The Columbus Blue Jackets are doing everything within their power to overcome a two-win month of November and a recent three-game losing streak that has them looking up at nearly every team in the Eastern Conference.
And whatever the Blue Jackets have done lately has worked well for them, as they beat the St. Louis Blues and Ottawa Senators by a combined total of 11-2 over the weekend and head into tonight's game against the Los Angeles Kings at Nationwide Arena with the opportunity to gain ground in the race for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"We're not in any position to relax," left winger Nick Foligno said. "That's probably the best explanation for it, but that's obviously the motivation right now. We don't have the room to have a shift off, a period off. We need to continue to work and continue to try and win. That was the motivation.
"We were playing against a great team (in St. Louis). We knew what their record was coming in. The guys stuck with it and played hard the whole game. Now, the bar is set for that. That's what we need to do to make a push. We're still believing we're going to make the playoffs here, and that's the kind of effort we need to do it.
"It can't be a one-off. It can't be one game, and then, we go back into old habits. It's got to be that expectation to play the right way. We don't have room for errors right now. We have to have that mentality every time we step on ice that anytime your line's out there, they're doing the job to help our team and help us win."
Much like Foligno, center Brandon Dubinsky knows confidence can be drawn from performances like this past weekend, but only if the Blue Jackets continue turning good efforts into victories.
"It just shows how we can play, what we're capable of when we have a focus going into the game, when we're ready to start on time and ready to play for each other," Dubinsky said after the 7-1 win over the Blues Friday. "We really did a good job playing five-man units up and down the ice, the offensive and defensive zones, and we talked about going into the game and trying to have some fun with it, but obviously, playing the right way. It was a fun game to play in.
"There's been a lot of talking, and we've certainly had our fair share of meetings and what we need to do, but it was about going out, executing and actually doing it. I was really proud of the way the guys went out there. It's no easy task.
"That's one of the top teams in the National Hockey League, and obviously, they're coming in 12-1 or 12-0-1, or whatever their record's been. We're cognizant of that. We knew that it was going to be a tough task. Our guys were all hands on deck, ready to go, and hopefully, this is an effort and a feeling of intensity and fun that we can carry over and continue building off."
Over the next six days, the Blue Jackets host the Kings (22-18-12) Monday and Philadelphia Flyers (22-22-8) Friday and travel to play the New York Islanders (33-18-1) Saturday. Two of those teams, the Flyers (52 points) and Islanders (67 points) are ahead of the Blue Jackets (49 points) in the Metropolitan Division standings.
And if the Blue Jackets want to remain in the playoff race, they will have to exceed the level of intensity they played with against the Blues and Senators.
"These games are do-or-die for us right now," right winger Cam Atkinson said. "We need as many points as we can get in order to make the playoffs, and we know that. We've just got to stick with it, and we're a pretty good team when we stick to our game plan and keep it simple."
