Antoine Vermette might not have been so forgiving if his disallowed goal in the third period had come back to bite the Blue Jackets tonight.

But the Jackets are showing early glimpses of two elements rarely seen in these parts: skill throughout the lineup and an effective power play. As a result, they have a little more margin for error than in previous seasons.

The Blue Jackets had two goals disallowed tonight - one correctly, the other by mistake - yet still won 2-1 over the Calgary Flames in a hotly contested game before 13,280 in Nationwide Arena.

Antol Stralman and Kristian Huselius had goals for the Blue Jackets. Rick Nash had two assists, and goaltender Steve Mason made 22 saves. At 4-1-0, the Blue Jackets are off to the best start in their nine-year history.

"We rolled four (lines) deep into the hockey game," coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We reloaded and kept reloading, and we put lots of pressure on them. We got stronger and stronger as the game went on."

Almost as important, the Blue Jackets moved on after two disallowed goals that, in previous seasons, might have spelled doom.

The first goal disallowed was by Marc Methot less than two minutes into the game, a slap shot through traffic that was scored after play was stopped because Jared Boll and Calgary's Brandon Prust dropped their gloves to fight.

The second one, Vermette's, occurred with the Blue Jackets' clinging to a 2-1 lead at 5:16 of the third period.

Referee Stephen Walkom blew the puck dead off a shot by Blue Jackets winger R.J. Umberger, believing the puck was corralled by Flames goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff. The puck was clearly loose in the slot, however, and Vermette shot it over Kiprusoff just as the whistle blew.

"(Walkom) said to me, 'It's my mistake, tell (Hitchcock) it's my mistake," Vermette said. "And then during the next stoppage he came over to the bench and explained that he made a mistake.

"I wasn't happy about it, of course, but mistakes happen. We make mistakes as players, too. The main thing is, we won. If we didn't win, maybe it's not so easy to take."

The key in the final 15 minutes, Vermette said, was not letting the game "become an emotional circus," even though the crowd in Nationwide was booing vociferously.

"We played a very smart third period," Hitchcock said. "We managed the game very well."

The Flames, who blew a 5-0 lead at Chicago and lost 6-5 in overtime Monday, took a 1-0 lead off a goal by former Blue Jacket Curtis Glencross with 3:41 to play in the first period.

The Blue Jackets responded with a solid second period, and they were rewarded late in the period with power plays.

On a 5-on-3, Stralman tied the score at 1 with his first goal as a Blue Jacket, a power play goal buried inside Kiprusoff's stick-side post from the blue line.

Two weeks ago, Stralman was traded from the Flames to the Blue Jackets for a third-round draft pick.

"We needed that goal, so that's why it's special," Stralman said. "It's good to score against (the Flames), sure, but more important for us to get that goal for this game."

With 2:24 left in the second - just 13 seconds after a power play expired - Nash and Huselius connected on a bang-bang play in front of the net, with Huselius firing the puck between Kiprusoff's pads to make it 2-1.

aportzline@dispatch.com