by Aaron Portzline, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH , The Columbus Dispatch

The sloppy, halfhearted play that has pockmarked the early part of the season -- it's burned them twice already -- was mostly eliminated in a 3-2 shootout win before 15,577.

Rick Nash and Kristian Huselius were the Blue Jackets' goal-scorers, in regulation and the shootout, and goaltender Mathieu Garon made 32 saves and stopped two Anaheim shootout attempts.

The Blue Jackets , to the relief of many, looked nothing like the club that was blasted 9-1 by Detroit on Wednesday.

"We knew that was a bizarre game for us," winger R.J. Umberger said. "That's not the team we are; we're better than that. We needed a good performance tonight. We needed to put that behind us."

Huselius scored in the first round of the shootout, then Nash turned his attempt into an adventure. He caught a rut in the ice with his skate, nearly fell and took a high shot that went just under the crossbar in the third round.

Garon, who is 17-4 in shootouts in his career, stopped Anaheim's Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry in the shootout. Once Nash scored, a third Anaheim shooter became unnecessary.

"We needed a game like this," Garon said. "We had a lot of things to prove to a lot of people, including each other here in this (dressing) room. It was a good, hard effort by a lot of people. Now we have to keep it going. We can't think that one game is good enough."

The Blue Jackets , who trailed 1-0 and 2-1, never led until they won the shootout. It was their first shootout win of the season.

"The level of determination tonight was 10 times what it was against Detroit," coach Ken Hitchcock said. "Both teams were really determined, but I thought we held our own."

Huselius had missed the previous four games because of a shoulder injury, and center Antoine Vermette had gone five games without a point. But with Nash on the right wing, that line went against Anaheim's No. 1 line, anchored by behemoth center Ryan Getzlaf, yet it thrived on both ends.

At 18:26 of the first period, Huselius found Nash streaking through the neutral zone with a 90-foot pass, allowing Nash to unleash a slap shot through Ducks goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere to the far post to make it 1-1.

Trailing 2-1, the Blue Jackets used their power play to tie the score early in the second. Vermette made a nifty feed through the goal crease and across the slot, and Huselius beat Giguere's extended stick with a wrist shot.

It was Huselius' most effective game of the season.

"I felt really good," Huselius said. "You never know what it's going to be like coming back after an injury, but I was pretty happy. We had a good game. We had a very difficult (task) against the Ducks line, because they're big and physical and they can score. So that was a big effort for us."

Garon made two clutch saves, stopping Corey Perry's attempt with a left toe at 6:56 and flashing a glove to stop Getzlaf's point-blank attempt at 18:59.

"(Garon) was the big player tonight," Huselius said. "If we don't get those saves, we're maybe down after two.

"It was the kind of boost we needed right now."

aportzline@dispatch.com

Box Story: Game wrap-up

\ THREE STARS

* Mathieu Garon, G, Blue Jackets : Improved to 17-4 in shootouts for his career

* Kristian Huselius, LW, Blue Jackets : One goal, one assist and the shootout winner

* Jean-Sebastien Giguere, G, Ducks: Made 27 saves, including 13 stops in the third period \

\ GAME SUMMARY

Anaheim 1 1 0 0 -- 2 \ Columbus 1 1 0 0 -- 3 \ Columbus won shootout 2-0

FIRST PERIOD: Scoring -- 1, Anaheim, Ryan 7 (Getzlaf, Perry), 7:55. 2, Columbus, Nash 13 (Huselius, Vermette), 18:26. Penalties -- Chimera, Clm (hooking), 3:29; Chimera, Clm (cross-checking), 5:49; Getzlaf, Ana (holding), 19:39.

SECOND: Scoring -- 3, Anaheim, Marchant 2 (Getzlaf, Boynton), 1:45. 4, Columbus, Huselius 6 (Vermette, Stralman), 5:15 (pp). Penalties -- Artyukhin, Ana (holding), 5:07; Brassard, Clm (holding), 6:46; Christensen, Ana (roughing), 14:49; Russell, Clm (roughing), 14:49; Filatov, Clm (tripping), 17:20.

THIRD: Penalty -- Getzlaf, Ana (holding), 11:37.

OVERTIME: Penalties -- Columbus bench, served by Huselius (too many men), 2:39; Whitney, Ana (boarding), 4:08.

SHOOTOUT: -- Anaheim 0 (Getzlaf NG, Perry NG), Columbus 2 (Huselius G, Filatov NG, Nash G).

Shots on goal: Anaheim 12-12-8-2--34. Columbus 10-6-13-0--29. Power plays: Anaheim 0 of 5; Columbus 1 of 4. Goalies: Anaheim, Giguere 0-2-2 (29 shots-27 saves). Columbus, Garon 3-1-0 (34-32). A: 15,577 . T: 2:37.

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