FanHouse SteveMason

Making the playoffs for the first time was a big step for the Columbus Blue Jackets, a kick in the pants for the fans and the franchise.

Now, however, Columbus will have to repeat the feat -- and make it past the first round -- to meet the increased expectations that that first blush of success has created. And it's Scott Howson's job this summer to put the Blue Jackets in a position to be a postseason regular.

Aside from helping lead his team to the postseason for the first time in franchise history, Columbus Blue Jackets goalie Steve Mason has an opportunity to take home some serious hardware at the NHL's award ceremony in June. After being named as one of the finalists for the Calder Trophy as the top rookie, the 20-year-old Mason is also a nominee for the Vezina Trophy as the league's top goaltender. Joining Mason as finalists are Boston's Tim Thomas and Minnesota's Niklas Backstrom.

According to John McGourty of NHL.com, the only players to win both the Calder and Vezina in the same season are Tom Barrasso, Ed Belfour, Tony Esposito and Frankie Brimsek.

The St. Louis Blues and Columbus Blue Jackets are the first two teams eliminated from the Western Conference playoffs. The first team knocked out in the East - Montreal - could take a few lessons from how the former two played in their elimination games.

The Blue Jackets went all-in against Detroit Thursday night. They may have dropped a heart-wrenching 6-5 decision, but the way they played won them a lot of respect all around the league, including the opposing dressing room.

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The nominees for this year's NHL awards are starting to be announced, and on Wednesday we learned that Columbus' Steve Mason, Anaheim's Bobby Ryan and Chicago's Kris Versteeg were the top vote-getters for the Calder Trophy as the league's rookie of the year.

There's no surprises here, as it's been assumed for much of the season that Mason, Columbus' 20-year-old goalie, is a slam dunk winner. Despite his struggles in the playoffs (awards are voted on before the postseason begins, by the way) no goalie recorded more shutouts during the season (10) while he also finished second in the league with a 2.29 goals average and 12th with a .916 save percentage. He is, perhaps, the biggest reason Columbus made its first trip to the postseason in franchise history.

When they're on, there's no doubt the Detroit Red Wings are among the best teams in the NHL. More often than usual this season, the Wings were a tad less than adequate defensively, leaving their goaltenders in impossible positions and generally giving up too many goals.

The playoffs are different, however, and the experienced Wings showed that on Thursday. They easily dispatched Columbus, 4-1, in Game One of the Western Conference Quarterfinals.

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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.

Newsmakers in the NHL is a weekday morning attempt to clear yesterday's rebounds and look to the day ahead.

Blue Jackets 4, Blackhawks 3: Banner night for the Columbus Blue Jackets, as their 4-3 shootout win over the Chicago Blackhawks clinched the first ever playoff berth in the in the eight-year existence of the franchise. It's been a long time coming, but congratulations Columbus, you're officially on the NHL map.