from Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch,

“We have 37 games to go,” general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said. “We have to win 25 of them to give ourselves a chance. That puts us in the mid-90s (in points).

“It’s not going to be easy, we know that. But we’ve done it before.”

The Blue Jackets have ended the past two seasons on stunning runs, barely missing the playoffs in 2013 and finishing as the No. 7 seed last season.

They recently tore through December with a 10-1-1 record.

“It’s in us,” right wing Jared Boll said. “We’ve shown we can do it.

“We’re not happy where we’re at. And it doesn’t look good, if you do the math. But we know it’s possible. It’s just important for every guy in this room to do more, to play better. We have to bring it every night.”

There are two huge hurdles in front of the Blue Jackets.

They are a whopping 14 points behind eighth-place Boston in the Eastern Conference, an almost insurmountable deficit even though they played three fewer games than the Bruins.

read on