"It's just hard sometimes when things happen, so many things happen … it's hard," said Savard, who's played the past couple games with Scott Harrington on the third defense pairing. "It gets in your head a little bit. It's obviously been a different year than it was last year, so it's kind of a learning process for me. I'd never been in a season like this. So, for now, I think I'm starting to head in the right direction, and I'm just going to try to build on that and help the team make the playoffs."

The Blue Jackets' veteran defenseman has pulled out of a long struggle by stringing together some solid games the past few weeks, but there was a time not long ago when he just couldn't get much to go right on the ice. He tried to stay positive, but even the power of positivity has its limits.

Savard started this season playing with his long-time defense partner, Jack Johnson, playing the right point on the second pairing. Both of them struggled, with each of their issues compounding their partner's issues.

They were on the ice for a high number of goals against. They weren't producing many offensive plays from the blue line in the offensive zone. Their thought processing was off, individually, which made them each look like they'd lost a step physically - which wasn't the case.

It was something that was new to Savard, who'd never had to come out of such a downward spiral before. Eventually coach John Tortorella split up the pairing, which allowed both to focus on themselves.

"It happens to players," Tortorella said. "We think these players are these strong, tough guys. They get blown up a little bit mentally when they feel they've let the team down. Some guys, it takes a little bit longer to get back. Other guys have the moxie to go back and try to make that next play, that next play and not worry about the mistake before. It's one of the greatest things about sport, not just our game, but to watch how athletes handle certain situations when things aren't going well … how quickly it takes them to come back."

It's taken Savard, and Johnson, most of the season. They each back now, though, even though they're still playing on different defense pairings.

Johnson is currently on the second pairing, playing with Ryan Murray, while Savard is on the third unit, working with Harrington after rookie Dean Kukan went down last Sunday with an upper-body injury.

"Obviously, you have some rough patches, but I don't think I've ever been in a season where it took forever to kind of get myself going," Savard said. "It's definitely something different from what I've lived in the past. Even in junior, I never really had a long stretch that I was struggling quite a bit. It was different, but you kind of talk through everything. You work with coaches and stuff and try to figure out what you can do better, and stuff like that."

Savard had a variety of people he talked with during his slump, including former teammates and his parents. Among those he consulted was Gregory Campbell, a Blue Jackets player development coach. The advice from Campbell and others was to focus on simplicity, rebuilding his game brick by brick.

"They just kind of said, 'Stick to the process and make sure you work on your things you do well,'" Savard said. "I talked a lot with 'Soupy,' [Campbell], because he was a great veteran with us and I really looked up to him when he was here. He said, 'Just try to find ways to get through it.'"

That's what he did, too, starting in the defensive zone. He got his body in front of more shots and focused on making better exit passes to clear the zone.

"Those little plays that seemed so easy kind of became so difficult to do," he said. "So, you kind of build on those positive things, and you let the negative go away."

Steadily, he's erasing those negatives and replacing them with better things to remember. Savard has four goals and 11 points this season, and three of those goals were scored in the past 13 games. His plus/minus rating in those games is also even.

"Usually you get a good game, and you feel good about yourself and you're out of it … but that good game wasn't coming," Savard said. "That was a little different, and usually you kind of try to stay positive, but at that point, when it goes to 10, 15, 20 games, you're kind of like, 'What's going on here?' I'm having way more fun now, and it shows in your play when you're having fun. When everything's tough out there, it's hard to find ways to make plays and your reads are not as good. You're always thinking and the game's so fast, you can't really be thinking out there. You've got to trust yourself and I think I'm back at that now."