FanHouse R.J. Umberger

The Detroit Red Wings are having their way with the Columbus Blue Jackets in their Western Conference Quarterfinal series, jumping out to a commanding 3-0 lead thanks to a 4-1 win on Tuesday night. Speaking of which, midway through the second period, Detroit's Brad Stuart dished out a crushing (and clean) hit on Columbus' R.J. Umberger.

The Columbus Blue Jackets are getting ready to play the first home playoff game in franchise history on Tuesday night, and while they find themselves in a 2-0 hole against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings, some good news might be on the horizon. Hopefully, for the Blue Jackets sake, it's not a case of too little, too late.

According to Tom Reed of the Columbus Dispatch, 21-year-old center Derick Brassard has been cleared for physical contact, and while he's not likely to play on Tuesday, it's possible he could see action in game 4 on Thursday.

Thursday night, the Columbus Blue Jackets will begin their quest into the strange new world that is the NHL playoffs. To get an idea of the atmosphere around town, and to continue to learn more about this once anonymous franchise, we discussed its upcoming series against the Detroit Red Wings with Aaron Portzline, beat writer for the Columbus Dispatch. Portzline, one of the most net-savvy of hockey's beat writers, also helps run a blog for the paper called Puck-rakers and has an excellent Twitter page.

Portzline has covered the Blue Jackets since their inaugural season in 2000-01, and has seen all of the ups and downs the franchise has offered over the years.

Exactly 1,230 regular season games have been played. We're down to the best eight teams in each conference. The Stanley Cup Playoffs begin Wednesday night with four series lid-lifters.

The Western Conference is home to the league's best team (San Jose), the defending champion (Detroit), and the two most intriguing Cinderella stories in the league (St. Louis and Columbus). Can Cinderella put off the stroke of midnight, or will an established power advance their way to the Finals?

With the NHL playoffs just around the corner, FanHouse takes a look at some of the lesser-known teams that qualified. Thursday's installment: the Columbus Blue Jackets

On Saturday, October 7, 2000, the Columbus Blue Jackets played their first ever regular season game. It was a 5-3 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, and the team would know nothing but losing for the next eight seasons. No playoffs. No winning seasons. Nothing. They have been, simply, the most anonymous, unknown team in the NHL.

On Wednesday, all of that changed as the Blue Jackets, for the first time in franchise history, qualified for the postseason thanks to a 4-3 shootout win over, coincidentally, the Chicago Blackhawks, their very first regular season opponent. So, who are these guys, and what can we expect from them in the playoffs and beyond? Here are five key players, the head coach, and everything else there is to love about this once unknown franchise.

With the 2009 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Championship set to start Friday, FanHouse is taking a look at each of the four regionals.

You have to feel for Ohio State, even if only a little bit. After all, Boston University has 20 Frozen Four appearances. North Dakota has gone four years in a row and 18 overall. New Hampshire hasn't been to the Frozen Four since 2003, but they have gone seven times and played in the championship game twice. Ohio State has made exactly one Frozen Four appearance in their program's history, and it ended with a semifinal loss. It's a regional full of traditional powers, and Ohio State is the odd man out.

Hurricanes 4, Devils 2: Having lost three in a row, the Hurricanes were in need of a win on Wednesday night to help take advantage of the recent slumps by Florida and Buffalo. Thanks to a 40-save performance from Cam Ward, and a 3-for-5 night on the power play, Carolina picked up a 4-2 win over Kevin Weekes and the New Jersey Devils.

Anton Babchuk scored a pair of power play goals for the 'Canes, while Eric Staal and Sergei Samsonov also tallied goals in the win. Ward faced a barrage of shots from New Jersey, as the Devils outshot Carolina 33-14 over the final two periods.

Blues 2, Rangers 1: A day after getting crushed on their home ice, the New York Rangers dropped a 2-1 decision in St. Louis, losing for the eighth time in their past nine games.

At this point, it's anybody's guess as to how long Tom Renney remains behind the bench, as the Rangers continue to slide down the Eastern Conference standings.

Wednesday's action across the NHL marked the end of the first half of the season, and there were nine games on the schedule.

Bruins 4, Maple Leafs 3: For a while, it appeared as if Toronto had a chance to knock off the top team in the Eastern Conference, jumping out to a 3-1 lead over Boston. The Bruins, however, proved why there's a 30-point difference between the two teams in the standings and scored a pair of power play goals in the third period, forcing overtime. Michael Ryder scored the game-winner in a shootout, leading the Bruins to a 4-3 win.

Columbus goalie Steve Mason entered Friday's game in Colorado having registered three consecutive shutouts. He managed to keep the Avalanche off the board for 17 minutes, until Darcy Tucker snapped Mason's streak with his fifth goal of the season at the 17:20 mark of the opening frame. The 20-year old rookie posted 199 consecutive minutes of shutout hockey for Columbus, and Tucker's tally in the first period was the only goal he surrendered on the night, as he turned aside 23-of-24 shots in a 6-1 Blue Jackets win.

Mason has been a great story for the Blue Jackets, as he's pretty much carried them this season when you consider they've scored only nine goals in the eight games he's lost, including being shutout three times. He's allowed more than three goals only two times this season, and has yet to surrender more than four in a single game. Should be interesting to see how long he can continue to ride this hot streak.

As for the rest of the Blue Jackets, following Tucker's goal they pretty much took this game over and erupted for six goals over the final two periods. Rick Nash finished with a four-point night (penalty shot goal, three assists) while Kristian Huselius (two goals), Mike Commodore, Jakub Voracek and R.J. Umberger also scored for Columbus.

The win actually puts Columbus one-point ahead of Colorado for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, while the Blue Jackets are 3-0 to open their current six-game road trip, extending their winning streak to four games overall.