Jones held out of third period as ‘precaution’
The Blue Jackets are extremely deep on defense. Good thing. On Monday night, Markus Nutivaara returned from injury after missing close to a month; Seth Jones — he of two goals in each of the past two games — didn’t return for the third period against the visiting Montreal Canadiens.
Jones played the final shift of the second period but did not come back for the final 20 minutes with what the team is calling an upper-body injury.
Coach John Tortorella said he pulled Jones as a “precautionary” measure after he aggravated a previous injury. Tortorella said Jones wanted to play the third but decided it was best to keep him out.
“We wanted to keep him out for the third period; we’ll see what the report is tomorrow,” Tortorella said. “I want Jones on the ice as much as possible, but we felt at this point in time, it was precautionary to make sure we didn’t get anything else aggravated.”
Jones started a run of five goals in three games by netting the game-winner in overtime Thursday against Colorado. Jones took a cheap shot in the side by Carl Soderberg as he went to celebrate that goal and has been wearing protection on that side since.
Jones scored twice Friday in a 3-2 win over Detroit.
On Sunday, he missed practice for a “maintenance day.”
On Monday, he scored two power-play goals in the opening period to give the Jackets a 3-1 lead in an eventual 5-2 win over the Canadiens.
“He’s definitely a key guy,” goalie Sergei Bobrovsky said of Jones’ importance to the team. “He is terrific offensively and defensively and has unbelievable skating ability.”
Said Nick Foligno: “He speaks for himself. What he does on the ice, not many guys in this league can.”
Nutivaara was back in the lineup as Tortorella scratched Ryan Murray, saying before the game that he was “nicked up.”
With Nutivaara activated off injured reserve, the Jackets have nine defensemen on their active roster. Scott Harrington hasn’t played since Feb. 24; Taylor Chorney has yet to make his Jackets debut after being claimed off waivers Feb. 21.
Nutivaara missed almost a month with an undisclosed upperbody injury; he was activated on Sunday after practice, with Tortorella saying he wasn’t changing his defensive pairings.
“I’m always ready, and I’ve been having a couple good practices,” Nutivaara said before he was put back with Jack Johnson and faced the Canadiens. “I feel fresh out there, my legs are working, and I feel fine on the ice.”
Nutivaara wasn’t the only player to come back Monday: Lukas Sedlak returned and played on the fourth line. Sedlak filled in for a sick Matt Calvert.