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Huselius paces Columbus over Oilers

Mon 15th, March 2010

Columbus, OH (Sports Network) - Kristian Huselius played a huge role with a goal and added three assists, as the Columbus Blue Jackets held on for a 5-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers at Nationwide Arena.

Antoine Vermette sealed the victory with an empty-net tally and dished out two assists for Columbus, which was coming off a 5-1 loss to St. Louis on Saturday. Jakub Voracek, Chris Clark and Marc Methot each registered a goal for the Blue Jackets, who have won three of their last four.

Steve Mason stopped 29-of-32 shots and improved to 3-1 lifetime against Edmonton.

"There were a lot of good things in the game that I really enjoyed," Blue Jackets head coach Claude Noel said. "I thought our defense looked good and were really active in the defensive zone."

Robert Nilsson and Aaron Johnson each picked up a goal and a helper, while Dustin Penner lit the lamp for the Oilers, who have dropped four straight and seven of nine overall. Devan Dubnyk made 24 saves for Edmonton, which has now lost 16 of their last 17 road games.

"Early on in the game we got wide open," Oilers head coach Pat Quinn said. "It was like line rushes for both teams. We had chances going their way, too. A lot of missed positioning. It was a competitive night. Certainly at the start of the third period our veterans let us down a little bit. Two quick goals in the first few minutes, both turnovers and bad checking. It's disappointing."

The Blue Jackets held a 2-1 lead after two periods and went up by a pair on Methot's tally 40 seconds into the third. Penner quickly cut the deficit to 3-2 when he beat Mason through the five-hole from in close at 4:07 before Huselius restored Columbus' two-goal advantage with a slap shot from the top of the left circle that squeezed through Dubnyk at 6:36.

Edmonton made it a 4-3 game just over a minute later on Johnson's third goal of the season, on a rebound attempt from the slot. Columbus then used a strong forechecking effort to limit the Oilers chances the rest of the way and with Dubnyk pulled in favor of the extra attacker, Vermette sealed it with an empty net tally with 55 seconds to play.

Columbus opened the scoring with 5:25 left in the first period off an Edmonton turnover. Derick Brassard intercepted an Oilers' clearing attempt and sent a cross-ice pass to Voracek, who one-timed it home from the right circle.

Nilsson then drew Edmonton even 1:52 into the middle stanza when Taylor Chorney picked off a Blue Jackets outlet pass and fed Nilsson for quick wrist shot that beat Mason to the short side.

However, Clark took a feed from Huselius and fired a wrister over Dubnyk's glove hand from the slot to give Columbus a 2-1 lead at 4:30 of the middle period.

Game Notes

Columbus captain Rick Nash missed his fourth straight game with a lower-body injury...Blue Jackets defenseman Jan Hejda suffered a right leg injury in the first period and did not return...Columbus took the season series over the Oilers with a 3-1 mark...Methot snapped a 24-game goal-less skid, while Clark scored for the first time in the last 16 contests.