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Malhotra ends slump to lift Blue Jackets over Blackhawks

Jan 1, 2007 - 4:24 AM COLUMBUS, Ohio (Ticker) -- Manny Malhotra finally snapped his scoring slump, and it came at an opportune juncture for the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Malhotra snapped a 10-game goal-scoring drought with the decisive tally as the Blue Jackets edged the Chicago Blackhawks, 3-1.

The victory snapped a two-game losing streak for the Blue Jackets, who had lost two straight to the Blackhawks.

"The second and third periods we played really hard and played well," Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We did a lot of good things. We had a lot of competitive players in those periods. These types of wins are hard fought. Chicago has been playing well of late. These type of wins feel good."

"It was a big game for us, we just didn't come through," Chicago coach Denis Savard said. "Our best players have to be our best players. They can't play on the perimeter, they have to play in tough situations. We have to find a way. We had the power play set up two times, we are standing outside, we are not going to the net, you have to play in the tough areas - period. We just need everybody on every night, especially on the road."

Malhotra netted the decisive tally when his slap shot from the left faceoff dot sailed over Nikolai Khabibulin's glove to give Columbus a 2-1 lead at 15:51 of the second period. Malhotra's last goal came on December 10 in a 6-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators.

"Our line prides ourselves on, working down low, cycling the puck down low and getting offense from that," Malhotra said. "That is were my goal started from, (Dan) Fritsche making the play down low, (Jason) Chimera making the play along the wall getting the puck to me, and I just put it on net and it went in."

Sergei Fedorov and defenseman Duvie Westcott had the other goals for Columbus, which received 21 saves from Fredrik Norrena.

Fedorov has three goals and two assists in his last five games.

"It was on the power play and I made the pass down to Nash and just went to the net," Fedorov said. "It was a great pass by him, and all I needed to do was get it on net and it went in."

Martin Lapointe scored the lone goal for the Blackhawks while Khabibulin recorded 21 saves. Lapointe's goal, which gave Chicago a 1-0 lead at 15:23 of the first period, was his second goal in his last three games.

"We got nobody in front," Lapointe said. "The only goal we scored tonight, we had someone in front. We have to put more pucks on net. It has to be not pretty, it has to be crash and bang, and we have to have guys willing to pay the price. We don't have enough guys willing to do that right now. That's why they came out on top."

Columbus' Rick Nash was awarded a penalty shot late in the second period but was denied when he tried to deke Khabibulin.

Khabibulin, who was pulled after surrendering three goals on seven shots in a 5-3 loss to the Boston Bruins on Friday, finished with 21 saves.