(Sports Network) - Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Steve Mason is playing like a young man burdened by the weight of lofty expectations.

Mason took the NHL by storm last year, winning the Calder Trophy as the league's top rookie and finished as the runner-up for the Vezina, which is awarded to the top goaltender.

But the Blue Jackets eventually got swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Detroit Red Wings, with Mason being vastly outplayed by veteran Chris Osgood, and he seems to have carried that performance into what has been a hot-and-cold 2009-10 campaign to date.

After going 33-20-7 with a 2.29 goals-against average, a .916 save percentage and a league-high and club-record 10 shutouts in 61 games last year, the 21- year-old is just 8-5-3 with a 3.59 goals-against average and .885 save percentage in 17 starts this season.

"I saw a guy that had a lot of pressure on him at the start of the year, like Olympics and expectations," Columbus coach Michael Hitchcock said before Monday's game against the New York Rangers. "I didn't think he wore that hat very well. I thought he was overwhelmed a little bit and worried about things that he didn't need to worry about."

Mason's lack of minor league seasoning is perhaps a reason for the goalie's uneven showing as the season approaches the quarter mark.

"In this league you can't miss steps," Hitchcock said. "The steps always catch you somewhere along the line. Sometimes they catch you in the first year, second year, sometimes even the third year. But you always end up with these steps and [Mason] got it this year."

That couldn't have been more evident than on Monday night in New York, when Mason gave up four goals in just over 26 minutes of action before being yanked in a 7-4 loss to the Rangers.

With his team up 2-0 in the first period, Mason, who would have slammed the door shut last season, started leaking like a sieve. He gave up a legitimate goal to Marian Gaborik, and a crazy deflection credited to Artem Anisimov found the back of the net before he let in a back-breaker to Michael Del Zotto.

Del Zotto, one of New York's talented young defenseman, weaved through the Columbus defense at the blueline before firing a very savable wrist shot past Mason for the go-ahead goal.

"We gave them a lot of life when we made the mistakes at the end of the first period," Hitchcock said.

None bigger than the Del Zotto goal let up by Mason, who seems to be making those kinds of errors with alarming regularity this season. Especially when you consider how rock-solid he was as a rookie.

As a result of the soft goal, or goals, the Rangers took a 3-2 lead into the second period. And after a Rick Nash roughing penalty about five minutes into the second, Sean Avery scored a power-play goal on a short-side shot that trickled through Mason, ending his night and any chance of a Columbus victory.

"We had some poor plays by some good people and you are not going to win many games when the best players on your team are on your fourth line," a disgusted Hitchcock said after the game.

Hitchcock wasn't singling out his young goaltender, but he obviously fits under that umbrella statement.

Even though the Blue Jackets are winning enough games to stay in the top eight in the West, things could change in a hurry if the play of Mason, along with some other valuable regulars, doesn't improve soon.

"We are winning but we aren't playing as well as we are going to have to play," Hitchcock said. "I don't know why. We are winning because we are very resilient. We're not winning because we are playing great hockey."

Mason was counted on to be a young leader this season, using the valuable experience he gained last season to help the Blue Jackets build on their solid campaign. He was pivotal in pushing the Blue Jackets to the first postseason berth in their eight-year history, ending a long run of futility.

"He's a big reason why we made it as far as we did last year," Columbus captain Nash said. "You look at teams that win championships and teams that go far, it's their goalie that they depend on and we are the same here."

But the experience Mason gained last year only showed on Monday when he stayed in the showers until the last possible moment, avoiding questions from the waiting media.

What makes the events of the evening even more distressing for Columbus is the fact that Hitchcock thought his young goalie had turned the corner, putting together a couple solid starts prior to Monday's embarrassment after the forgettable start to the season.

"I think hitting the bump in the road at the start of the year really refocused him," Hitchcock said before the Rangers game. "Now he is just playing and stopping pucks.

"He is back to the old Mase."

But after Monday's performance, if this is the old Mase, than the success of last season was just a mirage.