Blue Jackets 2, Avalanche 0
BLUE JACKETS 2, AVALANCHE 0: Defensemen Nikita Nikitin and Fedor Tyutin scored and Steve Mason made 32 saves for his first shutout of the season as Columbus prevented host Colorado from moving into eighth place in the Western Conference.
Vinny Prospal had two assists as the Blue Jackets snapped a three-game losing streak and avenged a 5-0 loss to the Avalanche on Feb. 24.
Semyon Varlamov made 26 stops for the Avalanche, who had a four-game winning streak snapped and remain one point behind Dallas for the final playoff spot.
Mason was at his best in the third period with 11 saves, including a sprawling stop on Jay McClement at the doorstep midway through the stanza.
Later in the period, Mason denied Shane O’Brien in front of the net and a bid by Gabriel Landeskog to preserve his 19th career shutout.
The Blue Jackets took a 1-0 lead at 12:53 of the first period when Nikitin took a feed from Prospal and one-timed a shot that caromed off Colorado defenseman Erik Johnson’s leg and past Varlamov.
Tyutin made it 2-0 at 15:11 of the second period when his slap shot from the point beat Varlamov to the short side.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The Blue Jackets beat the Avalanche for only the second time in the last 11 meetings. … Landeskog, who leads NHL rookies with 18 goals and a plus-21, recorded his first NHL fight, a second-period scrap with Jack Johnson. … Colorado was 7-3-2 last month, its best February record since 2003.