Mason stymies Flyers; Blue Jackets beat Philly for first time

Hockey Betting Lines

12/27/2008 - Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Steve Mason stopped all 20 shots he faced for his third career shutout as the Columbus Blue Jackets downed the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-0, at Nationwide Arena.

Jan Hejda, Andrew Murray and Manny Malhotra each had a goal for the Blue Jackets, who snapped a three-game skid.

Antero Niittymaki stopped 30 shots in the loss for the Flyers, who have dropped the first two contests of a six-game road trip.

This was the first time Philadelphia lost to Columbus. The team was 4-0-3 (three ties) against Columbus coming into the game.

The Blue Jackets scored early and late in the first period to take a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes of play.

Columbus nearly had a goal during a scrum in front as several whacks resulted in the puck sitting on the goal line, but Ossi Vaananen was able to clear the puck away from danger. However, it went right to the left point where Hejda fired it home at the 3:22 mark.

Later on the power play, R.J. Umberger threw a pass from the low right side to the front of the net where Murray tapped it home with just 1:52 left in the first.

Mason needed to make just five saves in the opening frame to keep Philadelphia off the board.

The Blue Jackets took a 3-0 lead at the 7:39 mark of the second period. Rick Nash found himself with the puck along the left boards in the Philadelphia end and sent a pass to the right circle where Malhotra took the puck from the backhand to the forehand and went top shelf over Niittymaki.

Philadelphia put 11 shots on net in the second period, but Mason made several nice saves and kept the puck out of the net.

Columbus stymied the Philadelphia offense in the third period as the Blue Jackets limited the Flyers to just four shots on net.

Game Notes

The first goal Columbus had snapped a scoreless streak of 129 minutes and eight seconds...Philadelphia plays in Vancouver on Tuesday...Columbus begins a six-game road trip in Los Angeles on Monday...The Blue Jackets went 1-for-6 on the power play while the Flyers were stopped on their three chances.

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