from Tom Reed of the Columbus Dispatch,

A month ago, Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said he planned to keep Sergei Bobrovsky’s number of starts to a manageable 58 to 60 this season.

Asked Monday if a goaltender who’s started all but two of 19 games could stay in the target range, Tortorella responded: “It’s doable.” Informed it would mean limiting his puck-stopping workhorse to roughly two of every three remaining games, the coach declared war on arithmetic.

“I don’t do the math . . . I’m not a numbers guy,” he said.

The good news for Tortorella and the Blue Jackets (11-5-4) is the goaltending “numbers” have been strong. The club ranks sixth in goals against average (2.27) and Bobrovsky’s statistics (2.15 GAA, .929 save percentage) are in line with his Vezina Trophy-winning season in 2013-14.

He’s also on pace to play about 72 games, which seems like an unsustainable pace for a goalie with a history of groin injuries and one who has never started more than 57 games.

“Bob is our No. 1 goalie and we’re going to monitor the situation very close . . . to make sure we don’t overload him or overwork him,” general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said. “But he’s going to play most of our games no matter who our backup is.”

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