There has been a lot of talk in the Columbus Blue Jackets locker room about problem areas that need to be fixed over the last two weeks.
 
After two hard days of practice, actions spoke louder than words as the Jackets defeated the Florida Panthers 3-0 in front of 12,800 in Nationwide Arena Wednesday night.
 
“You can talk all you want, but you still have to do it on the ice,” Sammy Pahlsson, who scored an empty net goal said. “We’ve been struggling and we wanted to play a good game tonight and I think we did.”
 
Steve Mason pitched his first shutout of the season, stopping all 32 shots he faced. It’s his first shutout since Mar. 29 against Calgary and the teams first since Mathieu Garon shut out Phoenix on Oct. 10.
 
“It’s been laying on me the past little while,” Mason said. “Every goaltender likes a couple goose-eggs throughout the year and I had trouble getting the first one, but it’s nice to get it out of the way.”
 
Jason Chimera and Derek Brassard also scored for the Jackets, who broke a three-game losing streak. Chimera has scored in three straight games, while Brassard stopped a 14-game goalless streak.
 
It was the first game after a three-day rest for Columbus, who was put through two hard-fought practices by coach Ken Hitchcock. The team also welcomed back Derek Dorsett, who missed nine games (1-5-3) with a concussion.
 
“As a group, everyone came together,” Dorsett said. “I think we’ve cleaned up a lot of stuff and I think we just need keep doing it consistently.”

 
The team’s forward core will get a little deeper this weekend with the return of Fredrik Modin, who has missed the entire season with a knee injury. He is expected back in the lineup as early as Saturday against Anaheim.
 
“We’re rolling four lines, I don’t care what the score is,” Hitchcock said. “We have to get more people included in this team. We’ve got (Modin) coming back this weekend as a competitive player and we have two guys (Mike Blunden, Derek MacKenzie) we trust sitting out. That’s the strength of our hockey club—the depth up front. Now, I have to get some of the top guys to play better.”
 
Those top guys—Kristian Huselius, Antoine Vermette and Rick Nash—were a quiet line for the Jackets, despite 10 shots between them. Nash has gone scoreless in five games.
 
Chimera batted in his own rebound with 1:41 remaining in the first to give the Jackets a 1-0 lead.
 
Brassard scored with less than six minutes remaining in the game. He took a centering pass from Raffi Torres and went top shelf over the glove of Panthers goaltender Tomas Vokoun.

Phalsson was credited the empty netter after winning a faceoff from the center-ice with under 90 seconds remaining. He said he thought the momentum came from Florida center Kamil Kreps.
 
“I was just trying to win the draw,” Phalsson said. “I don’t think I hit (the puck). A little bad luck for him.”
 
Both teams had 32 shots on goal. Vokoun had 30 saves. The Panthers went 0-for-3 with the man-advantage, including 23 seconds with a two-man advantage. Columbus went 0-for-2.
 
“Obviously when you don’t score, you can’t win,” Vokoun said. “We weren’t able to capitalize on our chances today. It’s been a problem for us lately.”
 
The Jackets skate in Nashville Thursday then return home to host Anaheim on Saturday at 7 p.m.
 
dave.seaman@columbuswired.tv
Twitter: @DaveSeaman94