Labatt Blue What We Learned: CBJ 2, MTL 1

Five days ago, the Blue Jackets were leaving Vancouver with a ninth straight win and a clean sweep of their western Canadian road trip. They flew home to Columbus that night, took Monday off, and got ready for arguably their toughest week of the season.
And if this week was their most taxing test to date, they aced it.
It wasn't pretty, it wasn't perfect, but it was a win. The Blue Jackets played an okay first period, a decent second period and held on for dear life in the third period - using a scintillating performance from Sergei Bobrovsky to lock up a 12th consecutive win, moving them to 23-5-4 and atop the National Hockey League standings at Christmas.

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This 2-1 final in front of another sold-out crowd of 18,147 at Nationwide Arena was full of drama near the finish line, and the locals returned the favor by giving their team everything they had in the final minutes. The arena was deafening, and the players took notice of it.
Perhaps the most encouraging thing about this game was how the Blue Jackets managed to close the door. They've played in fast-paced, high-scoring games of late and imposed their will on opponents, but tonight, the Montreal Canadiens gave them everything they could handle with the result still hanging in the balance.
Sam Gagner (14) and Brandon Saad (13) tallied regulation goals for the Blue Jackets. Nick Foligno had two assists, and Cam Atkinson's assist on Gagner's goal - another power play goal - was the 200th point of his career.
Bobrovsky made 36 saves, 12 in the third period, and earned his NHL-best 21st victory of the season. He was simply tremendous.
"To secure these types of games when your team's not dead-on, it's your goaltender," said coach John Tortorella. "And we have probably one of the best goalies in the whole league here, and it's helped through this little streak."

Here's what we learned:
PLAY YOUR GAME: Maybe the Blue Jackets needed a little jolt in the third period. They won't word it that way, but Jeff Petry's goal midway through the third seemed to awaken Columbus and instill a new focus as the game hit crunch time. Tortorella said they were guilty of standing and watching in the third period and were waiting for Montreal to pack it in and go home, but not this Canadiens team, one of the NHL's best. And they put the heat on.
The response from the Blue Jackets was strong. They started moving their feet and getting pucks beneath the goal line, grinding on the Canadiens defense and making the rink feel larger. It helped them reestablish their confidence and played a big role in getting two more points.
"For us, we just had to battle through and play a patient game," said Brandon Saad.
"You could see it mounting on us," Tortorella said. "But after they scored the goal, we found ourselves and starting playing better. We've played a number of games here in a few nights; you find ways to win these games, where maybe last year we lose these games. We're still trying to take steps in the right direction."

THANKS, BOB: The steady, consistent play of the Blue Jackets hasn't required many heavy workload nights for Bobrovsky. Tonight was one of those busy nights, but he was up to the task despite having played the night before against Pittsburgh. He was solid in the first period, watched his team play a strong second period, then put his hard hat on for the final 20 minutes to help his team get its 23rd win of the season.
"The plays he makes…we appreciate so much, because we're all in this together," captain Nick Foligno said of Bobrovsky. "Every guy feels like they're a big part of what we're trying to do here. Bob's a huge part of it, and we know he's the big cog in our wheel."
Bobrovsky's best might have been a right toe save on Paul Byron, who made a great play to strip Saad of the puck while Columbus was on the power play and head in alone for a shorthanded chance. Bobrovsky stayed with Byron all the way, and got just enough to keep the puck out.
"Those are huge plays," Foligno said. "They think they have him beat, and all of a sudden, his leg comes flying out of nowhere. That's what he does."

PUT IN THE WORK: Everyone knew the Christmas break awaited on the other side of this game. Both teams were on the tail end of back-to-backs having played tough games the night before, and before the game, Tortorella had one request of his players.
"Just give us one more night of work," he said.
They buckled down and did just that.
"It's a good break. But you know what? They should feel really proud of themselves," Tortorella said. "It doesn't mean a whole hell of a lot as far as what's ahead of us, but to have 50 points come Christmas break, they should feel really good about themselves. They're a good hockey team."