West watch

Bad night for the CBJ in the battle of the West.

Both the Colorado Avalanche and the Anaheim Ducks won in regulation last night.

The Ducks stay in 5th place but pull out to a 4 point lead over the Jackets with 57 points as they beat the Buffalo Sabres 3-2. The Avalanche closed the gap with their 4-3 win over Calgary... they now have 49 points.

The Jackets have games in hand with both of these squads.

The Jackets opponent tonight, the St. Louis Blues, played last night against the Wings and quite frankly lost a game they should have won in a shootout due to horrendous goaltending by Manny Legace early in that game (he was pulled in favor of Chris Mason).

The good news is that the Blues played last night and that it went to OT. Hopefully that tranlsates into a tired St. Louis squad tonight.

The bad news is they looked really motivated and really tough to play against. I'm really liking that Oshie kid....Berglund is looking pretty damn dangerous too!

The Jackets certainly have their work cut out for them tonight in a game where they need to get 2 points -- more later.

-LTL