Postgame Hat Trick: Blue Jackets give Isles taste of their own medicine

For the first 10 minutes Tuesday night, John Tortorella was a bit worried.
His team didn't have its sea legs under it -- in fact, you could say the team had air legs. After a long flight back to Columbus on Monday following a 10-night road trip that finished with Sunday night's win at Vancouver, the Blue Jackets looked like they had tired legs through the first 10 minutes of their return home against the New York Islanders.
It's common for teams to struggle in that first game back after a Western trip, and Tortorella saw it early in his team.
"That's a hard game for our team to play, coming off the 11 days and a few time zones, and sometimes you have the two days (of rest), and we just had the one," Tortorella said. "First 10 minutes, I don't think we had legs. We really had trip legs at that time."

But 10 minutes into the game, Columbus also had another thing: the lead. That was significant because this Blue Jackets team had experienced first-hand this year the feeling of quicksand a team can get stuck in when trailing to the Islanders.
Buoyed by that early power-play goal, Columbus settled into the game and got better as it went on. After a strong finish to the first, the Jackets were better in the second and dominated most of the third
on the way to a key 4-0 victory
.
It didn't move Columbus any closer to the playoffs -- wild card teams Carolina (three points ahead) and Montreal (two) stayed in front of the Jackets -- but it was a huge victory nonetheless.
Three thoughts on the game follow.
1. Finally, a goal:Forget about the win. Columbus entered the game just having to figure out how to score a goal on the Islanders.
New York netminder Thomas Greiss had shut out the Jackets for two straight games, more than 150 minutes worth of blankings over three division contests that had fairly deflated the Jackets' sails each time.
So when Ryan Dzingel pumped a shot from the left circle clean past Greiss to the far post, it felt like the lid ripping off a Pringles can. And once the Jackets popped, they didn't stop, adding three goals in the third period to finish off the win.

"When we've played the Islanders this year and they score the first goal, it's tough to crawl back in it against them because they check so well," Tortorella said. "We were fortunate to get the first one on our power play tonight. It may not look it, but we're still trying to get the second one. We had our foot on the gas, but it's just hard to get through some of their checking."
It felt kind of like what the Islanders had done to the Blue Jackets in the last two meetings -- get an early goal, play solid defense and get good goaltending, and then create chances on the counterattack to finish it off. Still, captain Nick Foligno wasn't about to say the team exactly played the Isles' game.
"I think we just out-Blue Jacketed the Islanders," he said. "They definitely play a more defensive-minded game when they get that lead. I just thought that's the recipe you have to play against a team like that.
"Whatever you want to call it, we understood the style of play we had to have against them after failing a few times. I think we learned pretty quickly the way we needed to play, and that first goal was huge."
2. Oliver's twist: For a few months now, one of the better players on the Blue Jackets team has been Oliver Bjorkstrand.
The Maestro has started to leverage his elite shot into production, scoring three goals in the last four games after his third-period tally vs. the Isles. That extends a solid run going all the way back to January as Bjorkstrand has 10 goals in his last 29 games -- a 28-goal pace over 82 games. All this after he was occasionally a healthy scratch earlier this season while battling for a spot in the lineup with Anthony Duclair.

"I think it's been going on for a few months," he said of his improved play. "A long time now actually, I think I've picked it up. I just can't lose it now. I have to keep building on it. I think that's been the key to my stretch. I haven't had too many ups and downs."
The chili goal on the night off the stick of Bjorkstrand was a beauty. The puck came to him off the wall as Alex Wennberg knocked down an Islanders clearing attempt. Bjorkstrand grabbed it, turned along the top of the circle and quickly fired a wrister that beat Greiss short side. It was the kind of quick, accurate release that makes the 23-year-old Dane such a high-ceiling player in the NHL.
"I think I'm skating more, playing with more confidence, just building on it every time I have a good game," he said. "Just have to keep going."
3. Welcome back, Cap:Foligno received a warm, loud round of applause from the Nationwide Arena faithful when he first took the ice Tuesday, and such a reception has rarely been more well deserved.
The CBJ captain returned to the team after missing the entire road trip to be with his almost 2-year-old son, Hudson, as he battles a severe case of pneumonia that included a collapsed lung and breathing problems so serious that they required 11 days on a ventilator.
It was the second serious situation involving his children that has kept Foligno away this year. Earlier, he missed a total of five games after his 5-year-old daughter Milana, who was born with a heart defect, fought a virus and then needed a follow-up heart surgery.
"That was pretty special," Foligno said of the crowd reaction. "I love this city, I love the fans. They mean so much to me and my family, the support that we've gotten whether it's through our family or out on the ice. I speak so highly of this city and this organization and this fan base, and there's a reason why when you get a reception like that."
After the game, Foligno also received the Kepi hat that is awarded inside the locker room from Sergei Bobrovsky, the previous winner. "That was for Hudson," Foligno said after embracing with Bobrovsky.
"He brings some energy to our locker room," Bobrovsky said of the team captain he hugs after each win. "It's nice to have him back, and it's a huge win for him also."
Playing in a defensive role with fellow veterans Brandon Dubinsky and Riley Nash, Foligno played just 12:49, but the trio was lauded for its effort by Tortorella. Foligno said he felt better as the game went on as far as playing shape, and it's clear the win had a little extra meaning as Foligno picked up a game puck before heading to the team locker room.
"It's the best feeling ever," he said of being back and getting the win. "My son worked hard enough so I could get back out there, so the least I could do is work my ass off for him."