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Blue Jackets face tough test at Senators

Feb 21, 2008 - 2:22 PM Columbus (27-26-9) at Ottawa (35-20-5) 7:30 pm EST

OTTAWA (Ticker) - With their offense in a season-long funk, the Columbus Blue Jackets will need to find some way to score if they hope to move into the Western Conference playoff picture.

The Blue Jackets' will face a tough challenge when they visit the high-scoring Ottawa Senators on Thursday.

Columbus ranks last in the NHL in goals this season, totaling just 150 in 62 games. Rick Nash and Nikolai Zherdev share the club's points lead at 51, but no one else on the team has more than 28.

The stagnant scoring has them five points behind the Vancouver Canucks (30-22-8) for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West.

The Blue Jackets are just 2-6-3 since the All-Star break, including losses against league bottom-feeders Los Angeles and Toronto. They have lost their last two games on the road at St. Louis and Toronto by a combined 8-2 count.

The Senators, on the other hand, own the top scoring offense in the NHL, led by the All-Star top line of Dany Heatley, Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza - which has accounted for 210 points this season.

However, while Ottawa has scored 204 goals in 60 games this season, the team has struggled with just eight tallies in its last four games, going 1-2-1 during that span.

The Senators have led the Eastern Conference all season, but now find themselves tied at 75 points with the surging Montreal Canadiens (33-19-9) and the New Jersey Devils (35-21-5).