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Mason, Blue Jackets stay red hot against Hurricanes

Feb 15, 2009 - 4:35 AM RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Steve Mason apparently is over his illness.

Mason delivered another solid effort in net Saturday as the Columbus Blue Jackets posted yet another win, a 5-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.

Mason made a successful return from mononucleosis on Friday, making 32 saves in a 3-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings. The rookie netminder stopped 26 shots in this one against the Hurricanes to record his 21st victory of the season.

"We've put together a pretty good stretch of hockey," Mason said. "I think everybody realizes what's at stake with the games left this season. We have to take advantage of it. Every game is important. The standings, every day they change."

Kristian Huselius scored two goals and set up another while defenseman Mike Commodore, R.J. Umberger and Manny Malhotra also tallied for the Blue Jackets, who extended their winning streak to a season high-tying four games.

"We came out hard at the beginning," Commodore said. "Carolina is an explosive team. They take risks. Their D-men, some of them are like forwards, so to get one in the first period quieted the crowd a little bit."

The win not only extended Columbus' streak but also was the first this season for the Blue Jackets on the back end of back-to-back road games. They were 0-5-3 entering Saturday.

"I thought they did a good job," Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock said. "Our defense and goaltending really held us in. I thought out defensemen as a group played really well. We had some timely scoring and our goaltender was really good when we were making mistakes with the puck out front. He really held us in there in the second period."

Blue-liner Dennis Seidenberg netted the lone goal for Carolina, which has lost two straight and been outscored, 10-1, in the process.

"It's hard to score goals when we don't get any traffic," Seidenberg said. "If you don't get the puck to the net, you don't score."

Commodore, a former Hurricane, opened the scoring midway through the first period with his fifth goal of the season. Huselius converted during a power play in the second period, scoring on the rebound of a shot by blue-liner Kris Russell at 9:14.

"I have nothing but positive memories from day one of my time in Carolina," said Commodore, who was traded to Ottawa in February 2008 before signing with Columbus last summer. "Everything was great. Obviously, we won a Stanley Cup. Everything was positive.

"At the same time, you like to come back and score a goal against your old team, it doesn't matter who it is. Tonight was a good night."

Umberger made it 3-0 early in the final session with his 17th goal of the season. The tally came during a 5-on-3 advantage.

Seidenberg cut the deficit to two with an unassisted goal at 6:29. But Malhotra answered four minutes later and Huselius capped the win an empty-netter.

Cam Ward made 15 saves for the Hurricanes, who outshot the Blue Jackets, 27-20.

"We're not doing enough to score goals," Carolina coach Paul Maurice said. "We don't seem to want to put the puck in the net. When you're playing catch-up all the time, it's very, very difficult."