Columbus, OH (My Sportsbook) - Steve Mason continued his stellar rookie season with a 21-save performance and moved Columbus one step further to its first playoff appearance in franchise history as he helped the Blue Jackets to a 2-1 win over the Nashville Predators.

The potential Calder and Vezina trophy candidate won his 32nd game of the season and the Blue Jackets, who had lost three of four coming into the game, got goals from R.J. Umberger and Raffi Torres to win the game.

"I was just happy with the way we played," said Columbus head coach Ken Hitchcock. "I've been in these games before, where you miss opportunities and you hit goal posts and the goalie makes saves, (and you lose). I don't worry about the losses, I worry about the way we played. We played the right way. The win was a bonus. If you don't play the right way, you're not going to win."

The win gives Columbus 88 points on the season and goes a long way towards the team securing a playoff spot. The Jackets currently sit in the sixth spot in the Western Conference with five games to play.

Cal O'Reilly scored the lone goal while Pekka Rinne stopped 31 shots in the loss for the Predators, who had won three straight coming into the game.

"I thought it was one of our worst games in a long time," said Nashville forward Steve Sullivan. "We didn't have very much energy, we weren't forechecking, we weren't able to get on their defense, not like we have been able to in the past."

Nashville is battling for a playoff spot as the team has 84 points with five games to play. The Predators sit in the seventh spot with a one-point lead on St. Louis and a two-point lead on Anaheim, but the Ducks play later on Tuesday.

"We just have to fight for points," said Nashville coach Barry Trotz. "I wish we would have been able to get a point tonight. It's not necessarily about winning or losing, it's about getting points. Because you never know what point may get you in or keep you out."

With the score tied in the third, Columbus took a 2-1 lead thanks to a 2-on-1 break. Michael Peca skated down the right wing and opted to shoot, but Rinne made the stop. However, the rebound kicked out front and Torres backhanded it in as he was crashing the net at the 4:05 mark.

Nashville had an opportunity to tie the game a bit later when it had 28 seconds of a 5-on-3 opportunity, but Mason flashed the glove on a Michael Santorelli rebound opportunity from the low left side and Columbus was able to kill off both penalties.

"We didn't have a whole lot of penalties for the entire game, and then to take two in a row was definitely a momentum killer," said Mason. "But we did a great job of killing them off and assuring that we kept our lead."

From that point, the Columbus defense did an effective job of protecting Mason and what shots did make it through were easily turned aside by the goaltender.

The Predators struck first at the 8:28 mark of the first period. Skating down the right side, Sullivan sent a saucer pass from the boards to the low left side for the stick of O'Reilly, who simply redirected the puck into the net for a 1-0 lead.

However, the Jackets answered late in the period thanks to Umberger. In the final minute of play, Umberger received the puck at the low right side and skated out front. His first shot was stopped by Rinne, but he lifted his own rebound into the back of the net with just 45.1 to play.

The second period went scoreless as the teams combined for just 14 shots, nine by Nashville, and the goaltenders stopped everything thrown their way.

Game Notes

Columbus plays in Nashville on Saturday while the Predators' next game is in Chicago on Friday...Columbus has won three of the five games in the season series...Both teams had two chances on the power play, but neither scored with the man advantage.