NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Even with the NHL "war room" in Toronto on their side, the Blue Jackets couldn't snap their incomprehensible losing streak in the Music City.

David Legwand's goal in the second round of a shootout led the Nashville Predators to a 4-3 victory over the Blue Jackets last night before 13,790 in the Sommet Center.

The Blue Jackets have now lost 12 straight games (0-9-3) in Nashville, dating to April 3, 2006, when only three of the current Blue Jackets players were on the roster.

Does something come over the Blue Jackets in this building?

"It's simple," coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We get outworked. They competed harder for the puck, and they forced us to take bad penalties. And we paid for it, dearly."

R.J. Umberger scored two goals, and Anton Stralman got the other. Fedor Tyutin and Derick Brassard had two assists each.

Goaltender Steve Mason made 45 saves and came up huge under a deluge of penalties in the third period.

The Blue Jackets took four penalties in the third, keeping them down a skater for eight of the first 14 minutes, 38 seconds of the period.

The Predators didn't score in the third, but it forced the Blue Jackets to shorten their bench and left them short of breath in the final minutes of the game.

Rick Nash scored the only goal in the shootout for the Blue Jackets. Kristian Huselius and Jake Voracek came up empty.

For Nashville, Mike Santorelli and David Legwand scored on Mason, making a third shooter unnecessary.

"They play really well at home," Mason said. "They're a good team, and the fact that we haven't won here in so long tells you how well they know how to play at home. It was frustrating to keep going a man down, but we hung in there."

Umberger put the Blue Jackets up 1-0 only 4:55 into the game, when he batted a puck out of the air in front of Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne.

The call was originally disallowed on the ice by NHL official Stephen Walkom, but the NHL's review booth in Toronto ruled it a goal.

Umberger scored his second goal of the game and sixth of the season to put the Blue Jackets up 2-1 at 12:27 of the first. A loose puck in front of the net found its way to Umberger, who put an odd-angle shot off the back of Rinne and into the net.

"We got a couple of bounces early, and it looked like it was going to be a good night," Umberger said. "We just gave up too much on the power play."

The Predators scored two goals in two minutes of the second period to take a 3-2 lead.

The first, at 1:29, was a short-handed goal, fueled by a sloppy turnover at his blue line by Blue Jackets winger Jake Voracek, who was skating back to cover the puck. Martin Erat stole the puck from Voracek, and seconds later, Nashville's David Legwand scored at close range to make it 2-2.

At 3:29 of the second, with the Predators on the power play, Erat redirected a slap shot by Shea Weber to make it 3-2.

Stralman had a power-play goal with 57.6 seconds left in the second, and the score remained 3-3 into the third.

aportzline@dispatch.com