Pretty difficult work environment, really. But Huselius picked up on a few things as scoring attempts by Jason Williams and Rick Nash were kicked aside by Fleury's wicked-quick pads, and he applied that when it came his turn to perform in the third round.

Huselius, with barely a shoulder bob, fired a puck clean through Fleury's pads to send the Blue Jackets to a 4-3 win over the Penguins before a record crowd in Nationwide Arena.

"It's pretty amazing being out there, in that situation," Huselius said. "The game is on the line, the crowd is standing you want to be out there. I saw how quick (Fleury) was with the pads on Willy and Nash, and so I decided to take a different approach."

Moments later, goaltender Steve Mason stopped Evgeni Malkin, the NHL's scoring leader, to seal the Blue Jackets' third straight victory.

"Look who we've beaten in the last three games," coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We beat Detroit. Beat Boston. And tonight we beat the hottest team in the National Hockey League."

The win was the Blue Jackets' 35th of the season, matching a franchise record with 14 games to play, including tonight in Chicago.

It also allowed Mason, who was bogged down by a cold yesterday, to post his 28th win and beat Marc Denis' franchise record in a season.

The Blue Jackets, staked to a 3-0 lead in the third period on goals by Huselius, Williams and Antoine Vermette, took their foot off the gas.

The Penguins pulled to 3-2 when Sergei Gonchar and Pascal Dupuis scored only 80 seconds apart midway through the third period.

"We went backward with the puck," said Hitchcock, who was honored in a pregame ceremony for attaining his 500th coaching win in February. "Any time you've got the lead, and you go backward with the puck with open ice in front of you, it's a bad thing."

The comeback was completed with 8:02 remaining when Pittsburgh's Max Talbot took a feed from Malkin to Mason's right.

The Penguins outshot the Blue Jackets 19-4 in the third period.

Hitchcock went with Williams-Nash-Huselius, and Pittsburgh countered with Kris Letang-Sidney Crosby-Malkin, a treacherous trio for most goaltenders.

Huselius, who got his second shootout winner of the season, was elated.

"It felt like we were playing in Canada," Huselius said. "It was unbelievable. Hopefully, we can pay back the fans by making the playoffs."

The win firmed up the Blue Jackets' hold on sixth place in the Western Conference.

The confidence is growing in the dressing room. The crowds are growing, too. Last night's crowd included more than 1,000 standing-room only tickets sold.

Hitchcock had only one complaint.

"Somebody let in these other people today with the funny-colored sweaters," Hitchcock said, referring to the thousands of Penguins fans. "And it screwed the sound up."

aportzline@dispatch.com