It’s fascinating how the narrative of a game can change over the course of 60 minutes. Thursday’s 5-1 Columbus Blue Jackets win over the Calgary Flames began with “The Jackets are hot and can’t be stopped,” moved to “Hmmm, they’re scoring goals but losing the stats battle,” and ended with “Pierre-Luc Dubois scored a hat trick and should be considered for the Calder Trophy.”
Dubois tallied the first hat trick of his career (setting a new franchise record for goals by a rookie), John Tortorella earned his 128th win for Columbus (setting a new franchise record for wins by a coach) and the Blue Jackets picked up yet another victory, their 14th in their last 17 games.