Winning Thoughts: Blue Jackets stick with it to outlast Flyers

After CBJ wins, we'll give three takeaways about what stood out or what we'll remember from the Blue Jackets' victory.

BLUE JACKETS 5, FLYERS 3

1. The Blue Jackets still have work to do, but they made some strides in the standings with Wednesday night’s victory.

There are 30 games remaining after Columbus’ win over Philadelphia, which means the playoff push is starting to feel real. And the Blue Jackets were dealt a little bit of bad news on the scoreboard-watching front as the Islanders and Senators both posted victories.

That kept New York six points ahead of the Blue Jackets for third in the Metropolitan Division, which might be the clearest path to the postseason. But Columbus did at least make up some ground on the rest of the division with its seventh victory in eight games, as the Blue Jackets jumped New Jersey and moved into a tie for fourth in the Metro with Philadelphia and Washington.

Some players – and fans – are religiously watching how things are unfolding, while others don’t look at all and a few will probably check in once we get down to the nitty-gritty. But there is something to be said on the confidence front when you wake up in a tie for fourth in the division, especially when you started the day in seventh place.

Zach Werenski is one of those guys who looks on a regular basis – well, maybe even more than that. But, he said, there is a good reason.

“I know everyone is different in terms of looking at the standings, but I check it daily,” Werenski said. “Even if it’s 2 in the afternoon and I’ve already checked it, I check it again. I’m always looking at it. I think it’s important to know where you’re at in the standings, what needs to happen. I think it gives you extra motivation when you’re kind of climbing and catching teams and know what’s at stake.”

The next question prompted a bit of a guilty smile out of Werenski considering the game had ended about 10 minutes earlier. Had he already checked the standings after the game?

“I did,” he admitted. “We just have to keep winning. That’s all we can do is control what we can control, and hopefully the rest takes care of itself.”

On the other end of the spectrum is head coach Rick Bowness, who won his sixth game of seven in charge. That shouldn’t be a huge surprise, though, as coaches are notoriously focused on the day-to-day process of getting better rather than the big picture.

But, at least we do know Bowness checked on scores from around the league before he met with the media.

“We just have to keep pushing,” Bowness said. “We can’t control Ottawa beating Colorado. We can’t control the Islanders (winning). We have nothing to do with that. What we can control is us, and we just have to keep the focus on what we have to do. As long as we do that, then we’ll have to live with the end result.”

2. The Blue Jackets responded to some third-period adversity the right way in order to get the winning goal from Sean Monahan.

For 40 minutes, Columbus was all over the Flyers, limiting the visitors to just 13 shots on goal and 25 shot attempts. The Blue Jackets gave up a few rush chances, but they were few and far between – Columbus was hard on the forecheck, caused turnover after turnover and had a decisive edge in offensive zone possession time.

But the Flyers remained in striking distance at 3-1 after two periods, and for CBJ fans, the start of the third followed a familiar script. Dan Vladar made an incredible glove save on Adam Fantilli on a CBJ power play to give the Flyers some momentum, then traditional Blue Jackets nemesis Travis Konecny took over, completing a hat trick with a pair of goals.

When his backdoor tap-in made it a 3-3 game with 4:46 to play, it might have felt like a movie we’ve seen before, but Bowness had a message to his team on the bench.

“Get ready for your next shift,” he said he told players. “Control what you can control. You can’t do anything about (the lost lead). Give them credit. They made a couple of good plays on those goals. Just get ready for your next shift. Just put it behind you, and let’s get back on our toes.”

And that’s exactly what the Blue Jackets did. Coming out of a media timeout with 3:56 to go, Columbus won a defensive zone faceoff and quickly got the puck up the ice. Kent Johnson and Boone Jenner won a wall battle before Werenski’s shot was deflected wide, but Werenski got the rebound and the Jackets went back to work.

From there, Johnson returned a pass to Werenski in the right corner, then Werenski got the puck back to Johnson on the cycle. Damon Severson came down the right wall and took Johnson’s drop pass, and Werenski’s route back to the left point drew a Flyers defender away from the net.

Monahan saw it and entered the vacated space, creeping to the back post all alone. Severson saw him and delivered a crisp pass on the tape, and with plenty of time, Monahan waited out Vladar – his former teammate in Calgary – and chipped a shot over his outstretched blocker.

“He kind of had me at the start, and I just wanted him to fall forward a little bit to be able to get it over him,” Monahan said. “He’s a good goalie, and I was just trying to make a read on his play.”

It was exactly the kind of get-back-to-work, team-oriented goal the situation called for. Mathieu Olivier added an empty-net goal and suddenly the Blue Jackets had two key points in regulation.

“We give up the lead, and you get one back to take it back,” Monahan said. “I think that’s a good sign for us. Obviously, putting the puck in the net in that situation, it always feels good.”

3. Charlie Coyle can finally take a breath, but his early goal felt like a bit of a movie script come to life.

The admired NHL veteran played career game No. 1,000 last Thursday, but the official ceremony celebrating his accomplishment – including the presentation of the traditional silver stick gift and other commemorative items from the team and the NHL – didn't take place until Wednesday night.

You’ve heard of Shark Week; well, this was Coyle Week, even if the man himself hated being in the spotlight for so long. He rose to the occasion, though, taking a pass from Olivier and scoring on the first shift of the game, beating Vladar one-on-one to deliver the fastest goal of the CBJ season just 38 seconds into the game.

“I’m just glad everything is over with, honestly,” Coyle said. “It’s funny the way it works sometimes, but I was on the end of a pretty good shift and play by my teammates. It’s nice to help contribute. I’m wondering if my parents made it up to their seats yet or not. I’ll have to ask them later.”

While Coyle wasn’t exactly thrilled to be the center of attention for such an extended span, he was happy to share the accomplishments. His parents, Chuck and Theresa, as well as some other family members were able to extend their stay in Columbus after Monday’s game was postponed by winter weather, and his wife Danielle – who is expecting a second child – and daughter Lilia also were on the ice for the pregame ceremony.

Coyle acknowledged that while all the tributes made him a bit uncomfortable, he would also look back on them with a smile down the road.

“I’ll probably replay some stuff tonight,” he said. “And yeah, just over time, looking back at your career maybe, showing our kids when they get older. I think that will be pretty special. Getting to hold my daughter during it, when she’s a little older and she gets to see that and being on the ice, and my other daughter who is in my wife’s stomach, she’ll be popping out soon and when she’s older she can see where she was during that. Just little things. That will be cool to show the kids.”