Labatt Blue What We Learned: CBJ 5, PHI 3

PHILADELPHIA - The games are starting to fly off the schedule, each adding more importance than the last, and the Blue Jackets are loving every second of it.
Boosted by excitement in the hunt for a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, they're playing their best hockey of the season and continued that roll against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday at Wells Fargo Center.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 27 saves, including 12-of-12 in the third period, Cam Atkinson notched his fourth career hat trick and the Blue Jackets won, 5-3, for their sixth straight victory.
"We're playing our best hockey right now and this is when you want to be playing your best hockey," said Atkinson, whose hat trick was the first of the season for Columbus. "We deserved that win tonight, for sure. We're playing with confidence throughout the lineup and it shows."
It showed early in this game, when the Blue Jackets (38-28-5) raced out to an early 2-0 lead on goals 11 seconds apart by Oliver Bjorkstrand and Boone Jenner. After the Flyers countered with a goal by Claude Giroux, Atkinson made it 3-1 with his first goal - which he tipped off a shot through traffic by defenseman Zach Werenski.
Philadelphia pulled within a goal, 3-2, on a power-play goal by Shayne Gostisbehere 14 seconds into the second, but Atkinson struck again 3:09 later, giving Columbus a 4-2 lead. The Flyers pulled within a goal again, 4-3, when Andrew MacDonald scored later in the second, but the Blue Jackets preserved their lead to start the third.
Bobrovsky and the defense took it from there, defusing the Flyers' strong push in the third.
"I think we're learning a lot," coach John Tortorella said. "It's like we talked about before the third period, we're right where we want to be - up by a goal, you know they're coming, let's see how we handle this. So, we're learning lessons along the way, as a young team, and finding ways to get some point here of late."
As for Atkinson's hat trick, he scored the third goal into a vacated net with less than a second left, after missing the open net with a shot from long distance. It was his first hat trick since Jan. 25, 2016 against the Montreal Canadiens and put a smile on the Blue Jackets' faces.
"We owed them," Atkinson said, after helping the Blue Jackets split the season series and pull even with the Flyers. "Every time we played them, it went into overtime and the last time we were here they beat us, came back. We're so focused right now. It's do or die. We knew they were a point ahead of us and it's going to be an absolute battle the whole way in, so we're in control of our fate and have to keep this thing going."
Here's what we learned:

I: WHAT IT MEANS
The Blue Jackets leapfrogged the idle New Jersey Devils for the first wild card in the Eastern Conference and tied the Flyers with 81 points apiece.
Each team has played 71 games, but the Flyers maintain third place in the Metropolitan Division by a tiebreaker. Philadelphia has one more regulation or overtime win (ROW) than Columbus, 33-32. The Blue Jackets also stayed four points ahead of the Florida Panthers, who defeated the Boston Bruins on Thursday in Sunrise, Fla.
"At this point of the year, each game gets ramped up every time," Jenner said. "I don't know if it was exactly like a playoff game, but the energy's ramping up every game, no doubt."
II: WILLING AND ABLE
Defensem an Seth Jones met with reporters prior to the game and indicated there might've been a debate as to whether he should play or sit the game out as a precautionary measure while he deals with an upper-body injury.
There was no debate in Jones' assessment. Asked if he thought sitting out was a possibility, Jones was quick to reply.
"In my mind? No," he said. "Like I said, it's a group decision. Obviously, they have a little more say in it than I do, at the end of the day, but I'm glad they're letting me get out there."
It didn't take him long to make an impact. Jones picked up the primary assist on Bjorkstrand's goal at 9:41 of the first period to open the scoring for his eighth point (four goals, four assists) in the past four games.
Jones also made a number of key defensive plays around the Blue Jackets' net, helping Bobrovsky keep the puck out of the net to thwart some good scoring chances for the Flyers. Jones played the entire game, logging 23:21 of ice time and finishing with the assist on his stat line.

III: 'BOB' BIG AGAIN
Bobrovsky has said numerous times he doesn't try to elevate his game against the Flyers more than he does against other teams, but he's usually at his best against the team that gave him his first NHL contract.
Bobrovsky entered the game with a 9-3-1 record, 1.82 goals-against average and .936 save percentage in 13 career appearances against the Flyers and came up with more impressive work Thursday.
He made eight of nine saves in the first period, when the Blue Jackets took a 3-1 lead, including a lunging glove save at the left post to deny Travis Konecny moments before Columbus got the goals 11 seconds apart by Bjorkstrand and Jenner.
Bobrovsky also made several more scoops with his glove and stepped up even more in the third, when Philadelphia came out pressing hard for a tying goal. He went 9-for-9 on saves in the first 10 minutes and 12-for-12 in the final period to preserve the Jackets' 4-3 lead.
"I felt pretty good," he said. "I was comfortable there, so it was a huge third period. It's nice that we closed that out. There [are] still some memories [in Philadelphia], but now I focus more on our team - where we are and what we need."

IV: GOING STREAKING
The Blue Jackets' quick-strike offense in the first half of the game racked up a bunch of stats and extended several streaks.
Artemi Panarin's first of two assists, on Atkinson's goal that made it 3-1, pushed his point streak to six games. Panarin has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in the streak and has also tallied at least a point in 12 of the past 13 games, adding 17 points (six goals, 11 assists) to his season total of 63 points (21 goals, 42 assists).
Jenner's goal, which made it 2-0 off a deflected slap pass from Jack Johnson, extended his point streak to four games. He has five points (three goals, two assists) in the streak.
Jones extended his point streak to four games with his assist on Bjorkstrand's goal, while Atkinson's goals gave him five points (three goals, two assists) in a three-game point streak.

V: BALANCING ACT
Columbus has searched for balanced scoring and stability in its forward lines all year. That appears to be happening with 11 games left in the regular season.
The Blue Jackets' top three lines were responsible for all five goals, with the fourth providing a solid checking effort.
The first line of Panarin, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Atkinson produced all three of Atkinson's goals. The second line of Sonny Milano, captain Nick Foligno and Bjorkstrand scored the game's first goal, off a great shot by Bjorkstrand from one knee.
The third line of Jenner, Alex Wennberg and Thomas Vanek continued to gel, producing the game's second goal - scored by Jenner, with a secondary assist from Vanek.
It's exactly the kind of balance needed in the postseason, should the Blue Jackets clinch their second straight trip to the playoffs.
"We're just such a deep lineup," Atkinson said. "This is the first time since I've been a part of this club that we've had this depth and it's awesome. Any line can go out there and score, any [defenseman] can join the rush and make a play, and our best player is our goalie. So, we've got to keep it going, keep playing with confidence, keep making plays and keep at it."

VI: NICE 'FORECHECK'
Atkinson didn't know how much time was left in the game when he got the puck with the Flyers' net vacated in the third period. He did know that he wanted a third goal, so he took a quick peek at the scoreboard before sending a long shot wide from center ice.
Good thing for him he chased down his miss, got the loose puck and scored with less than a second left to seal it. It was the first hat trick of the season for the Blue Jackets, Atkinson's first since last season and the fourth of his career.
"Guys on the bench were saying I had time, but then, at the same time, I thought there was only a second left," he said. "So, I tried to look up at the clock and panicked. But I found a way to score and the boys were liking that."
As foe chasing the puck down?
"I mean, it's a safe play, right?" he said, chuckling. "Get it deep. Forecheck … forecheck to yourself. But I'll take it."
VII: THIS AND THAT …
Jones' assist moved him to 49 points, which is two shy of tying the franchise record for points by a defenseman in a single season. The record was set by James Wisniewski with 51 points (seven goals, 44 assists) in 2013-14. … Vanek led all skaters with 10 shots attemptsm, while Atkinson led all skaters with six shots on goal and nine shot attempts. … Dubois has shown improvement lately in the face-off circle and won 6-of-11 draws (55 percent). Dubois, who was used on some defensive draws in the third period, was one of three Blue Jackets who won at least 50 percent of their face-offs. … Tortorella leaned on the top line . All three forwards played about 20 minutes, led by Panarin's 21:07 on 22 shifts. … Columbus didn't get any goals from defensemen, but four of their six blue-liners had assists and all four were primary assists. … The Blue Jackets improved to 26-10-4 when scoring the first goal this season and 61-20-9 since the start of last season. … Panarin now has a team-high 33 points in road games, with 13 goals and 20 assists. … David Savard blocked a team-high five shots and has blocked 119, second only to Johnson's 129. … Wennberg's line, which includes Jenner and Vanek, led the NHL since March 6 with a combined plus-7 plus/minus rating. They bumped that up by two more, with a combined plus-2.
VIII: NEXT UP
The Blue Jackets return to Columbus to face the Ottawa Senators on Saturday at Nationwide Arena (7 p.m., Fox Sports Ohio, Fox Sports Go). Columbus and Ottawa have split the first two games of the season series, with each winning on home ice.