Early in the second period of Friday's win in Calgary, Blue Jackets defenseman Jan Hejda leaned across two teammates on the bench to deliver a message to his playing partner, Mike Commodore.

"I said, 'Oh, my god, Commie, I forgot how easy this was,' " Hejda said. "That's when it started feeling right to me, finally. That's when it started feeling like last season."

The Blue Jackets, after nearly eight weeks of aimless wandering, are showing signs of a return to the defensively sound, hard-checking club they were born to be. It's just that some of the names have changed since last season.

Last night's 2-0 win over the Dallas Stars before 14,501 in Nationwide Arena marked the Jackets' first three-game winning streak since Nov. 19.

Goaltender Mathieu Garon, making his third consecutive start, had 26 saves for his second shutout of the season and the 16th of his career.

Raffi Torres and Antoine Vermette (empty-netter with 3.8 seconds remaining) scored for the Blue Jackets.

"I don't see any reason we can't play like this for the rest of the season," coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We're grinding it with really good teams now. We're more than keeping pace. We're more than holding our own.

"Rather than look for space, we're fighting for space. And we're creating more scoring chances than ever because of it."

It's been an odd season for the Blue Jackets.

In the first 20 games (roughly), the Jackets scored enough goals to mask poor play in their own end.

In the next 20 (roughly), the puck looked square on their sticks. They couldn't score enough to get rewarded for improved defensive play, and their confidence waned.

Now they appear to be onto something. Last night's game wasn't a classic -- unless 100-foot dump-ins are your thing -- but the Blue Jackets were in control almost from the start.

Garon was a big part of it.

He stopped Dallas' Loui Eriksson (1:43 remaining in the first period) and Mike Modano (2:22 left in the game) on breakaways to protect a 1-0 lead.

With two minutes left in the second period, Garon somehow withstood a 25-second Stars barrage that netted five shots on goal. A sixth was blocked by Rick Nash, as the Jackets scrambled to support one another.

"It seems like every game there's always one situation like that," Garon said. "You have to be patient and not panic, and we did a good job of that tonight.

"Earlier this year, we would have panicked and maybe given up more scoring chances."

The Blue Jackets got the only goal they needed at 8:20 of the first.

On a rush, center Derick Brassard feathered the puck through two Stars players and across the attack zone, where Torres dropped to one knee for more leverage as he glided across the ice.

Torres ripped a one-timer that beat Dallas goaltender Marty Turco inside the near post.

"That's a great pass from Brass," Torres said. "When a guy makes a play like that, you feel a responsibility to score it."

Vermette buried a shot from atop the left faceoff circle with 3.8 seconds left to cap the scoring.

"Those 25 games or so, it was just a roller coaster we couldn't stop," center R.J. Umberger said. "Now we're getting back to our style of hockey."

aportzline@dispatch.com