The Blue Jackets made only a handful of tweaks to their roster this offseason, but two not-so-celebrated moves made a huge difference last night against the Edmonton Oilers.

Defenseman Anton Stralman scored one power-play goal and assisted on another, and backup goaltender Mathieu Garon -- better known as Mr. Shootout -- played his second strong game in a row to lead the Blue Jackets to a 3-2 shootout win before 13,030 in Nationwide Arena.

Jake Voracek and Fedor Tyutin (Fedor Tyutin?) scored in the four-round shootout, and Garon stopped three of four shots, including the final attempt by former Blue Jacket Gilbert Brule, to clinch the victory.

"We knew Edmonton was going to be hungry and it was going to be a very hard game," Garon said. "We were willing to work a little extra to get the two points tonight."

With Garon in net, the two points were almost a certainty once the game went to the shootout. He's 18-4 during his NHL career in shootouts, including a win over Anaheim on Friday.

"That's a pretty incredible record," Stralman said, when told of Garon's mark. "He must be doing something right."

Two schools of thought on why Garon is so successful in the format:

• He believes it's because of his "attack" approach, heading all the way out to the hash marks between the two faceoff circles, which immediately puts some shooters off-balance.

"Love that," Blue Jackets center Antoine Vermette said. "We get pretty fired up on the bench watching him come so far out like that."

• The other thought is that Garon is made of rubber at least that's what it seems.

Garon hasn't searched too far for an answer, not wanting to snap his mojo.

"(Garon) makes big saves at the right time," coach Ken Hitchcock said. "Our guys really play well in front of him.

"When you get a goalie who will give you quality starts like this, it's going to be a huge factor for the season."

Garon allowed Ales Hemsky to scored in the third round, but snuffed Brule's attempt even though he was beaten to the five hole.

"It glanced off the inside of my (right skate)," Garon said. "I thought it was a goal. I got pretty lucky there, but that's part of it."

The Blue Jackets have found life much easier this season now that they're armed with a power play.

Stralman is a big part of it, with his skills along the blue line and his accurate right shot. Both were on display last night.

At 7:08 of the second period, and the Blue Jackets on a five-on-three advantage, Stralman one-timed a pass from Kristian Huselius and beat Edmonton goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin to the stickside post.

Stralman also earned the second assist on the goal that tied the score at 2 with 7:34 left in the third period. Tyutin took a pass from Stralman at the blue line and fired a shot that Vermette redirected in front of Khabibulin.

It was a big night for Tyutin. Not only did he have two assists, but he upped his career record in shootouts to 2 for 2, a surprising mark for a mostly unheralded defenseman. He made a series of back-and-forth moves before sliding it through Khabibulin's five-hole.

His other shootout goal also was against Khabibulin, who played for Chicago last season. That time, he went under the crossbar.

"I wasn't going to try the same move as last season," Tyutin said, "because I figured he would be expecting that."

aportzline@dispatch.com