EDMONTON, Alberta -- Between his surgically repaired knee and shoulder, it has been a tough road back to normalcy for Blue Jackets left winger Raffi Torres. Truth be told, he's still fighting through the scar tissue, both physical and mental.

But last night was a sweet respite in the ongoing journey, a rare moment for Torres to celebrate.

His breakaway goal at 7:45 of the third period sent the Blue Jackets to a 1-0 victory over his former club, the Edmonton Oilers, before a sold-out crowd of 16,839.

"My shoulder, my knee it's just going to hurt," Torres said. "But there are other ways I can contribute. This feels great. This is the kind of thing that makes it all worthwhile."

The win, which snapped a two-game losing streak, allowed the Blue Jackets to hold off the Oilers and keep sole possession of sixth place in the Western Conference.

Rookie goaltender Steve Mason, looking energized for the first time in a week or so, had 19 saves for his NHL-leading eighth shutout of the season. He tied Ken Dryden's 37-year-old NHL record for shutouts by a rookie.

"That's a pretty good name to be associated with," Mason said. "But this one was like a lot of my shutouts, where I didn't really have to be great. The guys in this (dressing) room deserve a lot of credit for that number, too."

Mason made one stellar save, a left-pad rob job of Oilers winger Erik Cole with 4:57 left in the second period.

"It's really the only significant odd-man rush we allowed them," coach Ken Hitchcock said. "But we needed a big save right there."

The game appeared destined for overtime, perhaps a shootout, before Blue Jackets winger Jared Boll sprung Torres with a nifty pass through the neutral zone.

Boll carried the puck along the boards and fired a pass that split Edmonton defenseman Theo Peckham and Tom Gilbert, allowing Torres a clean look at Oilers goaltender Dwayne Roloson.

Torres deked to the right, then pulled the puck back and back-handed through Roloson's pads. It was his fourth goal of the season and his first against his former club.

"It's a great heads-up play by Boller," Torres said. "I read the play off him and he got me the puck."

It was an eventful night for Torres, who had a first-period fight with Edmonton's Jason Strudwick. It didn't go particularly well for Torres -- he tumbled to the ice under a series of rights -- but he didn't miss a shift.

"It's great to see Tico come back to this building and have a big night," Boll said. "We were an energized club tonight. We feel like we got our game back."

There were noticeable changes in strategy for the Blue Jackets. Last month when they played here, they treated Oilers right winger Ales Hemsky like a cat treats a vacuum cleaner. When he had the puck, they were nowhere to be found.

Last night, the checked Hemsky into submission, pounding him into the boards whenever they had a chance. Hemsky was dangerous in the first period, but it was hard to find him after the first 10 minutes of the game.

"We sandwiched him," Hitchcock said. "We had to do something different, because he's killed us. So whenever he had the puck, we kept two guys back and we squished him."

aportzline@dispatch.com