Columbus Blue Jackets News Clips February 3, 2017 Columbus Blue Jackets PAGE 02: Columbus Dispatch: Seth Jones chose not to try for hat trick PAGE 04: Columbus Dispatch: Coaches' rivalry is friendly - for now PAGE 06: Tribune-Review: Blue Jackets have a history of sparking Penguins PAGE 08: Greenwich Sentinel: Greenwich Native, Columbus’ Atkinson Having Breakout Season PAGE 11: The Hockey Writers: Blue Jackets-Penguins by the Numbers Cleveland Monsters/Prospects NHL/Websites PAGE 13: Sportsnet.CA: NHL, NHLPA, IIHF and IOC to meet in New York Friday about Olympics PAGE 15: TSN.CA: Post 2 Post: The Five Hole 1 http://www.dispatch.com/sports/20170203/blue-jackets-notebook--seth-jones-chose-not-to-try-for- hat-trick Seth Jones chose not to try for hat trick By Aaron Portzline – February 3, 2017 Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones had the first two-goal game of his career Tuesday in a 6-4 win at the New York Rangers. The 22-year-old also had the puck on his stick twice in the final minute with at least a decent chance to pot a hat trick. "Yeah, well, you saw how the third period went," Jones said, referring to the Rangers' four-goal rally that turned a blowout into an eyebrow-raiser. Jones was glad he took a conservative approach, even though the look he had at the empty net on the far end of the rink with 45 seconds remaining was enticing. "I had the one chance where I could have gone for it, but I wasn't at the red line yet," Jones said. "If I go for it there and ice the puck, and they come down for a faceoff and score. ...; I'm sure the (coaching) staff's not going to be too happy." The two goals give Jones a career-high nine this season. With 26 points, he's five short of matching last season's career-high of 31. A rare vantage point Tonight will mark the 29th meeting between the Blue Jackets and Pittsburgh Penguins, but it's only the second time they have met with the Jackets ahead of the Penguins in the standings. On Dec. 13, 2003, the Penguins were 6-16-4-2 (18 points) when they played the Blue Jackets (8-14-4-2, 22 points) at the old Civic Arena. When the clubs met earlier this season - Dec. 22 at Nationwide Arena - the Jackets trailed the Penguins by one point in the standings before winning 7-1. Malkin, Sheary out The Penguins will be without two top-six forwards. Center Evgeni Malkin will miss his third straight game because of a knee injury, and left wing Conor Sheary is out four to six weeks because of an upper-body injury. Sheary is having a breakout season, ranking third on the club in goals (17) and tied for fourth in points (35) while playing on Sidney Crosby's line. Veteran Matt Cullen, who is returning from a broken foot, is expected to replace Sheary. Nutivaara travels 2 Defenseman Markus Nutivaara skated a full practice and traveled with the Blue Jackets to Pittsburgh on Thursday, but it wasn't known if he will be in uniform. He has been out since Jan. 14 because of a lower-body injury. "It's so hard for me to watch," Nutivaara said. "I want to be out there so bad. When we lose, I just get angry watching it on TV. I'm getting better. I'm getting close. But you can't rush it.” 3 http://www.dispatch.com/sports/20170203/blue-jackets--coaches-rivalry-is-friendly----for-now Coaches' rivalry is friendly - for now By Aaron Portzline - February 3, 2017 Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella and Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan spoke a few days after a 7-1 win by Columbus on Dec. 22. The conversation between two of the NHL's most passionate coaches went about like you would expect. "We're two competitive (expletives)," Tortorella said, "and I'll leave it at that." Tortorella and Sullivan are close friends, after Sullivan spent seven seasons as Tortorella's assistant in Tampa Bay (two), New York (four) and Vancouver (one). But that relationship will be tested if this budding rivalry between the Blue Jackets and the Penguins ever blooms. Here's the backstory on the conversation: On Dec. 21, 2015, Sullivan rolled out the Penguins' No. 1 power play unit with a 5-2 lead and only 58 seconds remaining in the game. Pittsburgh didn't score, but the attempt to run up the score by Sullivan sparked an ember in Tortorella that burned all summer. On Dec. 22 of this season - one year and one day later - Tortorella rolled out the league's No. 1 ranked power play early in the third period with the Blue Jackets up 6-1 in Nationwide Arena. It was the Blue Jackets' second unit that scored three seconds after the power play expired, leaving Sullivan to shake his head and grin, as if to say, "You got me." As for the conversation ...; "(The power plays) came up," Tortorella said, smiling. "But he was the (jerk) first, let's get that straight. He went first, and I told him that. I said, 'You were (a jerk).' He told me I was (a jerk). We were like two little kids, but we both agreed that we are both (jerks)." The two clubs meet tonight in Pittsburgh for the second of four regular-season games. If the season ended today, they would meet in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs for the second time in four seasons. The Penguins won a spirited six-game series in 2014. "Columbus is a divisional rival, they're one of the top teams in the league this year," Sullivan told the Pittsburgh media on Thursday. "They're a team that we will battle with for the rest of the season down the stretch." Before the meeting on Dec. 22, Tortorella dismissed the game as just another on the schedule. "Game 31," he said repeatedly. But he acknowledged on Thursday that tonight's game is not just Game 50. "I don't want to put too much emphasis on it, but, sure, I think it's more important," Tortorella said. "It's Pittsburgh. The two games coming out of the (All-Star) break are good for us as far as emotion. New 4 York (on Tuesday) is in our division, and it's the Rangers. Now Pittsburgh is in our division, and it's the Penguins." The Blue Jackets scored seven unanswered goals in the previous meeting, the most goals they have ever scored against the Penguins. The six-goal margin was the most lopsided win by either franchise in the all-time series. Blue Jackets right wing Cam Atkinson said the Penguins will be looking for payback. "If I was the coach, I'd try to put into their ears that we embarrassed them, or whatever," Atkinson said. "But it was a long time ago.” 5 http://triblive.com/sports/penguins/11878382-74/penguins-game-season Blue Jackets have a history of sparking Penguins By Jonathan Bombulie – February 3, 2017 By the time the Penguins raised the Stanley Cup in San Jose last June, the Columbus Blue Jackets had been on the links long enough to shave a few strokes off their handicaps. It's not exactly accurate to say the Penguins' road to a championship ran through Ohio's capital city. But as the Interstate-70 rivals prepare to square off in a key Metropolitan Division showdown Friday night at PPG Paints Arena, it's important to remember that two key mileposts during the Penguins' historic season indeed came out of games against the Blue Jackets. Dec. 21, 2015. In the previous meeting between the teams about three weeks earlier in Columbus, Brandon Dubinsky was suspended for a game for a vicious series of cross-checks to Sidney Crosby's back, neck and head. In general, the Blue Jackets pushed the Penguins around. When the rematch came just before Christmas, in the first minute of the second period, Eric Fehr earned his first NHL fighting major when he challenged Dubinsky to a showdown. Down 1-0 at the time of the fight, the Penguins scored four unanswered goals and won 5-2. Before the game, they were 15-14-3, on the outside of the playoff picture looking in. After the game, they went 33-12-5 the rest of the way to become the league's hottest team going into the playoffs. One fight didn't turn the Penguins into contenders, but it did show they wouldn't be taken advantage of. “I think it's important for us to play physical and not back down,” Fehr said. “Obviously our team isn't as big as other teams around the league, but we can have a pack mentality. We can stick together and help each other out. We can play physical and play hard and battle on pucks and all that stuff.” March 3, 2016. In a late-game collision with massive defenseman Dalton Prout, Evgeni Malkin suffered an elbow injury that kept him out the rest of the regular season and the first game of the playoffs. With that, the HBK line was born. In the roster shuffling that followed Malkin's injury, coach Mike Sullivan put Carl Hagelin, Nick Bonino and Phil Kessel together for the first time. Three games later, the trio connected for two goals in a 4-2 victory over Carolina, and Hagelin knew something special was brewing.