Three things that stood out in last night's Blue Jackets win over the Flyers

The Blue Jackets found magic again on Wednesday night, winning 5-3 over their Metropolitan Division rival Philadelphia Flyers.

This was the third win in a row for the Jackets, who leap-frogged over four teams in the standings last night. They now sit tied for 10th in the Eastern Conference, with a 25-20-7 record (57 points).

They are still 8 points out of the final wild card spot in the East, but just 6 points behind the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins; who are tied for second and third in the Metro.

If they can keep finding ways to win games, they are going to have a chance to make a playoff push this season. The key is, taking it one game at a time. So, let's look at three things that stood out in last night's win.

1. The Blue Jackets suffocated the Flyers' offense for 40 minutes.

Early in this game, the Flyers could not generate much (anything) offensively. They didn't even get their first shot on goal until a Matvei Michkov breakaway chance 8:30 into the first period. By that time, it was already 1-0 Blue Jackets thanks to Charlie Coyle, who scored in his 1000th game celebration:

The Flyers did solve Elvis Merzlikins once in the period, with Travis Konecny firing a shot in to tie the game at 9:03. But, it was a little bit of a fluky goal if you look at the tape. Sean Monahan loses his edge and falls, leaving Konecny with a free lane high in the slot. Sometimes, you get a bad break.

Aside from that play, the Flyers were not generating much in this game. A big part of that was the play of the Blue Jackets. They seem to understand what Rick Bowness is asking of them in the defensive zone.

And, as we should expect an NHL team to do, everyone is buying in. Guys are accepting their assignments and sticking with them. They are blocking shots. They are boxing out in front of the net. As a result, through 2 periods last night, they only allowed 13 shots on goal. That's a winning formula on most nights.

2. The third period panic snuck back in.

Through all of the good this team did through 40 minutes, it was almost for nothing. The Jackets looked to be in great shape early in the third period, with Adam Fantilli nearly blowing this game open before being robbed by Dan Vladar.

I'm still skeptical that he stopped this puck before it was fully in, but, as Blue Jackets fans, we expect to not win these calls. How does the puck tracking technology not have a way to tell? Either way, it was a terrific effort from their goaltender and I do applaud that.

The Jackets generated some more chances, but eventually fell back into doing the things that have cost them so many third period leads this season. They stopped pressuring the puck as much, and paid the price. Twice.

Konecny scored his second of the night 4:08 into the period to make it a one goal game. Then, he tripled down and tied it at 15:14.

Both of those goals were a direct result of poor defensive zone efforts by the Blue Jackets. On the first one, there are three guys watching the puck and guarding nobody, which leaves Konecny a free lane right down the middle.

On the second goal, Cole Sillinger gets caught watching the puck while Konecny drives to the net, hoping the puck finds its way there. Unfortunately, it did.

I would love to blame the goaltending, but there aren't many goaltenders in the world who are stopping all three of these shots. Elvis played a pretty good game. The fact is, this team needs to be even more consistent in their defensive zone if they want to keep winning.

3. The offensive swagger is coming back.

Something that really stood out to me about this team for the first three months of the season, is that they didn't have the same confidence with the puck that they did last season.

Fingers crossed, this seems to be changing under the direction of Bowness. In their last two games, the Jackets have scored 13 goals (2 into the empty net). The different approach seems to be helping them regain that lost confidence.

To be clear: this isn't a knock on Dean Evason. I'm not blaming the coach for guys trying to do too much with the puck.

But, one of the first things Bowness told this group is to quit overthinking it and just shoot the damn thing. That message, combined with their improved defensive scheme, has this team scoring more goals.

And, as a result, they are winning games in a variety of ways. In their current win streak, they have a 1-0 win, then 8-5 and 5-3 wins.

By playing better defense, they are getting the puck more. When they have the puck, there is less panic. There are fewer dump-ins because they haven't spent their shift defending.

Last night's game winner is a prime example. They gave up the tying goal, but instead of sulking, they went right back to work. Then, they just relied on a couple of crafty veterans to make a patient, crafty play.

Now that they are getting healthy, it's all coming together on both sides of the puck. The key is being consistent with it, each and every shift; and not having those late mental lapses.

Hopefully, they can keep forging ahead and playing a better all-around brand of hockey. This is a much different team than it was two weeks ago.