins -- Still 9-4-2 in their past 15 games. You sometimes would not know it listening and reading to what people say about them at the moment.
9. Vegas Golden Knights -- There probably wasn’t a more fitting way for them to clinch the Pacific Division title crown than William Karlsson scoring an absolutely unbelievable goal. Everything about this season for them -- from the overall team success, to the success of a player like Karlsson, to that goal itself -- has been absolutely unbelievable.
The Middle Ground
10. New Jersey Devils -- They are on a six-game point streak and seem to have opened up enough of a lead over the Florida Panthers to get back into the playoffs. Taylor Hall is still driving the bus for this group.
11. San Jose Sharks -- After winning eight in a row they have hit a little bit of a skid by dropping three in a row. They end the regular season with three in a row at home and then will open the playoffs at home. Good chance to get back on a roll.
12. Philadelphia Flyers -- Claude Giroux has a pretty strong MVP argument given how much better the Flyers are with him on the ice versus when he is not. They get wrecked on the scoreboard when he is off the ice.
13. Anaheim Ducks -- Those wins over Los Angeles and Colorado the past two games have been huge, especially that come-from-behind win against the Avalanche on Sunday night. Not a team that will be a fun first-round matchup. The biggest concern: John Gibson keeps getting hurt. Ryan Miller has been really good in his absence, but Gibson is still the best goalie on the team.
14. Los Angeles Kings -- Anze Kopitar has always been one of the NHL’s best two-way players and a great player offensively. The latter part of his game has really taken off this season.
15. Minnesota Wild -- Don’t let Eric Staal’s huge season overshadow the breakout year Jason Zucker has had, already shattering his previous career highs in goals and points.
16. St. Louis Blues -- They won six in a row to make up all of that ground then dropped two in a row and were absolutely demolished by the Arizona Coyotes.
17. Colorado Avalanche -- Losing Semyon Varlamov and Erik Johnson for the rest of the regular season is going to complicate things for their playoff push.
18. Florida Panthers -- Do not let anybody ever tell you games in October and November are not important. The Panthers are 20-8-2 in their past 30 games, the third best record in the league during that stretch. Even with that they are still seven points out of a playoff spot.
The Lottery Teams
19. Carolina Hurricanes -- Carolina Hurricanes goalies have to be cursed.
20. New York Rangers -- Neal Pionk has looked pretty impressive down the stretch.
21. Arizona Coyotes -- The final record is going to stink, but they are 16-8-2 in their past 26 games and over the past week have beaten Tampa Bay, Vegas, and St. Louis. The Vegas and Tampa Bay games were on the road, too.
22. Calgary Flames -- Their seven-game losing streak finally ended with a win over Edmonton. Still a really disappointing season for a team that entered the year with a lot of hype. Their lottery pick is also going to the New York Islanders.
23. Dallas Stars -- After winning another offseason they are going to miss the playoffs for the second year in a row, third time in four years and eighth time in 10 years.
24. Vancouver Canucks -- Four wins in a row and five of their past six. You are tanking all wrong! The big news in Vancouver right now is the fact the Sedin era is officially coming to a close with their retirement at the conclusion of the 2017-18 regular season. They were amazing for a long time.
25. Chicago Blackhawks -- The Artemi Panarin for Brandon Saad trade has to be one of the more underwhelming offseason transactions. At least from a Blackhawks perspective.
26. Edmonton Oilers -- The most fitting game of their season was the one where Connor McDavid had three points in the first period to give his team a three-goal lead. Then they gave up seven goals in a row to lose 7-3.
27. Detroit Red Wings -- Anthony Mantha’s 24-goal season is one of the few bright spots on this year’s team.
28. New York Islanders -- They have given up 18 more goals than any other team in the NHL this season. That is astonishing.
29. Montreal Canadiens -- They have not beaten a team in a playoff position since February 3, a win over the Anaheim Ducks. They only have eight total wins against any team over that stretch.
30. Buffalo Sabres -- At least they are getting a good look at their future with Casey Mittelstadt showing up and recording a pair of assists in his first two games in the NHL.
31. Ottawa Senators -- They have lost seven of eight and given up 32 goals during that stretch.
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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.