Torres leads Jackets past Preds (3/31/09)
by Dave Seaman, Columbus Wired

Raffi Torres calls it a fluke, but there may be something to the Columbus Blue Jackets 11-0 record when he scores a goal. 
Torres scored his 12th of the season to lead Columbus past the Nashville Predators 2-1 in front of 14,495 in Nationwide Arena Tuesday night.

“I didn’t even know about it until the last time it happened,” Torres said. “I just got to keep doing what I’m doing and hopefully we’ll keep going.”

The game-winner came with Michael Peca leading a two-on-one rush. Peca took the initial shot, which Predators’ goaltender Pekka Rinne stopped. The short rebound came right to Torres, who jammed in a backhand at 4:05 of the third.

“Their defenseman (Shea Webber) did a good job of taking the pass away,” Torres said. “So, I just went to the net with my stick on the ice and it worked out for me.”

Torres has four goals in the last six games and five game-winners this season.

“He scores big goals all the time,” Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock said. “He’s at his best when it’s centrally focused, like he is right now. He’s had a huge impact on a lot of games in the last month.”

The win breaks a two-game losing streak and gives the Jackets breathing room on Nashville, who had an eight-game point streak broken. Columbus remains in sixth place with 88 points, a four-point cushion on Nashville.

The two teams meet again Saturday at 8 p.m. in Nashville.

R.J. Umberger scored for the Jackets, while Cal O’Reilly scored for the Predators.

The game matched the two top rookie goaltenders in the NHL—Steve Mason and Rinne. Mason stopped 21-of-22 shots for his 32nd win of the season. Rinne also played well, stopping 31 shots.

“We threw a lot of rubber at the net,” Umberger said. “(Rinne) has been playing well and that’s what you have to do against tough goalies. He was kicking out some rebounds all game. Raffi was going hard to the net and I just followed my own. So it was a second and third efforts tonight.”

The Blue Jackets dominated the first period, as they outshot Nashville 17-6, but trailed until late in the period.

O’Reilly beat Mason over the right leg pad on a two-on-two rush to put the Predators up 1-0 at 8:28.

Umberger finally got one past Rinne with 45 seconds remaining in the first on a second-effort. He took a pass from Antoine Vermette, walked in to the lip of the crease and fired. His second shot bounced off the blocker pad of Rinne.

“We need to get production from all four lines and we got it,” Hitchcock said. “I really like the Umberger-Vermette- (Jason) Williams line.”

The second period went back and forth with Nashville out shooting Columbus 9-5. The save of the game came with 6:43 remaining when Mason stoned Joel Ward on a point-blank shot to keep the game knotted at one.

Seven minutes into the third, the Predators’ J.P. Dumont was sandwiched by Jiri Novotny and Christian Backman and hit his head on the top of the boards near the Columbus bench. He laid motionless for several minutes before heading back to the locker room on his own power.

Mason and the Columbus defense came through after taking the lead by killing a power play and later 28 seconds of a Nashville two-man advantage.

“The two guys that were good for me were (Marc) Methot and (Kris) Russell,” Hitchcock said. “Both guys were very good today, solid, composed and factors in the game—Methot in controlling the tempo and Russell in creating the offense we wanted to create.”

The Jackets have three days off before heading the Nashville. Hitchcock said the team needed a day to heal and then have a solid hockey practice in preparation for the final five games in eight nights of the regular season.

Columbus returns home Sunday to host Chicago at 5 p.m.