Columbus head coach Ken Hitchcock switched up the lines after back-to-back losses in Edmonton and Calgary. Nash played with R.J. Umberger and Jason Chimera. Kristian Huselius joined Vermette and Voracek and Raffi Torres joined Sammy Pahlsson. Derek Brassard was dropped to the fourth line with Nikita Filatov and Mike Blunden.

“Our line combinations seemed to have more energy (tonight),” Hitchcock said. “We looked more like the team we needed to be to win on the road.”

Pahlsson, who played for Anaheim when they won the Stanley Cup in 2007, was welcomed with a warm response in his first game at the Honda Center since being traded to Chicago on March 4. He signed with the Jackets during the offseason and won 22 of 30 faceoffs.

Joffrey Lupul scored twice and Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne each scored for the Ducks. Jean-Sebastian Giguere, who had 30 saves, left the game late after agitating his groin.

The game marked the season debut of Mike Commodore, who missed the Jackets first eight games with a groin injury. Commodore, paired with Kris Russell, had 26 shifts and played 15:43.

“For what I expected, everything went okay,” Commodore, who was a plus-2, said. “I (feel like I) just had my training camp last week with no games and I kinda just jumped right into it. My passes were off and I wasn’t sure where I was supposed to be all the time, but I just kept it simple.”

For the fifth straight game, the Jackets gave up the first goal to the opposition. Lupul hit a slap shot that bounced off Mason’s pads at 6:12 of the first.

Vermette tied the game midway through the second with a wicked from-the-knees backhander in the slot.

The Ducks regained the lead when Niedermayer’s shot deflected off the skate of Commodore.

Nash scored on a shot that went of Niedermayer’s left skate to knot the score at two.

“It took us a while to figure out what our roles were going to be on our lines,” Nash said. “We all have to play down low, all have to forecheck, backcheck and once we figured things out, we had a great second and third periods.”

Voracek then scored two straight goals, both off assists from Vermette. On the first, Vermette centered the pass to Voracek in the slot and he beat Giguere high on the glove side. The second goal came off a Vermette rebound into an empty net.

“We played really well in the second period—it was the best period of hockey we’ve played on the road all year,” Hitchcock said. “Our winning goal was kinda fluky, but they had three of them, so it made up for it.”

Lupul scored his second of the game at 4:56 to cut the Jackets lead to 4-3. Selanne tie the game three minutes later on the power play.

“I kinda lost my guy on the first goal, then we took the penalty and they scored another, but we’ve been on the other side of it,” Nash, who scored an empty-net goal with 16 seconds remaining said. “We saw it the other night (in Edmonton) and we didn’t want to get like that. Tyutin had a great goal and (Mason) made some big saves.”

Columbus outshot Anaheim 37-36 and was 0-for-2 on the power play. The Ducks converted on both of its power play attempts.

The Jackets conclude its four-game road trip Sunday in Los Angeles and return to Nationwide Arena Wednesday to host Phoenix.

dave.seaman@columbuswired.net
Twitter: @daveseaman94