There was a lot of good coming out of Nationwide Arena Monday night as the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Edmonton Oilers 5-3 in front of 13,603, however one black cloud hovered as the game came to an end.

Defenseman Jan Hejda left the game early with a strain in his right knee and is likely to miss the rest of the season. Columbus had to play nearly the entire game with five defenseman because Anton Stralman was ill as well.

“As a defenseman, it’s your worse nightmare,” Marc Methot, who scored the game-winner, said. “Obviously, we like to play a lot, but it’s one of those things where you have to log a lot of minutes and it changes your game a little bit. You have to adapt—you can’t be running around and making brainless plays. You have to contain a little more and play a little more sound.”

Kristian Huselius scored a goal and added three assists to lead the Jackets, while Antoine Vermette had a goal and two helpers. Jakub Voracek and Chris Clark also scored, while Steve Mason ended his five-game winless streak (0-4-1) with 29 saves. Derek Dorsett added two assists.

Defenseman Fedor Tyutin also picked up an assist—his 25th of the season, matching a career high in his 400th NHL game.

Robert Nilsson and former Jacket Aaron Johnson each scored and had an assist for the Oilers. , Dustin Penner added a goal and goaltender Devan Dubnyk gave up four goals on 28 shots.

“We like to play a little wide open with pinching in the offensive zone, but there were a couple of times we just got caught out of position,” Johnson said. “That gives them momentum and it was tough to get back in the game.”

Columbus played its fourth straight game without captain Rick Nash, however Huselius returned again, after missing Saturday’s game with St. Louis with a nagging upper-body injury.

For the third straight game, coach Claude Noel was impressed with his team’s opening period. The Jackets scored first for the 12th time in 14 games.

“I thought our defense looked good and they were really active in the defensive zone,” he said. “I thought we got pucks (and bodies) to the net. I was happy with the first, but I would have liked to see that through (the entire game).”

The Jackets struck first when R.J. Umberger intercepted an Oilers pass and directed it towards Derek Brassard, who fed Voracek with a cross-ice pass. Voracek took the pass and one-timed the puck past Dubnyk on the high glove side.

During the intermission, Noel complimented his squad on the first 20 minutes. The team responded by looking loose, when they needed to clamp down.

The Oilers made the Jackets pay when Nilsson scored on a feed from Taylor Chorney at 1:52.

“You get comfortable,” Noel said. “You saw it right away (in the second), they got an attitude. What you have to do is throw your grinders out there and you plow through everything.

Clark broke the tie with a wrist shot from the right circle three-and-a half minutes later.

In the third, both teams played back and forth and traded goals until the final cannon sounded.

Methot beat Dubnyk under his glove off a cross-ice pass from Vermette 40 seconds into the third to extend the lead to 3-1.

“I had my eyes closed the whole time,” Methot said. “I’m not really sure where I shot it. I’ll have to watch the replay.”

Penner then beat Mason through the five-hole to close the gap to a goal.

Huselius got the goal back with a slap shot that went off Dubnyk’s glove. Johnson scored just over a minute later on a rebound.

Vermette added an empty-net goal with 54.2 seconds remaining. For Vermette, it was his career-high 55th point.

The Huselius-Vermette-Dorsett line combined for two goals, seven assists and were a combined +9.

“As a line, we created some chances and capitalized on the good chances we had and played a pretty strong game,” Huselius said. “On my goal, (Dorsett) made a nice shift there and I just tried to shoot it the best I could, so it was nice to see it go in.”

Edmonton outshot Columbus 32-29. Both teams failed to convert on their power play chances.

The Jackets conclude the four-game home stand Friday by hosting Minnesota at 7 p.m.