Blue Jackets defeat Flames, move into third in Metropolitan

CALGARY -- The Columbus Blue Jackets moved into third place in the Metropolitan Division with a 5-1 win against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome on Thursday.
Columbus (44-29-5) is one point behind the Pittsburgh Penguins and leads the Philadelphia Flyers by one point.

WATCH: [All Blue Jackets vs. Flames highlights]
"You just have to keep winning," Blue Jackets forward Pierre-Luc Dubois said. "There's nothing else we can control. We can't control what the other teams do, but if we keep winning, I think we'll put ourselves in a pretty good spot."
Dubois scored his first NHL hat trick, Markus Hannikainen and Markus Nutivaara scored, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 37 saves for the Blue Jackets, who are 12-1-0 in their past 13 games.
"We talked about finishing the season strong," Dubois said. "I think it's better to peak at the end of the season right before playoffs than in the middle of the season when you have 30 games left. We're playing really well right now. Everybody's playing well right now. Everyone is pitching in. We're really confident right now."

Chris Stewart scored, and Jon Gillies made 23 saves for the Flames (35-33-10), who have been outscored 33-8 on a season-long seven-game losing streak. Calgary was eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoff contention on Monday.
"We're just in a funk right now and we just have to go after it a little more," Flames forward Matt Stajan said. "We're feeling sorry for ourselves a little bit too much. These games are hard to play, but we're in the NHL, we have to go after it a little bit better."
Hannikainen made it 1-0 on the first shot of the game for the Blue Jackets at 2:09 of the first period, and Dubois scored at 12:23 to make it 2-0 on a one-timer from the right circle.
"He's playing very well," Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. "It's very unnoticed as far as one of our keys being able to us compete this year is his play in the middle of the ice. Put him with different people, play him against top people in the league, all the teams, and he has just thrived."
Dubois extended the lead 3-0 at 3:55 of the second period, and Nutivaara gave the Blue Jackets a 4-0 lead at 10:58 of the third period.
Dubois completed the hat trick with a power-play goal to make it 5-0 at 15:23. The goal, his 18th of the season, set a new Columbus rookie record surpassing Rick Nash (17, 2002-03). Dubois, who has 44 points (18 goals, 26 assists), is three away from the Blue Jackets rookie record of 47 set last season by defenseman Zach Werenski.
"It's fun," Dubois said. "I wasn't really thinking about that, but it was a fun night tonight. Even better we got the two points. All in all, it was a great night."
Stewart scored to make it 5-1 with 21.4 seconds remaining.

Goal of the game

Dubois' goal at 12:23 of the first period.

Save of the game

Bobrovsky's save on Micheal Ferland at 11:14 of the first period.

Highlight of the game

Hannikainen's goal at 2:09 of the first period.

They said it

"Obviously, when you win it's fun, but I think everybody in the room right now is just gelling together. We have a really good mix of older guys and younger guys. You can learn a lot from the older guys. It's fun. When you win, it's fun, but I think we have a great group of guys in here." -- Blue Jackets forward Pierre-Luc Dubois
"It's hard when you start losing games and you don't score a ton; it's hard to get out of a slump. We've just got to keep going. There are no other answers other than keep going, keep competing, shooting pucks, get to the net, keep grinding and hopefully eventually they'll go in." -- Flames forward Mikael Backlund

Need to know

With the win,Tortorella moved into first on the Blue Jackets all-time wins list (128). … The Blue Jackets have recorded four hat tricks in their past five road games. They are the first team to accomplish that since the Pittsburgh Penguins from Nov. 18-Dec. 5, 1991 according to Elias Sports Bureau. ... Artemi Panarin has 10 points (five goals, five assists) in the past six games, and 27 points (11 goals, 16 assists) in his past 20 games. … Cam Atkinson has eight points (four goals, four assists) in a six-game point streak, and 20 points (10 goals, 10 assists) in his past 17 games. … Columbus forward Brandon Dubinsky left the game in the second period (illness). … Calgary defenseman Travis Hamonic left the game after the first period because of an upper-body injury.

What's next

Blue Jackets: At the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday (4 p.m. ET; SN360, FS-O, NHL.TV)
Flames: Host the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; CBC, SN, SN360 NHL.TV)