What We Learned: OTT 5, CBJ 4

OTTAWA, Ont. - It happened again.
After losing a two-goal lead in the third period of a 5-4 shootout loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday, the Blue Jackets lost another two-goal cushion Friday night to the Ottawa Senators, resulting in another 5-4 loss at Canadian Tire Centre.
Thr difference is this time the game ended in regulation, meaning Columbus earned just one of four points in dropping both ends of a two-game road trip coming out of Christmas break.
"We've got to get some skin on ourselves here now," Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. "You go through some of this stuff during a year, and you find out about people. We've been trying to gain traction here for a few weeks now. We found a way to scrap and get some points after we play a lousy game against Boston. We get five out of six [points] and rebound a little bit, but we're certainly not at the level or the standard that we need to play at."
The good news is rookie forward Sonny Milano scored two more goals, giving him three in the past two games. Josh Anderson also scored his team-leading 14th of the season, and defenseman Zach Werenski scored late in the third in his first game back from an upper-body injury.
The bad news is that Werenski's goal was too little, too late after Ottawa turned a bad-bounce goal late in the second by Nick Paul into a four-goal deluge that blew the floodgates open against Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky -- who just missed the puck with his stick on Paul's goal.
Now, the Blue Jackets return home to face the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday in a New Year's Eve game against the best team in the NHL.
"It's easy to be good leaders, and a good player when things are going well," Tortorella said. "We're going to find out about some people here, as we try and get some traction here now."
Here are six things we learned:

I: SONNY SIDE UP
We'll start with something good, which is the way Milano has begun his latest recall from the American Hockey League.
Technically speaking, he and Jordan Schroeder are emergency recalls from the Cleveland Monsters, filling in while four lineup regulars are on injured reserve -- including centers Alex Wennberg, Brandon Dubinsky and forward Cam Atkinson.
Milano's two goals were his seventh and eight this season, after scoring his sixth Wednesday in the Jackets' 5-4 shootout loss -- his first game back. It was his second two-goal game of the season, after also scoring twice Oct. 10 against the Carolina Hurricanes in the third game of the season.
"That's kind of how it's gone in the past for me, too," Milano said of scoring in bunches. "That's just sort of how it works."
Just as he did Wednesday in Pittsburgh, Milano scored his first goal off a juicy bounce from the end boards behind the opposing net.

He swooped in near the left post, and whacked the puck into the back side of the net before an Ottawa defender could clear it. That one opened the scoring in the second period. Later in the second, he scored again after getting a short pass from defenseman Seth Jones, making it 3-1 Blue Jackets.
That goal was a pure snipe, scored with a wrist shot that beat goalie Mike Condon clean from the left face-off circle. On another disappointing night where a two-goal lead slipped away, it was good to see Milano resurface as an offensive threat.
"For someone to come in and give us two goals like that, he played really well and certainly gave us a chance to win," Anderson said. "But a couple tough bounces tonight, and it goes their way."
II: ZACH'S BACK
Four games off, plus Christmas break, was enough for Werenski to return Saturday night.
Werenski, who was out with a nagging upper-body injury, logged 23:48 and scored his 11th goal with 31.8 seconds left in the third period, cutting the Senators' lead to 5-4.
He also stepped right back into his usual spot at left point on the top defense pairing alongside Jones - who'd been shifting with Markus Nutivaara.
"I don't think I played great," Werenski said. "I'm just trying to get back into the game. I haven't done much the last two weeks besides rest, so it was a little bit different. I wish I'd played a little bit better, but it was nice to get a goal there at the end. I felt better in the third period, as the game went on, just finding my hands and rhythm and stuff like that."
Tortorella isn't ready to break up a good thing with Werenski and Jones, who've played together for the vast majority of Werenski's young NHL career.
"I've never had another d-partner ever since I've been in the NHL," Werenski said. "It's always been Seth. It's just what I'm used to. Obviously, he was hurt for a few games last year with a foot injury, and I played with a few different guys, but other than that he's been my main partner since I joined the league. So, I'm comfortable with him."
Nutivaara went back to the second pairing, where he shifted with Jack Johnson. That broke up the Johnson-David Savard pairing again, sending Savard to the third unit to work with Scott Harrington.
Werenski said the time off helped the injury heal enough to play. It's been something that had nagged at him for a number of games.
"Yeah, we were kind of shooting for that Christmas break to take a few games off," he said. "I've been kind of dealing with this for a while, so it just worked out well with how Christmas was coming up, and just to get through a few games and get some more time off with that break there. I feel better now. I'm just excited to get back out there and play."
III: STILL SPECIAL FOR BRASS
Following Ottawa's morning skate at Canadian Tire Center, former Blue Jackets center Derick Brassard spoke with reporters about facing his former team - the first of his NHL career.
"I mean, it's my first team and [they have] really good people who work for the organization, really good fans, and I still have some good friends, probably one of my best friends, plays on that team," Brassard said, referring to Atkinson. "It's a special game. We're just focused on trying to win a game here and playing well, but I wish them well."
Brassard said he's happy for the Blue Jackets organization and fans to see what kind of team they've built the past couple seasons.
"It took a long time, but now you look at them and it's pretty cool to see," he said. "They have a pretty solid team, and pretty good prospects, too, in their system. They're well managed, they're well coached. I think they built a pretty strong organization, and I think they're going to be one of the top teams in the East for a while."
Brassard was also asked about rumors being floated currently that he might be the Blue Jackets' target in a trade.
"I don't want to talk about that right now," Brassard said. "I don't know when the trade deadline is, but I'm just trying to focus on playing here, playing well for this team. I take a lot of pride in my game, trying to help the team, so it's just stuff I can't really control."
IV: BAD BREAK
Everything was going fine until late in the second, when Paul sent a harmless-looking shot toward the Columbus net from the left wing.
Bobrovsky, who'd been sharp all game, tried to play it with his goal stick near the left post. The puck went under his stick, through his legs and into the net behind him at 14:14, cutting the Columbus lead to 3-2. That set the stage for Matt Duchene to tie it with a breakaway goal at 18:52.
"We were in a good spot there in the second period, up two goals, and some uncharacteristic things happened that we're definitely not happy about," said defenseman Jack Johnson, who was unable to handle a pass in the neutral zone prior to Duchene's goal to spring the breakaway. "The good news is we get to play again in a couple days."
The Senators scored two more goals in the third to give them four unanswered tallies after the Jackets went up 3-1 on Milano's second of the game.
"There's more than just one bad goal that happens when you give up five," Tortorella said. "If we can't get our game back and get some sort of push at that point in time, because of that goal, then there's major problems. Any goal, whether good or bad, gives a team a lift. But that's how you play in the National Hockey League is handle momentum, and get momentum back on your side when you lose it. And we didn't."
V: STILL STREAKING
Werenski's return means there will likely be less opportunity for Jones to accrue points, simply because his defense partner creates a lot of scoring chances on his own.
Regardless, Jones pushed his point streak to six games with his assist on Milano's second goal. That's the longest of Jones' NHL career. He made a great play to get the play started, too, stealing the puck in the neutral zone off a lost face-off, skating it into the Ottawa zone and finding Milano for the shot.

"I try to play the same way," Jones said of Werenski returning. "[People] might think I was being more offensive, because I had more points when he was out, but really it's just the way the game goes. Sometimes you get points, sometimes you don't."
VI: FEELING BETTER
It's taken some time, but veteran forward Matt Calvert said he's starting to feel like he did prior to an upper-body injury that sidelined him for almost all of November.
Calvert, who's been playing right wing on the third line, said his speed and strength are rapidly coming back now, after playing his 13thgame since returning from the injury.
"I think when you come off something like that, it's a contact sport and whether you're ready or not, you don't have your strength and you try to find yourself and try not to lose yourself too - because you can't do the things you could before," he said. "Christmas break was good for me. You just keep strengthening. We don't have too busy of a January, so I'm just going to be trying to get better and stronger every day."