Week 10 Power Rankings - Jackets nudge up

TSN.ca - Jackets climb from 18 to 9
Despite posting a 1.50 goals against average in two games since returning from injury, Pascal Leclaire is winless in those two games; not an unusual problem for a team boasting only two guys with more than five goals.

FoxSports.com - Jackets hold steady at 18
By picking up three of a possible six points, the Blue Jackets were able to keep hold of the No. 18 position in the rankings. Columbus lost two one-goal games in Week 10. Had the team's power play connected on one or two of the six chances it had in the two losses, the outcome may very well have been different.

CBSSports.com - Jackets hold steady at 23
Injuries and not enough high-end talent are taking their toll on the Jackets, who have fallen back to earth pretty hard since their impressive and surprising opening month.

CNNSI.com - Jackets drop from 18 to 20
Have you noticed the play of Nikolai Zherdev? With goals in four straight games, the Russian winger has already eclipsed last season's total of 10. He's also in good position to break his career high of 27, set in 2005-06. If the 23-year-old can stay motivated, he could be the skill player the Jackets have been starving for.

ESPN.com - Jackets fall one spot to 20
The Jackets have lost three of their last five games, but all of those games were one-goal contests.

CBC.ca - Up to 18 from 20
Hitchcock has them playing hard.

Yahoo.com - Up 1 to 20
Coach Ken Hitchcock putting emphasis on fact his team plays 11 of month's 14 games at home: "This is it for us. This is our chance. We've treaded water the last few weeks. We've held it together on the road, and now this is it." Jackets are 1-1-2 thus far.

Average score: 18.28 (Last week 19.14)

Suprsingly to me the Jackets only nudged up about a spot despite going 2-1-2 in December (not sure where Yahoo.com got this 1-1-2 record - we've beat Calgary and Colorado before last night's win). I also don't know what's up with Goldstein of CBSSports.com - this team could go undefeated this month and he'd still rank em in the twenties.

Will be tough for these "experts" to spin any negativety regarind the Jackets knocking off the Avalanche twice in a week. Expect the climb to continue next week, especially if the Jackets can grab two points from Boston on Saturday night.

-LTL