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Nash guides Blue Jackets to rare victory

Feb 22, 2008 - 5:47 AM OTTAWA (Ticker) -- Scoring goals still is a problem for the Columbus Blue Jackets. But thanks to Rick Nash, a few was enough to top the Ottawa Senators.

Nash scored his 32nd goal in regulation before netting the decisive tally in the shootout as the Blue Jackets skated to a surprising 3-2 victory over the Senators on Thursday.

Sergei Fedorov also scored and Pascal Leclaire made 27 saves for Columbus, which won for just the third time in its last 12 games (3-6-3).

"I thought (Leclaire) had a big game for us again tonight and I thought we did a very good job of limiting their big line to only a handful of chances," Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock said. "Getting a win against a team like Ottawa is a boost for us."

"This is a tough building to win in, so this is a huge two points for us," Nash said. "We're desperate for points right now, and that makes it even bigger. They're not in our division or conference, so we don't care if they get a point, but we certainly need every point we can get at this stage of the season."

Cory Stillman and defenseman Andrej Meszaros tallied and Antoine Vermette recorded two assists for the Senators, who fell to 1-2-2 in their last five.

"Things are moving in the right direction for us and I thought we played a good game tonight," Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson said. "But they raised their level, fought hard for the win the same way we did, and you have to give them credit for that."

"You're never happy unless you get the two points, but I felt that we played a strong game and generated enough chances to win," Senators right wing Dany Heatley added. "We'd like to score more, but some nights the game doesn't go that way, and tonight was an example of that."

Entering having scored more than two goals just once in their previous seven games, the Blue Jackets fell behind early in this one. After his initial shot from the slot was stopped by Leclaire, Stillman buried his own rebound 35 seconds into the contest for his first goal as a Senator and a 1-0 lead.

Nash knotted the game at 4:07 of the second, beating goaltender Ray Emery high to the stick side with a wrist shot.

"Sometimes when a teams scores so early the way they did tonight, it can take some steam out of your bench," Nash said. "But we stuck with it, and as the first period went on, we knew we could battle back. I think that says a lot about the character of our hockey team."

But Ottawa regained the advantage during a power play later in the period. With 8:32 remaining, Vermette kept the puck in the offensive zone with a nice spinning move and fed Meszaros, whose wrister from the blue line glanced off Leclaire and into the net for a 2-1 edge.

The Senators could not maintain the lead, however, as Fedorov unleashed a rising slap shot that sailed over Emery's right shoulder at 5:28 of the third, forging a 2-2 tie.

"I think we played hard and it was a good effort on our part to stay in it after they scored so early," Fedorov said. "We talked about playing a tight-checking game, and I think we did that once we settled down."

"It's disappointing not to win that one when we were leading in the third period," Senators center Mike Fisher said. "For the most part, we've been pretty good in the third this year, but tonight was one of those games and we couldn't hold them."

After a scoreless overtime, Leclaire denied Alfredsson's wrist shot in the first round of the shootout.

Nash gave Columbus the advantage with snap shot that beat Emery and, after Vermette's backhander was turned aside, Nikolai Zherdev sealed the win with a snapper that got past Emery.

"I've got a couple different moves I try, and tonight I kind of took a look at the last second and saw he was giving me a little something to shoot at," Nash said. "Obviously, it's great to score in the shootout like that, with the extra point on the line."

"It's good to get the goal in the shootout and to help the team get the win," Zherdev added.

Despite their failure to protect a third-period lead, Ottawa earned a point, putting it one ahead of Montreal, Pittsburgh and New Jersey in the race for first place in the Eastern Conference.

"We know where we are in the standings and where other teams are, so we know we have to play hard every game and earn as many points as we can down the stretch," Ottawa's Chris Kelly said. "We got a point tonight, so we'll take it and get ready for Pittsburgh on Saturday."

"Getting one point out of it is a bit frustrating, but obviously, we'll take it," Alfredsson added. "We're in a tight race now and there are teams right behind us in the standings, so every point from here on is going to be huge."