Jan. 11, 2010

Power Rankings: Jackets finally find their footing

By Wes Goldstein | CBSSports.com Staff Writer

Updated Jan. 11

Is it time to break up the Blue Jackets?

R.J. Umberger and the Jackets finally get liftoff in January. (Getty Images)

Back then the Jackets were riding high, winning five of their first six games to open the season after making the playoffs last spring for the first time in franchise history. But the bottom fell out quickly, most notably for last season's Calder-winning goalie Steve Mason, and turned Columbus into one of the league's biggest flops. It got to the point where the speculation about Ken Hitchcock was not if he would survive as coach, but for how long.

Many believed his last chance was Thursday's game in Edmonton against the bottom-feeding Oilers. But Columbus won there, came back with an impressive win the following night in Calgary and then finished off the week with a solid effort at home to shut out the Dallas Stars, all behind veteran goalie Mathieu Garon.

It has been a much different-looking Jackets team. They've been getting good offensive production this season from Rick Nash and a few others, but surprisingly for a Hitchcock-coached team, Columbus has struggled with its defense. In the last few days though, the Jackets have been displaying more of Hitchcock's personality, playing a little safer game, forechecking well and doing a better job through the neutral zone. It has added up to some wins, maybe in time to salvage the season.

"The players are comfortable," Hitchcock said. "We're grinding it with really good teams now, keeping pace, we're more than holding our own. I don't see any reason we can't play like this for the rest of the season."

The rankings through Sunday night's games:

Power Rankings
Current		Team	Previous
	1	Canucks · Trends	7
	Thanks to a six-game winning streak, the longest current one in the NHL entering the week, the Canucks have taken over the top spot in the Western Conference and are suddenly right back in the race for the President's Trophy. But as we've seen over the years, that doesn't guarantee anything.
	2	Flyers · Trends	2
	Big win in Pittsburgh on Sunday, and you better get used to that matchup because it's probably going to be taking place quite a bit over the next couple of weeks. The Flyers are 12-3-2 over their past 17 games.
	3	Bruins · Trends	8
	After getting a bit of a scare from the Ottawa Senators in the Northeast Division race, the Bruins seem to be getting themselves back on track
	4	Rangers · Trends	5
	The No. 1 seed in the East is all but locked up at this point for the Rangers.
	5	Blues · Trends	3
	I think we've mentioned this before, but the most overlooked performance on the Blues this season has to be that of defenseman Alex Pietrangelo.
	6	Blackhawks · Trends	6
	It wasn't the prettiest week for Chicago, only beating Nashville on Saturday night after blowing a four-goal lead, and then losing in a shootout to Minnesota on Sunday.
	7	Predators · Trends	4
	Alexander Radulov looks like he never left the NHL. He's a point-per-game player so far in his return to the Predators lineup.
	8	Penguins · Trends	1
	Suddenly, the team that looked unbeatable for a while looks ... very beatable. It's easy to overlook mistakes or sloppy play when you're beating teams 8-4 and 5-1 but there seems to be a few bad habits that developed out there that need to be broken before the playoffs start.
	9	Kings · Trends	12
	There's just something about this team that makes me think it could do some damage come playoff time. If it gets in.
	10	Devils · Trends	10
	It's official: David Clarkson is a 30-goal scorer. Bet you didn't see that coming at the start of the season.
	11	Red Wings · Trends	11
	Since the start of March, the Red Wings have won only five games, and only two of them were against playoff teams. And one of those playoff teams was arguably the worst playoff team, Florida, and that came in a shootout Sunday.
	12	Senators · Trends	14
	The Senators were supposed to be one of the worst teams in the NHL when the season began, and now they're officially in the playoffs. Heck of a job by first-year coach Paul MacLean, and some big seasons from players like Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza and, of course, Erik Karlsson.
	13	Capitals · Trends	16
	The most exciting player in the shootout right now is ... Matt Hendricks?! And not only is he embarrassing goalies across the league, he's also helping the Capitals pick up some important extra points in the tiebreaking skills competition during the stretch run.
	14	Sharks · Trends	17
	The amazing thing is the Sharks still have complete control of their own destiny. Their remaining three games this week aren't going to be easy, of course, but they still hold all the cards.
	15	Coyotes · Trends	19
	Mike Smith is on yet another shutout streak entering the week, stopping 82 shots in back-to-back shutouts against San Jose and Anaheim.
	16	Stars · Trends	9
	They're still very much in the playoff race, but the remaining schedule is not going to be kind to the Stars with games against San Jose, St. Louis and Nashville remaining.
	17	Sabres · Trends	15
	Two straight losses in regulation over the weekend aren't going to help, especially a 4-3 loss in Toronto on Saturday. That could be a costly one. A very costly one.
	18	Panthers · Trends	13
	The Panthers have lost six of their past seven. Those losses were against Carolina, Edmonton, the Islanders, Minnesota, Columbus and Detroit. Other than the Red Wings, that's a rough stretch of games. The only win over that stretch was a shootout win at Montreal. And they've still been outscored by more than 20 goals this season.
	19	Avalanche · Trends	18
	In terms of points, the Avalanche enter the week in relatively good shape, only two points behind the Sharks for the eighth seed. The problem is the Avalanche have already played 80 games and every team they're competing with still has at least one game in hand.
	20	Lightning · Trends	21
	Steven Stamkos has four more games to get four goals to reach the 60-goal mark for the season. With Tampa Bay mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, you have to think they're going to get him the puck. A lot.
	21	Jets · Trends	20
	Winnipeg's return to the NHL has offered a lot of excitement and some good times, but the season is going to end without a trip to the playoffs.
	22	Hurricanes · Trends	22
	Jeff Skinner saw a slight decline in his production during his second NHL season, but still a solid performance for the young winter.
	23	Islanders · Trends	25
	Two impressive performances to beat the Penguins in back-to-back games, both by scores of 5-3.
	24	Wild · Trends	29
	At least they didn't pack it in down the stretch, winning three consecutive games against playoff teams by knocking off Florida, Los Angeles and Chicago. Sure, all three wins came in a shootout or overtime, but that's still three more wins than I expected them to get during that stretch.
	25	Ducks · Trends	24
	We hope that Teemu Selanne is back for yet another season. Forty-one years old and the leading scorer on the team.
	26	Flames · Trends	23
	Winning only two of their past 10 games and losing three in a row has officially pushed the Flames playoff drought to three years.
	27	Maple Leafs · Trends	26
	When they beat Buffalo on Saturday night, the Maple Leafs won on their home ice for the first time since Feb. 6.
	28	Blue Jackets · Trends	30
	Their second three-game winning streak of the month included wins over Detroit, Florida and St. Louis. And all three wins came with Allen York in net.
	29	Oilers · Trends	28
	The lowlight of the week was trying to call up Magnus Paajarvi from the American Hockey League only to realize they had already used their four post-trade deadline callups and had to send him back down. It's not a huge deal, but it is kind of embarrassing.
	30	Canadiens · Trends	27
	A pretty forgettable season in Montreal has resulted in a complete house cleaning throughout the year.