Defense starts to jell without Murray

The Blue Jackets are adjusting to life without Ryan Murray.

Their best puckmoving defenseman is out “week-to-week" because of an undisclosed upper body injury — he missed his 12th straight game Tuesday in a 7-4 victory over the Boston Bruins — but his teammates are settling into defined roles now.

Zach Werenski and Seth Jones have gotten some of their old magic back, Markus Nutivaara and David Savard are clicking, and the third unit is coming along too — as Scott Harrington and Adam Mcquaid learn each other’s tendencies.

“I think they’re playing much better,” Tortorella said of his defensemen. “We’ve really stressed on just getting the puck up to the forwards, just advance the puck. We don’t have to look for a better play. … I think that’s helped them.”

It has helped ease some of the burden on Jones’ legs too.

Before logging just 22:37 against Boston, Jones had topped 27 minutes in six of 11 games after Murray’s injury Feb. 18 against the Tampa Bay Lightning, including the previous four in a row.

Assistant coach Brad Shaw sets the defensive pairings with help from Tortorella, and their comfort level with the current setup is starting to show, especially in regard to Harrington and Mcquaid, one of four players acquired before last month’s trade deadline.

“I think Quaider has relaxed a little bit and he’s played much better,” Tortorella said after Mcquaid posted three straight plus/ minus ratings of zero after going minus-5 in his first four games. “So, the six (defensemen) have played well, have found their game and hopefully will stay consistent.”

That consistency also paid off with Werenski’s game against the Bruins. He had a career-high four points on three assists and a late powerplay goal that ended a 30-game goal-less streak that stretched to Dec. 31.

“We’re just trying to grow as players together,” Jones said of Werenski. “We’ve switched the pairs around a little bit this year, but we want to be a dominant force.”

One sick night

Boone Jenner got the puck off a Bruins turnover inside the Blue Jackets’ blue line and shot it down the ice, straight into an empty net.

It was the game’s final goal, his third of the game and Jenner’s first NHL hat trick. Even more impressive was the fact he missed a 2-0 loss on Monday at the New York Islanders because of illness.

“The biggest thing was we just didn’t want him giving it to anybody else,” said Tortorella, who was informed Tuesday morning by head athletic trainer Mike Vogt that Jenner’s fever had subsided. “It’s a huge boost for us. Jenns is just a guy that you pull for, and he just doesn’t know how to do it any other way than simply work hard. I really respect how he’s handled himself.”

The Blue Jackets didn’t practice Wednesday, giving the team a day to rest.

Tough on the draw

Since adding face-off winning center Matt Duchene in a trade Feb. 22 with the Ottawa Senators, the Blue Jackets’ success rate has skyrocketed.

Before the trade, they were ranked 20th in the NHL with a 49.4 percent success rate. Since the trade, they have ranked second by winning 54 percent of their draws in 11 games, including 64 percent against the Bruins (38 of 59).