It has been a long season for the Columbus Blue Jackets, and any last-ditch hopes at a berth in the Stanley Cup playoffs have just about been buried.

The Blue Jackets sit eight points behind a three-way tie for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. But being in 12th place in the Western Conference means the Blue Jackets would have to leap past four teams to get into the top eight.

With only nine games remaining, and the way Columbus has played this season, that seems unlikely.

The Blue Jackets are 33-29-11 on the season. In their past 10 games, the Blue Jackets have won just twice, losing four games in overtime. Those four points that have slipped away probably are the reason Columbus’ postseasons dreams are slipping away.

After a Thursday game at Phoenix, Columbus returns home for four of its next five.

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It wasn’t the most enjoyable of journeys for the Columbus Blue Jackets a season ago. At least this year’s campaign will start with a memorable trip.

Columbus opens the season with a long road trip to Europe. The Jackets will face the San Jose Sharks on Oct. 8 and 9 in Stockholm, Sweden.

From there, the Jackets can only hope things go better than last season. Columbus finished next to last in the Western Conference during a 79-point season during which Ken Hitchcock was fired as head coach.

New coach Scott Arniel is tasked with turning things around. Arniel, the 2009 AHL coach of the year, will lean on captain Rick Nash, coming off a 33-goal season.

After the trip to Europe to begin the season, the Jackets play five of their next seven at home.

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Assistant Claude Noel will take over the team on an interim basis until a new head coach is named.

Columbus is 14th out of 15th in the Western Conference, which is unacceptable given last year’s results.

The organization said that the team simply wasn’t responding to Hitchcock and a change was needed.

The team’s playoff trip last year was the first ever for the relatively new expansion franchise.

Raffi Torres found the back of the net twice, Rick Nash netted his 400th career point and Chris Clark scored his first goal for the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The offensive highlights add up to a 4-2 Columbus victory over St. Louis on Monday in Columbus, the Blue Jackets recovering from a loss last week to Blues during which St. Louis scored three times in the first period.

In this one, Columbus controlled things. Paul Kariya scored on the power play 71 seconds in to give the Blues a short-lived 1-0 lead. Torres then netted his first three minutes later, then added his second at the 11:45 mark to make it 2-1 Jackets.

In the second, Nash scored on the power play at the 4:20 mark for his milestone point. Clark’s first Columbus goal came 85 seconds into the third and gave the Jackets breathing room.

Mathieu Garon made it stand up, recording 30 saves for the Blue Jackets.

Columbus, in 14th place in the Western Conference, travels to Philadelphia Tuesday.

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