NHL Monday’s games

Blue Jackets 3, Canucks 2

COLUMBUS — Rick Nash made the play of the game. The rest was up to Steve Mason and the defense. Kristian Huselius scored off Nash’s blue-collar assist with 4:44 left as Columbus beat Vancouver, giving the Blue Jackets their first win this season after allowing the first goal. Nash had two defenders draped on him as he carried the puck out of the corner and over the left dot before feeding Huselius, who was all alone at the right side of the crease for an easy jam shot for his ninth of the year. The Canucks threatened for much of the final two minutes. Rookie goaltender Steve Mason thrust his arms in the air in celebration — or was it relief? — as the final horn sounded. Mason improved to 6-2-1 in his first professional season, stopping 29 shots. But it was anything but easy. The Canucks peppered him with shots while on the power play late in the game after pulling goaltender Cory Schneider for a two-man advantage. Mason’s best save came with his glove on the ice on a shot by Kyle Wellwood, who had Vancouver’s first goal. “It was definitely a big scrum,” Mason said. “It was a lot of fun to be a part of, especially since we came out on the winning end. It’s not nice taking a penalty with about two minutes to go, but we did a great job killing it off.” The Canucks put four shots on goal, had two others go just wide and had another blocked during the frantic finish.

Red Wings 2, Ducks 1

DETROIT — Marian Hossa scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third period. Johan Franzen also scored for Detroit and Chris Osgood made 15 saves. Chris Kunitz scored Anaheim’s goal and Jean-Sebastien Giguere stopped 37 shots before being removed after two periods. Jonas Hiller made eight saves in the third period.

Predators 2, Sabres 0

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Pekka Rinne made 30 saves for his first career shutout, Jason Arnott snapped a tie in the third period and Nashville beat the Sabres. J.P. Dumont also scored and had an assist for the Predators (12-10-2), who won for the third time in five games. Ryan Miller made 25 saves for the Sabres (11-10-3), who lost their second straight. Miller also had his personal three-game winning streak stopped. The Sabres played without captain Craig Rivet, who was scratched just hours before gametime because of an upper body injury. But Buffalo did get forward Ales Kotalik back after he missed seven games because of a hamstring injury.

Associated Press