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Torres, Mason lead Blue Jackets past Oilers

Feb 27, 2009 - 5:53 AM EDMONTON, Alberta (Ticker) -- Raffi Torres scored on a breakaway nearly eight minutes into the third period and rookie Steve Mason turned aside all 19 shots he faced as the Columbus Blue Jackets skated to a 1-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday.

A former Oiler, Torres was sprung behind the Edmonton defense on a beautiful cross-ice pass by Jared Boll and came in alone on Roloson. Torres made a pretty deke before sending the puck into the net with a backhand shot at 7:45.

"I was fortunate enough to get some room," Torres said. "Boll made a pretty good play to get it up to me. I had some speed going in on Roli and I was fortunate enough to get it past him."

Mason made the goal stand up, posting his league-leading eighth shutout. Mason stopped seven shots in the first and third periods and five in the second.

"It was a tough game like that," Mason said. "Not getting a lot of work creates little room for error and tonight was no different. The one-goal lead late in the game and one mistake can cost you, so tonight was pretty difficult."

The Blue Jackets missed a golden chance to go up by two goals when captain Rick Nash broke in on Roloson. This time, the goaltender got the better of the Blue Jackets, stopping Nash's shot with a pad save.

Roloson kept the Oilers in the game, making 31 saves.

"There's nothing to say. We're here as a team and we win as a team and lose as a team. Everybody feels the same way, it's a team sport," Roloson said. "Individual performances are thrown aside. We have to focus on what we have to do. Unfortunately, they were able to score one and I feel bad about that."

Blue-liner Mike Commodore made a great defensive play in the final four minutes, sliding to knock the puck from Ales Hemsky as he attempted a centering feed.

The Blue Jackets nearly broke through four minutes into the final period when Nash's shot hit the post behind Roloson and the puck danced along the goal line only to roll wide.

"I don't know how that stayed out," Nash said. "I had my arms up and everything. I don't get it. It was hovering right along the line."

The victory meant more than a goal to Nash.

"This was huge," the All-Star said. "We're on a road trip, we lost our last two and it was a great effort tonight by all 22 guys.

A fast-paced first period didn't translate on the scoreboard, as neither team was able to find the back of the net. Despite the uptempo play, the Oilers and Blue Jackets combined for just 14 shots (seven aside) in the game's opening 20 minutes.

Both Mason and Commodore got a glove on a puck that hung in the air near the open net with 2:08 left in the first period.

The shot count picked up in the second period, but neither team was able to solve the other's goaltenders. Columbus controlled the chances, outshooting Edmonton, 17-5.

The Blue Jackets' best chance came with just under five minutes left when Torres, who was traded to Columbus last season for Gilbert Brule, had his shot squeak past Roloson, only to see it trickle wide of the post and behind the net.

Hemsky, Dustin Penner and Shawn Horcoff almost worked a tic-tac-toe play in front of Mason, but couldn't make the play materialize, midway through the period.

"That was a real disappointing loss, one of the toughest of the year so far," All-Star defenseman Sheldon Souray said. "At this point with the situation we're in, battling for a playoff spot with that team, it's just too bad we couldn't come up with a little bit better of an effort.

"Our downfall all season has been being able to take control of games that are right there. We haven't been able to step up to win those games and it has cost us. Tonight, it really cost us."