Is this Blue Jackets season an anomaly?

An anomaly is defined as "something that deviates from what is standard, normal or expected." This season has been anything but standard, normal or expected for the Blue Jackets.

After Thursday night's shootout victory over the New York Islanders, Columbus has lost 490 man games due to injury through 77 games. It has been a crushing blow losing so many players for such long stretches of the season, beginning with the first game.

The record the team has accumulated this year is not indicative of the team that made the playoffs last year. There have been too many new faces in the lineup for any real consistency or chemistry to form. Consequently, this season must be an anomaly.

"We've never seen injuries like that," said head coach Todd Richards, "so I would agree with that. There are a lot of people in this organization that have been around hockey a long time, talking with the coaches or even management, nobody's been in a situation like this before. Nobody's seen it before; the number of injuries and guys going down."

"You have (David) Clarkson and (Rene) Bourque, they both come in and they both get hurt. Go figure. To me, that's kind of been the strange thing about this year. But, we'll find out next year if (this year) is the anomaly. You have to learn from it, you've got to move on and be better because of it."

The Blue Jackets have a record of 38-35-4. They've had some good stretches of play, going 10-1-1 in December and are 12-4-0 since March 1. They are currently on an eight game winning-streak, tied with the franchise record set January 2014.

But they also have some losing streaks of nine games (October/November), six games (November)and five games (February) sprinkled throughout their season. This was not a rollercoaster ride, but more of a funk they were in that they had some trouble getting out of.

"I think if anything, this should help guys put a little chip on their shoulder for next year to prove to everyone that this wasn't the real team that we are," defenseman Jack Johnson said. "We had a couple of stretches where we lost some games and that cost us the season in November and a stretch in February. Those two stretches did us in."

There were many players out of the lineup that are large pieces of the Blue Jackets core. In essence, it was the quality of the players that were injured coupled with the sheer quantity that led, in part, to them not performing as well as was expected.

"You look at guys that were out (of lineup) that were big producers," said left wing Scott Hartnell. "It's frustrating, that way. But, I think you look at the strides that a lot of guys have taken, there's nothing but good things in the future for us."

"I think if you look at the last few games, sure, we've got nothing to play for but we're still playing hard, playing for jobs and playing for pride. If we had the same lineup for the whole year, I think it's a totally different story. I think everyone has a lot to prove next year and it starts now."

But it was their less-than-stellar home record that hurts. They are 16-20-2 with three home games to play, guaranteeing them a losing home record for the season even if they win the remaining home games.

"We know we are better than where we are in the standings," said Johnson. "But, you still have to play. We just didn't win enough hockey games. Our home record is really what killed us, and that's what will usually help you out."

Harnessing the adversity they have faced this season and learning from it is something in the forefront of all their minds. While many of the injuries could be attributed to freak happenstance, they know they have to do everything they can to preclude, as much as possible, a reoccurrence of the injury situation.

"It's been adversity all year, really," Richards said. "We're finally starting to have success and I think some of that success is that we're finally starting to get healthy again. Because you're healthy, you're starting to win hockey games and I think confidence comes with that. If it's harnessing the adversity that we've gone through, I'm not sure if that's the true reason why."

"But, we're starting to find success. Going through tough situations usually, usually, makes you stronger as long as you are using it to learn. We can't just look at this season and the things that we've gone through, just sweep it under the rug and say 'it never happened'. It happened. We have to be better because of it."

They have embraced the mantra of playing the right way and finishing strong. They are out to prove that this was a fluke year for the Blue Jackets and they will come back next year as a stronger team. They have to believe deep within their core that they are a better team. Knowledge is power, as the saying goes.

"Guys have to know what's going to get them through nine exhibition games, 82 regular season games and possibly 28 playoff games," Johnson said. "You have to figure out how you're going to do that."

There are no guarantees that they will return to the playoffs next season. But there are many steps they can take to give themselves the best chance of finishing strong and stamping their identity with an exclamation point as this season ends.

"We don't want to just get into the playoffs and be happy with that," Harnell concluded. "That's an expansion teams' way of thinking instead of a team that's been around, is established and has an identity to be like 'we're going to go and make a run.' That's the mentality that we need."

Programming Note: The Blue Jackets take on the Pittsburgh Penguins Saturday afternoon for a 2:00 p.m. tilt, with the FOX Sports Ohio pregame show "Blue Jackets LIVE" beginning at 1:30 p.m.