by Dan Watson
Plenty of stars following the Blue Jackets' 5-1 win over Carolina...
- R.J. Umberger and his new old sticks: Umberger, stuck in a seven-game goalless skid (and six games without a point), found some sticks he hadn't used in a couple of years just laying around. He decided to give them a try. The end product was his third career hat trick. Unfortunately for him, he broke the stick on his last shift of the night. He has two of those types of sticks remaining - better make them count.
- Steve Mason: The Columbus goalie racked up 39 saves and has now won six of his last eight starts. Mason was slow to get up after a scramble in front of the net; he later told the Dispatch "a stick ended up where it shouldn't have been." All indications are he's (relatively) fine now.
- The penalty kill: Leading 3-1 after two periods, the Jackets had to kill off 90 seconds worth of a 5-on-3 Carolina advantage. They did it, marking a turning point in the game. Interim coach Todd Richards called Mason his best penalty killer, but credit the skaters as well - the Hurricanes got just five shots on goal in 8:25 worth of power play time.
Other notes: Umberger's first goal came with a man advantage, snapping the Jackets' 0-for-35 streak on the power play which spanned nine games... Richards was happy with the win, but said his team was far from perfect; he said there were too many scrambles in front of the Jackets' net which made Mason's life difficult... C Derick Brassard tallied assists on all three Umberger goals... The five-goal outburst coincided with a tweak in the top two CBJ lines; Rick Nash played on a line with Vinny Prospal and Mark Letestu while Cam Atkinson lined up with Brassard and Umberger... Richards later said he prefers to keep things consistent but "I felt it was time to change and see if we could get more offense from them. Tonight I guess it ended up right." Both lines tallied goals against Carolina.
