Sunday, Nov. 9, 2008

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) The rookies were two of the coolest customers on the ice.

Derick Brassard scored Columbus' second goal in the shootout and fellow rookie Steve Mason stayed perfect by stopping both shots he faced in the tiebreaker to lead the Blue Jackets to a 4-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Friday night.

Mason improved to 2-0 in his fledgling NHL career since being called up Nov. 4 as insurance for injured starter Pascal Leclaire.

Mason beat Edmonton 5-4 on Wednesday night, then stopped 34 shots against the Canadiens, who came in with one of the hottest offenses and best records in the league.

"It's definitely pretty exciting," he said. "Two wins in two games — I can't complain about that."

Brassard started the game leading all NHL rookies in points with 12 in 12 games. After Kristian Huselius opened the shootout with a goal, Brassard went second and scored. Mason stopped Alex Tanguay first and then blocked a shot by Andrei Kostitsyn to seal the win.

"Yeah, I knew which move I wanted to do," Brassard said. "When I got the puck, I was going to make another move, then I said, 'No, no, keep with the same move.' "

He swooped in on goalie Jaroslav Halak and played with the puck, deking before sliding the puck past him for the score.

Mason had turned aside four attempts in a shootout in his first game while at AHL Syracuse earlier this season.

"It's a lot of fun playing in shootouts, especially when you come out on the winning end," he said. "Fortunately for us we scored on two great shots. For a goaltender, when your team is up 2-0, it definitely gives you confidence to make that last save."

It was the first loss for the Canadiens in Ohio since a 2-1 setback against the Cleveland Barons on Nov. 23, 1977. The Habs had beaten the Blue Jackets in their only two previous trips.

Hurricanes 2, Senators 1

In Raleigh, N.C., Joe Corvo scored with 2:40 left to help Peter Laviolette become the winningest American-born coach in NHL history and lead the Hurricanes to victory over Ottawa.

Michael Leighton made 22 saves in his second straight start on home ice to help Laviolette surpass former Tampa Bay coach John Tortorella with his 240th career victory.

Thrashers 5, Sabres 4 (OT)

In Buffalo, Jason Williams scored his second goal of the game 48 seconds into overtime, and Bryan Little had two goals and an assist as Atlanta downed the Sabres.

Slava Kozlov extended his points streak to five games with three assists, while goalie Johan Hedberg finished with 28 stops in making only his third appearance of the season for the Thrashers, who began the year with just two wins in 11 games.

Stars 5, Ducks 2

In Anaheim, Mark Parrish recorded his sixth career hat trick in his Dallas debut and the Stars beat the Ducks.

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