Chris Mason stopped 23 shots in regulation and overtime, then blanked the Calgary Flames in a shootout to lead the St. Louis Blues to a 2-1 win Wednesday night at the Saddledome.
The Flames didn't beat Mason until 7:42 remained in the third period, and it took a lucky bounce. Off a clean faceoff win by Daymond Langkow, Mark Giordano's wrist shot from the point hit St. Louis defenceman Mike Weaver and beat Mason to the far side.
It was the last time Calgary would fool the Blues goalie, as Olli Jokinen and Nigel Dawes failed on their shootout attempts. Brad Boyes scored for St. Louis, and T.J. Oshie iced it by rattling one through Miikka Kiprusoff's legs.
Mason also stoned Jokinen on a breakaway early in the second period, and moments later denied Dustin Boyd off a two-on-one rush with Jarome Iginla to keep the game scoreless.
Those saves allowed Patrik Berglund to give the Blues the game's first lead later in the period. As with the Flames, the goal came off a fortunate hop. David Perron's point shot slid well wide of the net, but somehow the puck caromed back into the juiciest section of the slot, and Berglund buried it.
"The boards are real hard here and we knew about that so he put it off the boards and there was a lot of traffic in front of the net and it bounced right out to me and I had an open net," Berglund said.
The Blues are now riding their first three-game winning streak of the season. St. Louis (17-14-5), which was coming off victories in Vancouver and Edmonton, is perfect so far on its four-game road trip and boasts a sparkling 11-3-3 record away from home this season.
While most of the Blues will fly back to St. Louis for the two-day Christmas break before reconvening for a Boxing Day game in Minnesota, Mason said he was heading straight for his hometown of Red Deer, Alta., about 90 minutes from Calgary.
"I'm pretty happy that I'm going to be going home for Christmas, it's the first time in a lot of years," said the 33-year-old. "I had some family here tonight as well as watching the game back home. It's going to be a nice Christmas."
Calgary (20-11-5) lost its second straight, both at home, to fall to 1-3-2 over its last six games overall.
"We had a good effort tonight, definitely a step in the right direction, but we need to start getting some wins," Giordano said.
