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Blue Jackets facing tough hill to climb in second half playoff push

Blue Jackets facing tough hill to climb in second half playoff push

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Columbus Blue Jackets face a daunting task in their final 37 games. They sit 14 points out of a playoff spot. They have six players currently on injured reserved. Included on that list is goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who will miss 4-6 weeks after injuring his groin last week.

Last season, the Blue Jackets had a reported 169 man-games lost to injury. This year they’re already at 170, as of last week, third-most in the NHL.

Since before the regular season even began, starting with Nathan Horton, the hits have just kept coming for Columbus. Seemingly every week there’s a player getting dinged and needing to miss time. No team will ever use injuries as an excuse, but what’s happened to the Blue Jackets this year has definitely stalled the momentum built up from last season’s playoff appearance.

While general manager Jarmo Kekalainen is projecting the number of wins -- 25, he believes -- they'll need in the second half to potentially have a shot at a postseason return, head coach Todd Richards isn’t looking that far ahead.

“Just one day at a time; simple as that,” Richards said Tuesday. “You can’t start thinking about we got to get this many points. We’ve got to be here … All it is is about tonight’s game. That’s it. And after tonight’s game we’ve got to focus and start getting ready for the next game.”

Typical coachspeak, of course; especially in the situation the Blue Jackets are in. They don’t control their own destiny. They can win those 25 games that Kekalainen is aiming for, but where Columbus finishes will depend on how the 12 teams ahead of them fare. Take care of your business and hope the rest falls in your favor.

Life Without Bob and The Big Climb begins Tuesday against the Washington Capitals with Curtis McElhinney in net. Richards and Blue Jackets players expressed confidence in the 31-year old netminder, noting his play last season when Bobrovsky was injured.

“Obviously Bob’s a world-class goaltender,” Ryan Johansen told Blue Jackets TV, “but we know McElhinney can get the job done for us and we have full trust in him. We just got to make sure we’re going out there and playing well in front of him. I think if we do that we’ll be successful.”

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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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