Rebound goal lifts Blue Jackets, 5-4

November 6, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

Manny Malhotra tipped in the game winner against the Oilers.

COLUMBUS (AP) — Manny Malhotra tipped in a rebound with 1:09 left, making a winner of prized goalie prospect Steve Mason in his NHL debut and leading the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 5-4 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night.

Raffi Torres, playing against his teammates from last season, had a shot from the right wing that goalie Dwayne Roloson blocked.

Torres followed up by chipping a shot over Roloson while he was down in the crease. Malhotra then reached over to tip the puck into the net.

Mason, making his fourth professional start and first in the NHL, had 22 saves. He got the start because top goalie Pascal Leclaire is out with an ankle injury and backup Fredrik Norrena hurt his groin during the morning skate Wednesday.

The teams combined for four goals in a 4-minute span near the start of the third period.

The Blue Jackets blew a 2-0 second-period lead, then recovered from a 4-2 deficit in the third.

Kristian Huselius, Derek Brassard, R.J. Umberger and Fredrik Modin also scored for Columbus.

Mike Commodore, Jake Voracek, Rick Nash and Torres each had two assists.

Andrew Cogliano, Ethan Moreau, Ales Hemsky and Kyle Brodziak had goals for the Oilers, who are in the midst of a season-high, seven-game road trip.

Huselius opened the scoring with a hard wrister from the right dot that slipped inside the far post for his fifth goal.

Brassard, the NHL rookie of the month for October, expanded the lead with his fifth, tying him for the lead among first-year players. Commodore slid a pass to Brassard, who was trailing on a rush, and he ripped a shot in from between the hash marks.

The Oilers came back on a pair of special-teams goals. Robert Nilsson grabbed control of the puck behind the net and found Cogliano at the right doorstep. He jammed the puck past Mason on the power play.

The Blue Jackets had 93 seconds with a two-man advantage but recorded only two shots. After the Oilers killed the first penalty, they came up with the tying goal while short-handed.

Fernando Pisani bumped Voracek off the puck behind the net and seized the loose puck, passing back to Moreau who, just like Cogliano, beat Mason high on the glove side to tie it.

Hemsky made it 3-2 in the opening minute of the final period with a hard shot from the left wing. Less than a minute and a half later, Brodziak was alone in the crease and notched his first of the season off a pass from Marc-Antoine Pouliot.

Columbus climbed back with two goals within another minute and a half. Umberger jammed in a rebound before Modin tied it 4-4 on a shot through heavy congestion.

Notes

Edmonton’s Ladislav Smid made a huge save early in the game when Roloson was out of position on Um erger’s shot. Soon after, Smid sustained a concussion and didn’t return. ... The Blue Jackets are 3-2-1 at home. ... Columbus F Jason Chimera was hit in the middle of the chest by a hard shot late in the game and immediately skated off to the dressing room.