Mike Commodore's double-fist pump with a hip thrust when he scored to put the Blue Jackets up 1-0 Saturday against Carolina was easy to understand. Commodore doesn't get to celebrate many goals, plus this one came against his former club.

But Manny Malhotra's emphatic fist pump when he scored midway through the third period to put the Blue Jackets up 4-1 had a little more gusto than normal, too.

After the Jackets' 5-1 win in the RBC Center, Malhotra explained.

"That was the monkey coming off my back," he said. "I've hit a lot of posts lately. I've had wide-open chances that I've missed. It just felt good to have the puck go in even though it did hit the post."

It's the first break for Malhotra in a long time.

Malhotra replaced R.J. Umberger about a month ago on the No. 1 line between wingers Rick Nash and Kristian Huselius. With all the scoring chances Nash and Huselius create, it's an enviable position on the ice.

Malhotra is not a No. 1 center. But the Blue Jackets like him there because he's defensively sound and a demon in the faceoff circle. When Nash and Huselius start with the puck, it typically portends a good shift.

But Malhotra had missed some almighty chances the past few weeks, and it appeared to be weighing on him.

On Saturday, Nash fed Malhotra with the puck on the doorstep of Hurricanes goaltender Cam Ward. Malhotra carried it around Ward to the stick side, the puck initially glancing off Ward's pad and right back to Malhotra.

Malhotra stayed with it and buried the rebound barely. It glanced off the far post and crossed the goal line before Ward could get to it with his stick.

"When it hit the post, I kind of had dj vu," Malhotra said. "But it hit the post and went the right way this time."

Malhotra, in the final year of a contract that pays him $1.5 million, has seven goals, 14 assists and a plus-6 rating this season.

Number crunching

Since the Blue Jackets joined the NHL for the 2000-01 season, the average point total for the eighth and final playoff qualifier in the Western Conference is 93 points.

With 61 points in 56 games, the Blue Jackets will need a record in the range of 15-9-2 or 14-8-4 during their final 26 games.

Last season, Nashville qualified eighth with 91 points.

Slap shots

The last time the Blue Jackets were five games above .500 (25-20-6) was Jan. 24, 2008. They lost their next four and went 9-16-6 the rest of the way. With 21 wins, rookie goaltender Steve Mason is six wins from matching Marc Denis' team season record, set in 2002-03. The Blue Jackets on Saturday scored two power-play goals for the first time since Jan. 9 and only the fourth time this season. Since Dec. 23, the power play is 14 of 84 (16.6 percent). Saturday's win improved the Blue Jackets to 9-3-1 vs. the Eastern Conference and 4-0-0 vs. the Southeast Division.

aportzline@dispatch.com