ColumbusSports.com : Your place to stay informed and talk about the sports scene and sports teams in and around Columbus.

Can you believe it? I'm not exactly sure if I do just yet. Finally, the Blue Jackets faithful can rejoice. Finally, the weight and pressure can come off of the players shoulders. Not only did the Jackets win, but they won in back-to-back games. Back-to-back road games no less. They did not even have to go into overtime to do it! I almost forgot what it felt like to see back-to-back wins. After winning only three games in a span of 24, the Blue Jackets are finally looking like the team we all know and love.

Thursday night's game against the Edmonton Oilers was a slightly boring hockey game to watch, despite Columbus coming out on top at the end of 60 minutes. "The battle for the bottom", as it was lovingly referred to (since the Oilers and Blue Jackets were the bottom two teams in the Western Conference) saw the return of Mathieu Garon in net after an abysmal showing by Steve Mason and most of the defensive core Tuesday night against the Vancouver Canucks. The Oilers played their third string goaltender Devan Dubnyk against Columbus, since Nikolai Khabibulin is out with back issues, and the Oilers have had to rely too heavily upon their rookie goaltender Jeff Deslauriers. The Blue Jackets won the game by a score of 4-2 with goals from RJ Umberger, Antoine Vermette, Kristian Huselius, and Jan Hedja. It was the first time the Jackets had won a game on the road since November 19th against the Dallas Stars.

While the Jackets played well against the Oilers, playing the following night against the Calgary Flames seemed like it would be a daunting task. The Flames currently sit in sixth place in the Western Conference, and are well known for their very physical and gritty style of play. With the way that the players had struggled recently, I had my doubts about the Blue Jackets playing in back-to-back games, especially having to play the tougher team for the second game. I was happily proved wrong, however, when the Jackets defeated the Flames 3-2 with goals from Raffi Torres, Jan Hedja, and Antoine Vermette. Mathieu Garon started in net again for Columbus. With the win, he won his 100th career NHL game. Garon played a decent game, although I felt that he was bailed out a couple of times by his teammates - but that's how it usually goes. Without question, though, the best player of the game on either team was Antoine Vermette. In addition to the game-winning goal that he scored (which also happened to be the 100th goal of his NHL career), he also assisted on both of the other goals for the Blue Jackets. The line of Vermette, Torres and Jake Voracek was incredibly productive throughout the evening, and hopefully they will continue to be.

"However, if you take a look at the standings, the Blue Jackets are only 10 points behind the Los Angeles Kings, who are currently in eighth place in the Western Conference. It isn't the ideal situation, but I do not think that being 10 points out of a playoff spot is unrecoverable."

Perhaps this is the confidence boost that the team needs to get back on track and to buy into the system. I know that things were looking pretty bleak there for a while. However, if you take a look at the standings, the Blue Jackets are only 10 points behind the Los Angeles Kings, who are currently in eighth place in the Western Conference. It isn't the ideal situation, but I do not think that being 10 points out of a playoff spot is unrecoverable. If the Jackets can maintain their confidence from these two very important wins, then I believe there is a good chance for a strong second half of the season.

Tags: antoine vermette, calgary flames, columbus blue jackets, edmonton oilers, jan hejda, kristian huselius, mathieu garon, raffi torres, rj umberger