While the Montreal Canadiens are sitting with a four-point lead for the eighth and final playoff spot, the Columbus Blue Jackets got a boost when they activated a familiar player in Sean Monahan and they got Erik Gudbranson back. That’s going to make the race even tighter since they have six more home games and they’ve played very well there. © Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/4b696f2e-e2e5-43bf-ba74-22e6cab83e28.jpeg] © Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images Monahan last played on January 7th and still has 14 goals and 27 assists in 41 games. There is no lack of ability in this player, it's been his availability. All teams are looking for a boost down the stretch and whoever gets hot usually can make a race of it. I don’t count the Blue Jackets out and this will give them an emotional boost. The playoff race might go down to the final game of the season. If Ottawa wins six or seven games they are probably in. Same for the Canadiens. If someone rolls off nine out of ten they could be in. That’s where this season is at and every game is magnified from now to the end of this season.
