Labatt Blue What We Learned: CBJ 4, FLA 0

They don't want to talk about it, so the Blue Jackets are now doing a lot of talking about not talking about it instead.
"It?" you ask.
Yeah, you know: "It."
The thing the Blue Jackets aren't talking about, aren't relishing, are barely acknowledging and have done 10 straight times now, after dominating the Florida Panthers on Thursday night for a 4-0 win at Nationwide Arena.
"I think they've gained their confidence here," coach John Tortorella said, following his team's 10th straight victory. "This was a good test for them tonight. It's one of the better teams [in the Eastern Conference] and they're coming in with a ton of confidence."
Put another way, the Blue Jackets are rolling right now, at the right time of the season.

Aside from their 10-game winning streak overall, they've also won eight straight games on home ice and have a chance to set a new franchise record in that category Saturday night against the St. Louis Blues (7 p.m., Fox Sports Ohio, Fox Sports Go, 97.1 FM).
Good luck getting them to talk about it, though. The Jackets' focus is so narrow right now, you could pick a lock with it. The only thing they're worried about is what's directly ahead on their schedule, which includes practice Friday followed by Game 76 against the Blues on Saturday.
Anything else is just words floating about their heads in the stratosphere. The only things Columbus players truly care about right now are the Stanley Cup Playoffs and finding a pathway that leads them into that annual postseason bash.
"We don't talk about the streak," Tortorella said. "That's not what this is about. This is about, at the end of the year, trying to get in. And I think that overlays everything. We're just trying to take it one day at a time. That's what I like about what our team's doing, is trying to take it one day at a time. Game or practice, they're taking it one day at a time."
Others, outside the team, are talking about their streak plenty. In fact, it's only natural to talk about it in context of the record-setting streak the Blue Jackets rattled off last season, a mammoth 16-gamer that had the attention of the entire NHL by the time it ended.
How does this streak compare to that one?
Good question. We've gotten some clues here and there, but not many concrete answers. Very few Blue Jackets are even willing to venture down that road, and their coach certainly isn't going there.
"It's apples and oranges to me," Tortorella said, "because when you have a 16-game streak in the middle of the year, that is totally different [than] a team that has been inconsistent in a number of different ways a lot of the year, and now has found its game and it has its eye on one thing. And that's getting an opportunity to play in the postseason. It's hard to correlate them together. They're totally different. I think it's a totally different circumstance."
That might be the case, but there's no denying what's happening right now with the Blue Jackets, who stayed one point ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers to retain third place in the Metropolitan Division with seven games left.
Columbus has saved its best hockey for last and it's going to take a monumental effort to keep them from barreling straight into the playoffs with a head of steam. Of course, "playoffs" isn't something they want to talk much about either.
"We need to see the 'X' next to our name, right?" said defenseman Seth Jones, who scored his 15th goal in his first game back from an upper-body injury. "Nothing's for sure in this league."
True, but two things are close to it: that thing the Jackets don't want to talk about and their goalie, Sergei Bobrovsky, who was outstanding yet again for his fifth shutout of the season.
Bobrovsky's 33 saves kept the red-hot Panthers off the scoreboard, while Cam Aktinson (goal and assist), Sonny Milano, Jones and Thomas Vanek scored the goals - including all but Vanek's in a three-goal second period.
"We've definitely got confidence coming up in the locker room and it's nice to see, but that feeling is so fragile," Bobrovsky said. "You just have to be smart with it. You can't [get] too high and you can't get too low. You got the experience from those things [last year] … how easy you can lose it. You still have to enjoy after each game. You have to let it come to you and feel good about yourself, but it's a very thin line, where it's better to not cross."

Here's what we learned:
I: WHAT IT MEANS
The win moved the Blue Jackets to 89 points, which tied them with the rival Pittsburgh Penguins again. Pittsburgh remains second in the Metropolitan Division because the Penguins have played one less game.
The Penguins also hold the next standings tiebreaker, which is non-shootout wins (40-36). Columbus moved eight points ahead of the Panthers with the win, which negates Florida's three games-in-hand.
The Jackets also stayed a point ahead of the Flyers, who edged the New York Rangers at Wells-Fargo Center, 4-3, on Thursday. Philadelphia currently has the first wild card in the Eastern Conference.
"We're still fighting for our playoff lives right now, whether we're in the picture or not," Atkinson said. "The points, the personal points, are all out the window. It's all about what you can bring to this team and help this team move on, get points and move up in the standings."
II: STILL STREAKIN'
Columbus is just the third team in NHL history to have double-digit winning streaks in consecutive seasons, joining the Philadelphia Flyers (1985 and 1986) and Pittsburgh Penguins (2011, 2012 and 2013).
Pushing the streak to 10 straight wins also makes this the second-longest in franchise history. The Blue Jackets had won nine straight twice before, including last season's franchise-record streak -- which also set the franchise record for consecutive home wins.
The Blue Jackets tied that one with their eighth straight home victory and have a chance to set a franchise record for consecutive home wins Saturday against the Blues.
"Last year, I would say we were more hype about it, maybe, instead of this year we're just taking it as it goes," forward Lukas Sedlak said. "We won [Tuesday in New York] and we were calm about it. I actually like that more, because last season was more emotional. Last year, it was more like, 'Oh, we win again!' Let's party! Let's have fun.' This year, it's a little bit different. We kind of expect to win."
III: JONESIN' TO PLAY
Jones is still, technically, day-to-day and likely playing through discomfort with his upper-body injury. He didn't miss a beat, though, despite missing the previous three games.

After logging the second-highest ice time on the team in his first period back (7:13), Jones capped a power play at 5:42 of the second to give Columbus a 3-0 lead. It was his 15th goal, which set a new franchise record for goals by a defenseman in one season, one more than defense partner Zach Werenski's 14.
Jones, who wore an alternate captain's "A" with Jack Johnson out, logged 19:06, including 1:47 while helping Columbus successfully kill off four Panthers power plays.
His return meant somebody who'd been in the playing mix would be scratched. It turned out to be Johnson, who missed his first game this season and first since 2015-16, when he missed 22 games because of injuries.
Johnson isn't officially dealing with an injury, but Tortorella said he's got multiple, minor issues to monitor.
"It gives me a little flexibility," Tortorella said. "Some guys are banged up at this time of year. There's a lot of nicks. A lot of guys are banged up. It gives me an opportunity, [when] 'Jonesy' [plays], to look at the [other defensemen] and say, 'You know what? He's been banged up a little bit. Can he play? Yeah, but it gives me an opportunity to maybe get [that guy] rested.' There are a number of different things, especially on our back end, that I can do."
IV: PASSING THE TEST
The Panthers came into this game with a red-hot power play. Florida had scored on 27.1 percent of its power plays in the previous 20 games (16-for-59) and got four more opportunities in this game.
They just didn't score. The Blue Jackets went a perfect 4-for-4 killing off Florida's power plays, including 3-for-3 in the first two periods - when Columbus took control of the game.
The Panthers only got two shots on goal, combined, during their power plays. Bobrovsky turned both away.

V: 'BREAD' AND BUTTER
Akinson's goal 59 seconds into the second period was his fifth goal in five games and was fifth game-winner of the season. Panarin's 44th assist, which tied former defenseman James Wisniewski for sixth-most in a single season. Atkinson's shot, which he buried from the slot off Panarin's cross-ice feed on a 2-on-1 made up for what happened Tuesday against the New York Rangers.
In that game, Panarin sent Atkinson a cross-ice feed right in front of the net, but the puck deflected off his stick awkwardly and was stopped by goalie Henrik Lundqvist. The puck popped free, though, without the officials seeing it and Panarin scooped it up to score his second of three goals in the game.
Panarin was asked about that play after the game and kiddingly wondered what Atkinson was trying to do.
"I was mad at Cam like, 'What are you inventing over there?'" Panarin said through a translator. "Just put it in the net.'"
Two nights later, that's exactly what he did.
"I knew he was going to pass it," Atkinson said, during a second intermission interview on Fox Sports Ohio. "We've been working on that play, where he's going to shoot and then pass it. He passed it to me there and it's a great play."
VI: 'SEDSY' STAYS POSITIVE
This was Sedlak's second game in a row, after being scratched in eight of the previous 10. That stretch goes back to the addition of forwards Mark Letestu and Thomas Vanek at the NHL Trade Deadline, which deepened the Blue Jackets' talent pool.
He played in place of veteran center Brandon Dubinsky, who was a healthy scratch for the second straight game. After missing 13 games with a lower-body injury early in the season, Sedlak played 41 of 42 games prior to the deadline passing.
He centered the fourth line during that time, but lost his spot after Matt Calvert, Letestu and Dubinsky became the primary trio.
"It's completely different from what we had the whole year," said Sedlak, who was hit in the left ear/neck with a slap shot in the third period and left the game. "We didn't have that depth. I kind of lost my spot in the lineup. I was trying to be a good teammate for the guys and just loosen up the locker room a little bit, crack jokes a little bit, stuff like that."
It wasn't easy.
"Nobody wants to be in the gym while guys are playing, right?" Sedlak said, speaking with reporters after the morning skate. "Especially at the end of the season. These games are what we play for, but I tried to take it positively and tried to do my best in it. We've been really good since the deadline, so that's how I took it. We have a better team than we had before. Even if it means me losing my spot, you know, that's how it is."
VII: NO MESSAGE INTENDED
Tortorella said he's not trying to send a figurative fastball high-and-tight at Dubinsky, who was a healthy scratch for just the second time in his Blue Jackets' career.
"There was not a message sent to Brandon Dubinsky," he said. "I'm not trying to put him in a bad way. There [have] been some struggles in his game, it's gone on for a little bit, Sedlak was playing well … and then the deadline people come in and that's what happens. It gluts it."
The hope is Dubinsky impresses in his first opportunity to return, whenever that happens.
"I hope we have a really good player there, ready to come back in if something else happens with another guy," Tortorella said. "I'm certainly not trying to grind him. It's just the decision I have to make."
VIII: PAYBACK FOR ZACH
About five minutes into the second, with the Blue Jackets leading 1-0, Florida's Frank Vatrano got entangled with Werenski near the blue line of the offensive zone. Vatrano's stick crashed onto Werenski's nose after they both fell, which prompted Werenski to slash him back.
Vatrano's stick cut Werenski on the bridge of the nose and led to a second minor in the incident for roughing. Werenski and Vatrano were each assessed interference minors, so the roughing call put Columbus on the power play. Jones scored seconds later, on the first shift of the power play.
IX: ROOKIES ROLLING
Two-thirds of the Blue Jackets' second line is comprised of rookie forwards Sonny Milano and Pierre-Luc Dubois, while the third guy, Oliver Bjorkstrand, only played 26 regular-season games last year.
Milano and Dubois were each key in breaking the game open in the second period. Milano scored the second goal, making it 2-0 at 3:20 of the second period, and Dubois got a secondary assist on the play. Dubois then got a secondary assist on Jones' power-play goal for his second point of the game.
Dubois has 39 points (15 goals, 24 assists), which ties former Blue Jackets star forward Rick Nash for second-most points in one seaso by a Columbus rookie. Dubois now trails Werenski, who set the record with 47 last year, by eight points.
Milano's goal moved him into a four-way tie for fourth-most by a rookie in a single season. Nikolai Zherdev, Serge Aubin and David Vyborny are the other three who've scored 13 goals as rookies, while Dubois is alone in third (15).
Nash holds the franchise record for goals by a rookie with 17 in 2002-03.
X: NEXT UP
The Blue Jackets will practice Friday and play their fourth game in six days when they host the St. Louis Blues in the finale of the two-game season series Saturday at Nationwide Arena (7 p.m., Fox Sports Ohio, Fox Sports Go, 97.1 FM).
The teams haven't played since Oct. 28, when the Blues won, 4-1, at Scottrade Center.
St. Louis is fifth in the Central Division and fighting to stay in playoff contention in the Western Conference. The Blues, who were off Thursday, are one spot outside the West's second wild card. They're three points back of the Anaheim Ducks and Colorado Avalanche for the second and first wild cards.