COLUMBUS, Ohio — The entire hockey world is looking forward to the Olympics, especially after a 12-year hiatus by the NHL. Every player in the league can use an in-season three-week break with all of the bumps and bruises from a compacted schedule.

But a small part of the Columbus Blue Jackets, the hottest club in the NHL right now, has to be thinking … now? This is when we stop playing?

The Blue Jackets hit the break with a 4-0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks before a beyond-capacity crowd of 18,575 at Nationwide Arena, their seventh consecutive win and 11th win in 12 games dating to Jan. 11.

The flurry of wins has pushed them into the middle of the Eastern Conference playoff race, a remarkable about-face from where the season was headed before they hired Rick Bowness as coach.

“You can’t predict that, but I definitely felt like we had the team in here to do it,” Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski said. “We had a lot of home games, and we’re usually a good team at home, but we beat some good teams. We went on the road and took care of business.

“I feel like when we play the way we’ve been playing with the guys we have in this room, it definitely doesn’t surprise me.”

The Blue Jackets have had longer winning streaks — their 16 straight wins during the 2016-17 season is tied for second-longest in NHL history — but they’d never won seven consecutive games in regulation before this streak that was extended on Wednesday.

Goaltender Jet Greaves made 21 saves for his second shutout of the season, just 24 hours after Elvis Merlikins had a 24-save shutout in a 3-0 road win against the New Jersey Devils.

The last time the Blue Jackets had back-to-back shutouts by two different starters was during the 2010-11 season, when Mathieu Garon (at the San Jose Sharks) and Steve Mason (at home against the Nashville Predators) went back-to-back.

When Bowness first walked into Nationwide Arena on Jan. 12, he was stressing better defensive play, penalty killing, etc. The Blue Jackets have responded, and the goaltenders have benefited dramatically.

That’s three shutouts and only 13 goals allowed during the seven consecutive wins.

“Bones really harps on the details (of defending), and the guys have done a good job responding to that and answering the challenge he’s brought to us,” Greaves said. “It’s shown in the performance and the result.

“There are still a lot of areas we can all still get better at, and we’re still learning and trying to work on every day. We still have a lot of work ahead of us for us to grow.”

Werenski, Ivan Provorov, Danton Heinen and Sean Monahan scored goals for the Blue Jackets, who led 3-0 early in the second period and seemed in full control from the start.

“We’re realizing the right way to play,” Bowness. “We’re starting to understand when we can and cannot make plays, so we’re not turning the puck over as much. The structure has been good, but you can give the players a ton of credit, man.

“They’ve been working their butts off. They have. It’s all on them. They just bought it, and I couldn’t be more proud of the guys.”

Werenski’s goal, coming 4:46 into the game, was his 20th of the season. He’s only the 23rd defenseman in NHL history — and the fourth among active players — to have three 20-goal seasons.

A change of plans has Werenski leaving Thursday morning for Milan, where he’ll represent Team USA in the Olympics for the first time. Merlikins will represent Latvia, which happens to play the United States on the first day of the tournament.

Werenski has been pinching himself about this opportunity, repeatedly calling it “the opportunity of a lifetime.” He’d have a blast in Italy no matter what, he said, but the fact that the Blue Jackets have righted their ship will make it easier.

“Just knowing where we’re at, knowing what we’ve accomplished, knowing what we’re building … we know we’re in a great spot right now and guys should enjoy their break,” Werenski said. “(Elvis and I) can go and enjoy Milan and know we’re in a great spot when we get back here.

“That was our goal when we were slipping a little bit earlier this season, to get back in it by the Olympic break. We’re right there, and we feel really confident right now.”

The win pulled the Blue Jackets to within two points of the New York Islanders for third place in the Metropolitan Division, and to within four points of the Boston Bruins for the second wild-card spot in the East.

On the wax board in the Blue Jackets’ dressing room postgame were written the first two games that await the Blue Jackets when the games resume. The Jackets play on the road against the Boston Bruins on Feb. 26 and at home against the Islanders on Feb. 28. They resume practice on Feb. 18.

“We’re going to have some hard practices, and we’ll get them ready, because we’re coming out of the gate with Boston and Islanders, two teams, I believe, we can catch,” Bowness said. “But there’s a lot of hard work ahead of us when we come back.”

When Bowness first arrived, he tried to puff up the Blue Jackets’ confidence and get them believing that a second-half charge was possible. They’ve been on burner ever since, and now he’s trying to keep them humble amid the 11-1-0 run.

“The reality is, we just got 22 points out of 24, and we still don’t have a playoff spot,” Bowness said. “So we have to keep pushing. We have to keep getting better.”