Friday, January 19, 2007
Despite Rick Nash's return to the lineup, Columbus couldn't score .
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Chris Mason made 33 saves for a career-high and franchise-record fifth shutout this season, and David Legwand and Paul Kariya each had a goal and an assist as the Nashville Predators beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-0 Thursday night.
Mason helped the Predators bounce back from a 5-3 loss at Detroit on Wednesday night with their NHL-best 33rd victory.
Steve Sullivan and Martin Erat also scored for Nashville, which beat Columbus for the sixth time in six games this season.
This was the third time in seven days these teams have played each other following a back-to-back, home-and-home matchup last weekend.
Columbus didn't have a handful of its best players in the first two, but was much healthier Thursday night.
Even Rick Nash was back after missing five games, though all the healthy Blue Jackets didn't help.
More shots for Jackets
Columbus outshot Nashville once again, 33-26. The Blue Jackets came into this game having outshot Nashville 149-119 through the first five games and then outshot the Predators 15-8 in the first period while trailing 2-0.
The Blue Jackets went 0-for-5 on the power play.
Nashville scored on its first shot when Legwand dug out the puck from behind the net and wrapped around the post in squeezing it past Ty Conklin at 4:07.
Conklin stopped Shea Weber's shot with his stick, but the puck went behind the net to Jason Arnott, who passed to Sullivan for his 15th goal.
Kariya scored his 16th at 10:11 of the second on a power play from the right circle off assists from Marek Zidlicky and Kimmo Timonen.
The Predators are 15-0 when Kariya scores. He added an assist in setting up Erat's ninth at 9:56 of the third.
Mason had given up three goals in 8 minutes after relieving Tomas Vokoun in a 5-3 loss at Detroit on Wednesday night. He was much sharper against Columbus.
The Blue Jackets tried to pressure Mason as much as possible, but his best save may have been a shot he grabbed and held onto with the edge of his glove despite having Nash trying to knock it down with his stick early in the third period.
Notes
This is the 11th time this season Columbus has been shut out. ... Nashville improved to 11-1-1 in the second of back-to-back games, 24-5-1 when scoring first and 14-4-1 in the Central Division. ... Kariya now has seven points in six games against Columbus. ... Columbus right wing Nikolai Zherdev snapped a two-point, two-game streak. ... Nashville now has been outshot 1,535 to 1,312.
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