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Mason, Blue Jackets notch third straight shutout

Jan 1, 2009 - 7:29 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Rookie Steve Mason recorded his third straight shutout and fifth of the season after stopping all 27 shots he faced as the Columbus Blue Jackets posted a 2-0 triumph over the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday.

Craig MacDonald and Michael Peca also netted third-period goals as Columbus notched its third win in a row.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere turned aside 27 shots for Anaheim, which fell to 1-3-1 in its last five games.

"It was a flat game emotional-wise for us," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "We had trouble getting any noise on the bench. Those are ones you don't know why.

"You try to pump people up, you try to push, it just seemed like we couldn't get any emotion going for ourselves."

Mason, who has not surrendered a goal in 182 minutes, 8 seconds, stopped 10 shots in the first period, five in the second and 12 in the third to secure the shutout.

The 20-year-old Mason made 24 saves in a 2-0 triumph over the Los Angeles Kings on Monday and 20 saves in a 3-0 blanking of the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.

"You try not to pay attention to it," Mason said. "You know the old saying that you'll jinx yourself if you think about the shutout. It was nice to get, but obviously the most important thing is the win.

"The guys came through at the end of the game and that was huge. It was a pretty routine for me. ... It is just a stat really. If you are going to get a shutout, you're going to win the game. Right now we are just trying to get as many wins as possible."

MacDonald opened the scoring 7:33 into the third period after deflecting Mike Commodore's blast from the point.

Recalled from Syracuse of the American Hockey League on Saturday, MacDonald notched his first NHL goal of the season.

"He played good," Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock said. "He's a smart player - a savvy veteran who knows how to play the game."

Peca provided insurance nearly 10 minutes later, accepting a feed from captain Rick Nash and beating Giguere for his third goal of the season.

The Ducks thought they opened the scoring with 2:08 remaining in the second period.

After collecting the puck behind the net, Corey Perry skated out front and wristed a shot past Mason and just under the crossbar for what appeared to be his 10th goal of the season.

Earlier in the sequence, however, Ryan Getzlaf was whistled for an interference penalty which nullified the goal.

"The referee said that I went to the net and ended up taking a couple of guys with me there," Getzlaf said. "I think it was a matter of us running into each other. It was his interpretation of the play. We had to live with it. Those are the ones that can go either way. You don't really agree with them all the time, but that is the way it went tonight."

"Yeah, it was a nice break to get," Mason said. "You don't get too many breaks like that over the course of the season, so it was good to get it to keep the streak alive."