COLUMBUS, Ohio -- In an otherwise forgettable season, for himself and his team, things finally fell into place for R. Adidas ZX 700 Sale .J. Umberger and the Columbus Blue Jackets. Umberger had three goals for the third time in his career and Steve Mason stopped 39 shots Friday night to lead the Blue Jackets to a 5-1 victory over Carolina, dealing a critical loss to the Hurricanes diminishing playoff hopes. "Weve taken a lot of flak the last six games for not scoring any goals," Umberger said after his first hat trick since Nov. 30, 2009, against St. Louis. "Honestly, I felt like one of these nights was coming. Because weve had a lot of chances. I know myself Ive had chance after chance. We just werent scoring goals. Tonight it just seemed like everything lined up right." It was a costly defeat for the Hurricanes, who had won their last four. They dropped seven points behind Buffalo and Washington in the race for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot. Carolina, 11th in the conference, has just seven games remaining. "That wasnt very good," Carolinas Brandon Sutter said. "We obviously didnt play the way we wanted to. A tough one for us. We need all the points we can right now to get in the top eight. Its not acceptable." Interim Columbus coach Todd Richards refused to say it was the most impressive win of his short tenure. He took over Jan. 9, when the Blue Jackets were 11-25-5 under the fired Scott Arniel, and has guided them to a 13-18-2 mark since. He preferred to lavish praise on the leagues worst penalty kill, which kept Carolina off the board despite five Hurricanes power plays including 1:35 of 5 on 3. "Our guys did a great job," Richards said. "There was one really good opportunity they had (with a two-man advantage) that Mason made the save on. Fresh ice and fresh players out on the ice, with a 3-1 lead, that was a huge kill. That kind of set up the rest of the third period." The Blue Jackets continually victimized Carolina goalie Cam Ward. Vinny Prospal added a goal and an assist, Mark Letestu also scored, Derick Brassard assisted on each of Umbergers goals, and Nikita Nikitin and Jack Johnson each had two helpers. The second for Johnson was the 100th assist of his career. "We know hes a world-class goalie," Brassard said. "For us to struggle scoring goals and come out and play against a hungry team, its huge." It was a particularly huge night for Umberger who has been suffering through one of the worst seasons of his seven years in the NHL. After scoring at least 23 goals and scoring at least 46 points in each of the last three years, he came into the game with only 11 goals and 17 assists. He felt that scoring on the power play -- breaking a string of 35 straight failures with a man advantage -- was a big key. "The first one, getting a goal on the power play, was sort of a breath of fresh air for us," Umberger said. "Its been tough to get one lately. We havent been converting. I think the whole team felt good when that one went in." After Prospal scored on a wrister for a 1-0 lead, Umberger made it 2-0 when his rising slap shot from the left point beat Ward high on the glove side. The Hurricanes cut the lead in half when Drayson Bowman jammed in a rebound of his own first shot. "We didnt come out real hard, fell behind, and then they made a couple of nice plays," Bowman said. "We were fighting to get one from then on. Nothing seemed to go right." Ninety seconds later, the lead was two again. Brassard slid a cross-ice pass from the short boards on the left side to Umberger, who cranked up a hard one-timer to again beat Ward on the glove side. With 5 minutes left in regulation, Brassard took advantage of a Carolina giveaway at the blue line and coasted in on a 2 on 1. He waited patiently before saucering a pass to Umberger for the one-timer to set off a shower of hats on the ice. "The last five games, we didnt bury any of our chances," Brassard said. "Tonight all of the guys did a good job." Hurricanes coach Kirk Muller said there wasnt much to do but forget the loss and get ready for Saturday nights game at Detroit. "We just looked like a tired hockey team tonight," he said. "Weve had a lot of games here in March. Guys have been battling every night. Its a tough loss for us. Weve got to bounce back and get ready for a good opponent." After the game, fans surrounded TVs on the main concourse and could be heard cheering for Ohio University in its NCAA regional semifinal basketball tournament game against North Carolina. The Tar Heels ended up winning in overtime, 73-65. Notes: Before the game, a teenage girl held up a sign near the Carolina dressing room ramp that read: "Jeff (Skinner): Last chance. Wanna go to prom?" ... Mason has won six of his last eight starts. ... Ward gave up five goals on 26 shots. Nike Womens Air Max 90 Running Shoe . You watch the game live on TSN at 7pm et/4pm pt or listen live on TSN Radio 690 Montreal. The Canadiens have won three straight and six of their past seven games, pushing them two points ahead of Tampa Bay for second place in the Atlantic Division. Nike Air Max 90 Mens Cheap . Wingels, a 23-year-old Evanston, Ill., native, is a second-year pro who spent most of his first season with Worcester of the American Hockey League.OTTAWA -- Winning one game wasnt a problem for the Ottawa Senators. Taking two in a row already seemed like a heady accomplishment. But three straight wins have the Sens wondering just how far the wave will take them. Clarke MacArthur scored the winning goal midway through the third period as the Senators beat the visiting Winnipeg Jets 4-3 on Thursday. Until Monday, when they beat the Washington Capitals 3-1, Ottawa hadnt even won back-to-back games in more than seven weeks. "I feel like finally getting that second (win) and finally getting momentum was huge for us," said Mika Zibanejad, who had a goal and an assist. "We need to keep playing well and finding a way to win, and not just one game. Weve been talking about it and talking about it and it wont change until we do it. Weve been working hard and maybe some games we should have won but I think it pays off now and we have to keep it going." Kyle Turris intercepted a clearing pass inside the Winnipeg zone and fed MacArthur, who then scored as he outwaited Winnipeg netminder Al Montoya before going top shelf to give the Senators a 4-2 lead. "It was nice to get rewarded at the end, but as far as the game goes, that was an important two points for us," MacArthur said. "Weve got something rolling now with three in a row and theyre not all going to be pretty but at this time of the year and where the standings are well take anything we can get. When its 4-2 you want to keep it there but you just cant write the script." Milan Michalek and Zack Smith also scored for the Senators (18-18-7), who have four wins in their past five games. Dustin Byfuglien, Evander Kane and Olli Jokinen scored for the Jets (19-19-5) while Montoya made 25 saves. Seconds after Smith gave the Senators a 3-2 lead on a deflection off a Marc Methot point shot at 6:42 of the third period, Craig Anderson maintained it with a glove save off Mark Scheifele who was alone in the slot to collect a rebound. Anderson can include that among his 32 saves in the game, but he would also be the first to give thanks to his goalposts who were there to bail him out three times, including once earlier in the third period when the game was still tied. "We didnt pressure, we didnt spend as much time as we wanted to in the other teams zone, but we had three posts that could have gone in. Adidas nz sale. Thats the way it goes sometimes," Kane said. After MacArthur gave the Senators a 4-2 lead, Jokinen made the home crowd nervous by pulling the Jets to within a goal with a little more than five minutes to play. "I thought in the first period we played sideways in our zone but I thought in the second we were much better and played with more speed," Jets coach Claude Noel said. "In the third we had good chances to win and I thought we played a fairly decent game although it wasnt one of our better ones." The Jets entered the third period tied 2-2 thanks in part to the fact that they had help on both their goals from their opposition. Kane tied the game in the second minute of the second period from behind the net after he banked a shot off the back of Anderson and in. Seconds earlier Anderson had made a save on streaking Jets defenceman Jacob Trouba but was unable to get back into position in time to prevent the goal. Byfuglien scored the Jets first goal and that one tied the game 1-1 at 15:37 of the first when his shot was redirected past Anderson by Senators defenceman Joe Corvo. Slightly more than two minutes before that goal, Zibanejad had opened the scoring when he picked up a rebound off a Corvo shot and beat Montoya. Conacher actually got to the loose puck before Zibanejad but was only able to push the puck forward slightly. Both Zibanejad and Conacher were in on the go-ahead goal by Michalek in the final minute of the first period. Conacher sent a pass to Zibanejad who took a shot from the right faceoff circle. Montoya made a pad save but the puck went right to Michalek in the slot and then to the back of the net. NOTES: Scratches for the Senators were defencemen Eric Gryba and Patrick Wiercioch along with forward Chris Neil. For the Jets, defenceman Adam Pardy and forward Eric ODell were the scratches. ... Anderson posted a 6-1-2 record in December with a 2.60 goals-against-average and a 9.21 save percentage. His 68 wins are four behind Ron Tugnutt for second all-time with the Senators. ... Ottawa captain Jason Spezza missed his third straight game with a lower-body injury. ... Heading into Thursdays game, Byfuglien led all NHL defencemen in shots on goal with 140. ... Winnipeg captain Andrew Ladd is tied for the NHL lead with six shootout goals this season. wholesale nfl jerseyscheap jerseys from china ' ' '
