Jenner improves with ‘grunt’ role

Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella noted in December that Boone Jenner hadn’t yet “found his niche” with the team this season.

Jenner appears to have finally carved out a role for himself — as the “grunt” guy on the Jackets’ third line.

“As the line becomes more comfortable — it has been a pretty consistent line the past two or three games — Jens fits in there because you have two real good playmakers who are beginning to find a little bit of chemistry,” Tortorella said. “And Jens does a lot of the grunt work.”

Said Jenner, “The last few games I’ve been finding my game a lot more, and getting involved more in every aspect. I’m feeling better.”

Jenner’s offensive production has risen recently; he has four points the past four games. But his play without the puck has also been an asset on a line with center Alexander Wennberg and right wing Thomas Vanek. Tortorella said that might lead to more penalty-killing time for Jenner.

“I’ve liked his game,” Tortorella said.

Super six

The addition of Ian Cole has “rejuvenated” defensive partner David Savard, Tortorella said, and allowed the Jackets to spread ice time among their six blue-liners.

“It deserves to be flattened out a little bit,” he said.

Jones played the most (21:06) among defensemen Friday against the Red Wings, followed by Jack Johnson (20:55), Ryan Murray (20:26), Savard (20:04), Ian Cole (18:03) and Zach Werenski (15:36). It was Werenski’s season low for ice time. His previous low (16:08) came two games before against Vegas.

Cole will start to get more time on penalty kills, Tortorella said, because his decisiveness is an asset in shorthanded situations.

Nutivaara activated

Defenseman Markus Nutivaara was activated from injured reserve after missing 11 games with an upper-body injury.

Nutivaara and fellow defenseman Dean Kukan, also recovering from an upper-body injury, went through their first full practice Sunday since getting hurt. Nutivaara last played on Feb. 16 against Philadelphia, and Kukan was injured on Feb. 18 against Pittsburgh. Kukan remains on injured reserve.

Tortorella said that the six defensemen for Monday’s game against Montreal will remain the same.

Scoreboard watch

Werenski said he has checked the scores of games that impact the Jackets’ playoff chances on a daily basis, and spent the team’s day off Saturday “keeping tabs.” Like Werenski, Letestu said he looks after Jackets games to see which teams won. Tortorella said Jackets players “better not be” doing that during their own games.

“They’ve got enough things to worry about than checking scoreboards,” Tortorella said. “The biggest plus for us is we can control our own destiny, so there’s no sense of looking at the scoreboard at this particular time. I know they will after games. I know they talk about it. But if we take care of our business, we’ll be OK.”