Race officially on for the fourth playoof spot in Western conference

And just like that, the race is officially on for the fourth playoff spot in the Western Conference.

What once looked like a two-team battle to the wire between the Blackhwks and Vancouver now has a third entrant firmly in the derby - the Columbus Blue Jackets, who followed up a shootout victory over Pittsburgh at home Thursday with a hard-fought 5-3 win over the Hawks a day later at the United Center to get within 5 points of fourth place .

"The Hawks are playing well, and to do this in front of 20,000 fans - an unbelievable crowd - is huge," said Blue Jackets right wing Jakub Voracek, who had a pair of assists Friday. "Every game is very hard lately, especially while we're battling for the playoffs. Every point is huge ... and we got our 2 today."

"I thought for how tough (Thursday's) game was, the way we played in the third period tonight was terrific," said Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock, who saw his team score twice in the period to keep the Hawks at bay.

Hitchcock and Co. are on quite a roll lately. The Blue Jackets are 5-1 in their last six games, 12-4-1 in their last 17 and have closed like a tremendous machine to get within arm's length of the Hawks, whom they meet again next week in Columbus.

"They play completely different in this building than they do on the road," Hitchcock said. "We're lucky to get them back in our building on Wednesday. It should be a great game."

And if the Blue Jackets, who have yet to qualify for the postseason as a franchise, somehow do face the Hawks down the road in an extended series, they know what they'll have to do.

"You've got to make them play hard hockey," said goalie Wade Dubielewicz, who stopped 27 shots Friday for his first victory of the season. "That means you've got to play very simple - chip pucks in, get behind them and try to pound their defense.

"If you try to play run-and-gun hockey, you're not going to beat that team."