More Than Just a Game: Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings Battle for Wild Card Spots | Deadspin.com

Suddenly, the clash Saturday between the Columbus Blue Jackets and Detroit Red Wings is about more than just another outdoor game.

To the surprise of many when it was announced and even on the eve of the season, the battle before an estimated 90,000-plus fans at Ohio Stadium will have serious playoff implications.

When the clubs take the ice for the Stadium Series affair, the Red Wings and Blue Jackets will be holding the Eastern Conference’s two wild-card playoff positions.

Considering the Red Wings and Blue Jackets are far from natural rivals and have barely any Stanley Cup playoff history—Detroit delivered a four-game sweep in their lone meeting in 2009—you could not ask for a better scenario.

With the league in the final third of the regular season, both Detroit and Columbus have earned 66 points in 59 games. The Red Wings hold the first wild-card spot, having earned one more regulation-time victory. They also have two more regulation/overtime wins, the second tiebreaker.

But the Blue Jackets have a golden opportunity to make a huge statement in this battle for the inside track during the chase for a playoff position.

Detroit may have won four straight meetings, including the first of three this season, but Columbus sent a message in the first half of a home-and-home set Thursday.

The Blue Jackets delivered an impressive 5-2 win in Detroit, not only erasing a 1-0 deficit but pulling away with a four-goal second period. The result was enough for Red Wings coach Todd McLellan to call out his players, notably captain Dylan Larkin, for a subpar performance.

By snapping Detroit’s two-game winning streak and earning a third consecutive victory, the Blue Jackets continue to write one of the season’s best stories. Between the horrific death of star forward Johnny Gaudreau just before training camp and the rash of injuries that impacted the first half of the season, this could have been another disappointing campaign in the Ohio capital.

Instead, the underdogs are hanging tough and pushing to snap a four-year run of missing the Stanley Cup playoffs.

“This has been awesome,” forward Kent Johnson said. “I’m so proud of how this team is playing.”

Speaking of playoff droughts, the Red Wings are making a strong push to end a swoon of their own. Detroit, which fired coach Derek Lalonde and hired McLellan over the holiday break, has since posted a 17-5-2 record and has missed the playoffs the past eight seasons.

These squads have been on torrid paces since Christmas, and they needed every last point.

The Eastern Conference playoff race has become extremely tight, with a couple of perennial powers in the New York Rangers and Boston Bruins not far behind the wild-card positions. If that is not enough, a couple of other teams are also on a mission to end lengthy stretches without advancing to the NHL’s second season.

Right there with the Rangers and Bruins as the calendar readies to flip to March are the Ottawa Senators, who last reached the playoffs in the spring of 2017, and the Montreal Canadiens—who have not only failed to advance the last three seasons since their surprise run to the 2021 Stanley Cup Final but have finished at the bottom of their division all three campaigns since.

Usually, outdoor games are most relevant to the fans in the stands. With the playoff chase heating up, it will be worth keeping tabs on how the next chapter plays out in the Buckeye State.