Hockey Guy has presumed the Blues would stay out of the Western Conference playoff race this season, due to all the injuries.

Tuesday’s loss if David Backes to a leg injury was just one more major blow on that front. Backes was enjoying a breakout offseason season when he went down.

(The Blue Jackets came after Backes, who had kayoed Columbus forward Kristian Huselius earlier this season with a vicious hit. Retribution came in the form of Jan Hejda’s open-ice hip check. The rest of this season series will be most interesting.)

Despite this latest bit of adversity, the Note battled to a 4-2 victory at Columbus. They beat red-hot Blue Jackets goaltender Steve Mason. They won with a great power play (hello, Brad Boyes!), sturdy defense (especially Barret Jackman) and terrific goaltending of their own — from Chris Mason, who is no relation to Steve.

By getting three points on this difficult foray to Detroit and Columbus, the Blues crept closer to the final playoff berth on this side of the league.

Yes, there is still a pack of teams standing in their path. But the Blues are finally getting great play in goal, which gives this injury-riddled team so much more confidence.

You can’t give Andy Murray enough credit for what he has done this season. If the Blues ever get Andy McDonald, Roman Polak and Eric Brewer back, they could be tough to handle down the stretch.

PRONGS ON THE MOVE?

Rumblings out of Anaheim have the Ducks ready to move pricey defenseman Chris Pronger, who will have one last big contract in him.

Folks close to Pronger say he wouldn’t be thrilled to leave SoCal, where he has become quite comfortable. But Brian Burke is gone from the Ducks helm and the club will have salary cap issues as young veterans Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Bobby Ryan command more and more money.

IMPEACH THE SENATORS

Other general managers are keeping a close watch on the Senators, who are due for a big housecleaning after still another coaching change.

“We’ve made another coaching change,” general manager Bryan Murray told the Ottawa Sun. “We now have to watch the players for a period of time and then decide who stays and who doesn’t stay. There was that gap of a couple of years in the draft and we felt last year was a very good year.”

Translation: There are no untouchables.

AROUND THE RINKS: Congrats to Our Town’s Mike McKenna, a former Blues camp star. He landed a NHL gig for the injury-riddled Lightning. Good for him, because he stopped a lot pucks to earn this opportunity. After playing for the Springfield Junior Blues in the NAHL, he played at St. Lawrence University – then made minor league stops in Las Vegas, Norfolk, Las Vegas again, Milwaukee, Omaha, Portland and Norfolk again . . . The reeling Canadiens, who lost for the fifth time in six games Sunday, will miss center Robert Lang the rest of the season. He is shelved by a lacerated Achilles tendon. Not good . . . Fantasy GMs are cursing Canadiens winger Alexei Kovalev, who has managed just two goals and one assist in his last 10 games . . . On the other hand, Penguins center Sidney Crosby is on fire – having scored eight points in three games last week . . . Keep an eye on Artem Anisimov, a 6-foot-3, 20-year-old center for the Rangers. He made a nice adjustment to North American hockey this season in Hartford of the AHL . . . Canucks defenseman Kevin Bieksa is minus-8 in his last eight games . . . On the other hand, Maple Leafs winger Jeff Blake has finally regained his tough, scoring seven times in a seven-game span.