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Two weeks ago, on November 17, the Columbus Blue Jackets were in pretty good shape. They were not on top of the Western Conference, but they were not by any means doing badly. They had just won their second straight game in a shootout, and were five games above .500 (11-6-2) -- which was pretty good, considering they were only a few days removed from a 9-1 shellacking at the hands of the Detroit Red Wings on home ice.

The point was, the Jackets seemed to recover from The Detroit Debacle just fine.

However, whatever the hell has happened to the team since then has been nothing short of disturbing.

After opening up a five-game, eight-night road trip with a 4-1 win over Dallas to put the Jackets within one win of the Chicago Blackhawks -- and thus, the top spot in the Central Division and third in the West -- the Jackets have now lost five straight games. The last four of those losses have all involved the Jackets taking a lead, only to watch it vaporize.

Since November 19, the Blue Jackets have been stalled at 12 wins, are now fourth in the Central Division and 10th in the Western Conference.

So, since that win in Dallas on November 19, the Blue Jackets have been stalled at 12 wins. Twelve wins in your first 20 games is certainly not bad. In fact, that's a playoff pace, even good enough for possibly a fourth or fifth seed. Through 25 games, though, that's not so hot. After notching 26 points in the standings through the first quarter of the season, the good guys have managed just two to start the second quarter. When after coming so close to first in the Central Division and third in the Western Conference, our guys are now in fourth in the Central and 10th in the Conference.

That absolutely has to change tonight, and that won't be an easy task. The Jackets will take on the St. Louis Blues tonight, in what is only the third game against a Central Division opponent this year. After a not-so-great start, the Blues have won four games in their last six (4-1-1) and are only three points behind the Jackets. Columbus needs for its defense to wake up, because the Blues have weapons, I’m not just talking about their scorers. Certainly, guys like David Perron (whose nine goals currently lead the Blues), Keith Tkachuk and Paul Kariya (no spring chickens, but they can still score) are the focal points of the Blues offense. However, the Blue Jackets cannot afford to overlook the potential double threat presented by a guy like TJ Oshie. Oshie represents the kind of guy who can get the crowd into a frenzy, and that is just when he hits someone.

Remember the couple of questionable hits he had on Rick Nash in a couple of games late last season? The guys on Fox Sports Ohio talked about those hits quite a bit. Meanwhile, St. Louis fans and blockers dismissed any talk of dirty play, while also posting YouTube videos of the hits, with titles such as “Oshie destroys Rick Nash.” Classy?  Probably not.  Annoying?  Certainly.  My favorite was the St. Louis fan who took time to comment on a post I put up in March, asking me if I wanted a blanket.  He left the comment in August.  Way to join the party late, buddy.

[TJ Oshie] could draw a penalty one moment, and then score on the ensuing power play. He's Jordin Tootoo, but with talent.

However, that is why guys like Oshie present a threat. His other threat is that he can actually score. So, he could draw a penalty one moment, and then score on the ensuing power play. Simply put, take a pest like Jordin Tootoo of the Nashville Predators, add some actual hockey talent, and you have TJ Oshie.

The Blue Jackets’ week will not get any easier after tonight, because they go to Chicago tomorrow. The Blackhawks have lost their last two games, but previously that they had won eight straight, a fact that has helped them take the lead in the Central Division with 35 points, which is for more than Nashville and seven more than Columbus and Detroit (and I honestly thought Detroit would have moved ahead by now). Chicago also seems to have at just about everyone in place now, as Marian Hossa has returned, and has already scored two goals in three games.

After a night in the Windy City, the Jackets will return for three straight games at home – against the woeful Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday, Adam Foote (if he bothers to show up) and Colorado on Saturday, and Florida on Wednesday. We'll talk about that Colorado matchup later this week. To be brief, these next five games are huge. The defense has to get better. The goaltending has to get better. The offense has to kick in, but the Blue Jackets offensive leaders have to remember that they need to get back on defense as well. There have been rumors in the blogosphere and players have been tuning out Hitchcock and his “defense-first” approach. Although I'm very doubtful of this, one can certainly argue that the defense has been sloppy at best. If they are tuning out, they had better tune back in soon, or else the only way they're going to see the playoffs is by tuning in on TV.

However bad the second quarter of the season has been for the Blue Jackets thus far, there have been some bright spots. Rick Nash is a top-ten goal scorer in the NHL, which is pretty good considering some of the company he’s in (he has as many as Sid Crosby but in two fewer games). Nasher’s 28 goals are good for 13th in the league. His biggest knock right now is his plus-minus rating of minus-10.

Columbus currently has the top power play in the NHL. Unfortunately, they seem to be sending more of their own players to the Sin Bin.

Kristian Huselius is nearly pulling down a point per game (10 goals, 10 assists in 21 games), and Raffi Torres has picked up five goals with the man advantage for the Blue Jackets this year. It is also worth noting that after a year in which the Blue Jackets power play was abysmal (12%, worst in the league by a mile), Columbus currently has the top power play in the NHL.

Now, if only the Blue Jackets got more power plays to do something to further improve that number. Unfortunately, the Blue Jackets seem to be sending more of their own players to the Sin Bin than the other way around, which has taken its toll on the Blue Jackets’ penalty-kill numbers (currently 19th in the NHL).

If the Blue Jackets can get back to playing their game, and get back to being the team they know they can be, then the losing should end tonight.

It has to.

Tags: adam foote, central division, chicago blackhawks, colorado avalanche, columbus blue jackets, florida panthers, kristian huselius, penalty kill, power play, rick nash, st. louis blues, t j oshie, toronto maple leafs