Practice Notes: Jackets move quickly to flush Oilers loss

The Blue Jackets didn't sulk much over their 7-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers.
Instead, less than 24 hours later, they got back to work with a spirited practice Wednesday at Nationwide Arena, looking to move forward as quickly as possible to the next game Thursday against the New York Islanders (7 p.m., Fox Sports Ohio, Fox Sports Go, BlueJackets.com).
"You have to be really careful of over-analyzing here," coach John Tortorella said. "We have 19 wins, and we have found ways to win games. We're not going to overthink it. We're going to try to get better [Thursday] night by trying to do the things we do."

Following the loss to the Oilers, Tortorella politely declined to take questions. After watching the game on video, he told reporters Wednesday that it was simply a game to toss in the circular file.
The Blue Jackets (19-11-1) only trailed, 1-0, after the first period. Things quickly spun out of control from there, including three Edmonton goals in the final 3:18 of the second.
Columbus allowed a goal by defenseman Matt Benning that made it 3-0, after Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones made a nice play to knock the puck off Connor McDavid's stick. The Jackets then allowed their second power-play goal of the game -- which is unheard of this season at home -- and then went down 5-0 on a shorthanded goal by former Columbus center Mark Letestu, who scored with just 0.3 seconds left.
"These are proud athletes," Tortorella said. "If we need that [loss] to rally us, so be it. I think this team has really been consistent in trying to play the right way. [Tuesday] night was just a game that, like, I look up at the clock when [Letestu's] breakaway's going, when [Zach Werenski] turns it over. I said, 'Well, he has time.' I looked at the clock, and you know what's going to happen. You know he's going to score right before that clock is dead. That's just the way a lot of things went."
The good news is that didn't knock the Blue Jackets out of the top spot in the Metropolitan Division, which was separated -- top to bottom -- by just eight points entering Wednesday's action.
The bad news is that Tuesday's game also included a key injury, when veteran center Brandon Dubinsky was hurt during a fight with just 1:35 left in the game. Edmonton's Zack Kassian, who instigated the scrap off a face-off, hit Dubinsky flush in the face at the outset of the fight.
The blow fractured Dubinsky's left orbital bone, which will keep him out an estimated 6-to-8 weeks. Dubinsky met with a doctor Wednesday, while the Jackets held practice without him and two defensemen - Ryan Murray and Werenski.
Murray is on injured reserve with an upper-body injury that's kept him out seven games, and Werenski's absence is believed to have been his second maintenance day in a week's time.
Looking ahead, the task doesn't get any easier for Columbus, which must now go up against the Islanders' dynamic star center John Tavares.
The Jackets recalled forward Jordan Schroeder from the Cleveland Monsters on Wednedsday, and he stepped back into the role of fourth-line center at practice, but this will be the first time Columbus doesn't have Dubinsky this season, their leader in face-off wins.
"I look at it as a great opportunity for this team, a young club, to learn how to play in a world of adversity and answer the bell the right way," captain Nick Foligno said. "You can always do more, but now maybe it gives guys more of an opportunity to get on the ice to do that."
News & Notes
-- Without Dubinsky, somebody needs to take those key draws and fill the large void down the middle. Alex Wennberg, who's off to a slow start and has missed time with an upper-body injury, sees himself as the next man up.
"I should not wait for a moment like this to step up," said Wennberg, who has 11 points (two goals, nine assists) in 25 games. "I should've done it earlier. Right now, you talk about it and talk about it, but you've just got to start playing well out there. It's been kind of obvious I haven't played the way I want to, but enough talking. It's time for action."
Lukas Sedlak, normally the fourth-line center, could also play more minutes. During practice, he centered a line that had Foligno and Oliver Bjorkstrand on the wings.
-- For the second time this week, Tortorella shouldered a measure of responsibility for the continuation of offensive slumps that a group of Blue Jackets players can't seem to shake. Their struggles lagged into the game against the Oilers, when the top line of Artemi Panarin, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Josh Anderson were the only effective line again.
"I'm frustrated with myself, because I haven't been able to find an answer," Tortorella said. "I think that falls on me a little bit, too, not just the players, in trying to find an avenue or something that will click in, to help them … a lot of my frustration is with myself, that I haven't been able to help them find a way, to kick start 'em."
-- Foligno got into a fight in the third period Tuesday prior to Dubinsky, and he got the better of Oilers forward Jujhar Khaira. It fired up the Blue Jackets, who came to life and scored back-to-back goals.
In the penalty box, Khaira said something to Foligno, who shared the sentiments Wednesday.
"He just made a comment that I caught him with a good one," Foligno said. "I said, 'I know.'"
Foligno and Dubinsky are two of the most likely Blue Jackets to fight, but both play key roles too. Losing either creates a big void, but Foligno said he wouldn't factor his personal health into a decision whether to fight or not.
"I think that's something we bring that allows our team to play a little bigger," he said. "It falls on us. Before, you [had] those tough guys who could take care of it. Now, there's no more of those guys in the league, so it falls on [our] shoulders. As older guys, and guys that need to pave the way for these young guys to play a little bit bigger, if that's what it takes for us to help them out, then we'll do it."