Line combos work well in win
The Blue Jackets have a legitimate top line in Artemi Panarin, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Josh Anderson so long as coach John Tortorella doesn’t break them up — and he said, again on Sunday, he will not.
After that, the Columbus line designations are a little blurry.
In an effort to dig up some offense, Tortorella has his line blender going lately as he mixes and matches things in trying to get something going.
On Sunday, the Jackets opened with their top forward line going against Florida’s best in Sasha Barkov, Evgenii Dadonov and Jonathan Huberdeau.
“Everybody got involved, and I liked the mindset that everyone was thinking about shots,” Tortorella said after the 3-2 shootout win Sunday. “I liked the balance of the lines. I felt more comfortable in using those lines there.”
Boone Jenner is getting some work at center, a consequence of the Jackets having Brandon Dubinsky and Alexander Wennberg out for the next few weeks.
Instead of wondering whether Jenner could play center at this level, the Jackets are seeing him actually do it.
When Columbus gets healthy again, moves like that could pay off.
“Guys have to accept the responsibility with the injuries we have,” Tortorella said. “The organization is watching closely not only for right now, but for the future. You have to. Boone Jenner at center; we’re always talking about that position. Can he be a center? We don’t know, but he’s getting the opportunity now.”
Shootout chance
Anderson got the call to come to the plate in the eighth round of the shootout Sunday and beat James Reimer on his first NHL attempt. Sergei Bobrovsky made the next save and the Jackets got another shootout win.
“Josh will be in our top three now,” Tortorella said afterward.
Nick Foligno, who has yet to score a shootout goal in 11 career attempts, would have been next had it gone to Round 9.
“I was pumped to get that goose egg off my record,” Foligno said.
Bob’s good
Bobrovsky hit the ice early in the third when he was struck in the neck by the stick of teammate David Savard as the defenseman was battling a Florida forward down low.
After being attended to by medical staff for a few minutes, Bobrovsky took his place back in the net.
“I was all right, so I took my time a little bit to make sure I was good,” he said. “He put his stick underneath my helmet. ... It was a little scary.”
Roster moves
Columbus recalled Zac Dalpe, Dean Kukan and goalie Joonas Korpisalo after all three played for the AHL Cleveland Monsters on Saturday night.