Saad, Bjorkstrand blur the lines

Once Oliver Bjorkstrand showed he was ready to be a differencemaker at the NHL level, Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella started tinkering with his lines in a way that must be maddening for opponents.

On Friday, when the Blue Jackets played the Buffalo Sabres at Nationwide Arena, Brandon Saad was on the left side of the No. 1 line. Bjorkstrand manned the right wing on what appeared to be a third line.

But during the game, Bjorkstrand took a sprinkling of shifts with the No. 1 line, while Saad spelled him lower in the lineup. The same could happen again tonight when the teams play at Buffalo.

“You can do a lot of different things, especially with Saader, who can play both sides,” Tortorella said. “It’s not a top six (now), it’s more the top nine.”

Saad has the speed to stretch the ice. Bjorkstrand is more of a slasher and a sharpshooter.

During the recent home-and-home slogfest against New Jersey, the third line clicked when Bjorkstrand played with center Sam Gagner and left wing Scott Hartnell, totaling three goals, five assists and a plus-8 rating.

Asked why that line has worked, Tortorella looked bemused.

“I don’t know,” he said. “If a coach tells you he knows why it works when he puts players together, he’s lying.”

Only one better

Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky saw his shutout streak end at 182 minutes, 50 seconds when the Sabres’ fourth-line center Evan Rodrigues scored on Buffalo’s fourth shot of the game.

It’s the second-longest streak in the NHL this season, trailing only Minnesota’s Devan Dubnyk, who had a steak of 183:16 from Oct. 22 to Nov. 1.

The Blue Jackets franchise record — held by Steve Mason, who had a streak of 199:28 during the 2008-09 season — remains intact.