Not much separates teams in competitive Metro
John Tortorella says he doesn’t look at the NHL standings this early in the season. In February or March? Sure, the Blue Jackets coach said he’ll look at them “when they start to mean something.”
So, Tortorella — who wouldn’t answer questions after an ugly 7-2 loss Tuesday night to the Edmonton Oilers at Nationwide Arena — may or may not (he probably does) know just four points separate his first-place Blue Jackets from the sixthplace Penguins in the Metropolitan Division.
Despite having 35 points, Pittsburgh sits outside the playoffs.
Five of the eight Eastern Conference teams holding a postseason position come from the Metro.
“It doesn’t matter who you’re playing, you need to find a way to keep moving up the standings,” Jackets captain Nick Foligno said. “You can’t let games slip away. They will come back to bite you at the end of the season.”
The Jackets’ next two games and five of the next seven come against divisional foes, starting with the New York Islanders and Carolina Hurricanes.
Power played
Edmonton came into the game with the worst penalty kill in the NHL and the Jackets have the worst power play, yet they Jackets didn’t have many chances to improve their numbers.
By the time the Blue Jackets got their first real power-play chance with 9.2 seconds left in the second period — they had an advantage for just eight seconds earlier in the period — they trailed 4-0. But the Oilers made it 5-0 with a short-handed goal from Mark Letestu with 0.3 of a second remaining.
“We didn’t give ourselves a chance,” Jack Johnson said. “We gave up odd-man rushes, 2-on-1s; you do that with highly skilled players and you’re asking for trouble.”
Fight night
Foligno got what was left of the crowd fired up by fighting Jujhar Khaira in the third period, but Brandon Dubinsky’s brawl with Zack Kassan never really got started.
Dubinsky got tagged in the face from a Kassan punch in the final moments with Dubinsky appearing to get hurt in the exchange.
With Tortorella not answering questions, Dubinsky’s status is not known.
Slap shots
Cam Atkinson was back Tuesday after being benched Saturday against Arizona. … Tyler Motte returned to the fourth line after missing the past two games after accidentally being slashed in the left wrist by Boone Jenner.