NHL: St. Louis 1, Chicago 0

St. Louis -- Chris Mason made 23 saves Friday night to earn his fourth shutout of the season and give the St. Louis Blues a 1-0 victory over Chicago.

One night after giving up two third-period goals that cost his team a 4-3 setback against Nashville, Mason was perfect while continuing to bounce back from a poor start to the season.

Mason has won six of his last 11 starts after going 0-8 in December.

A series of shoving matches at the end of the second period led to five players going to the penalty box. The odd penalty was assessed to Chicago's Adam Burish for slashing.

St. Louis then took advantage of its power-play chance to start the third period by getting the game's only goal. Brad Boyes scored 57 seconds into the third to make a winner out of Cristobal Huet, who stopped 22 shots.

The shutout was the 16th of Mason's NHL career. This is his first year with St. Louis after spending four seasons with Nashville.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International.