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LeClaire records fifth shutout as Blue Jackets down Blues

Nov 5, 2007 - 2:51 AM By Dave Holstein PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Ticker) - Pascal LeClaire notched his league-leading fifth shutout on Sunday, helping the Columbus Blue Jackets roll to a 3-0 victory over the St. Louis Blues.

The Blue Jackets goaltender made 21 saves - posting the sixth shutout of his career - in blanking the Blues for the second time this season. In picking up his seventh win of the season, LeClaire tied a franchise record for shutouts in a season - tying Marc Denis - and has shut out his opponent more often than he has allowed a goal in a game (4).

"There is not too much to say, he is playing well especially against us," St. Louis coach Andy Murray said.

"They are a confident team, especially in this building," St. Louis center Doug Weight said. "They are playing well and making it easy for their goalie by clearing the puck and making it difficult to get and keep the puck in the zone."

LeClaire made a pair of spectacular saves in the second period. The first was a pad save on center Keith Tkachuk in a 1-on-1 situation and later he made a glove save on left winger Paul Kariya's slapshot at 12:11 to preserve the shutout.

"The numbers kind of speak for themselves; he has played incredible for us," Columbus center Manny Malhotra said. "I am sure if you talk to him, he will be as humble as possible. He'll pass the credit on to everyone else. He has made some spectacular saves for us this year."

"We needed him tonight," Columbus Head Coach Ken Hitchcock said. "He made some big saves for us tonight. The last two shutouts he's had to earn. The big thing for him now is he's physically strong and fit, and he has always had unbelievable athletic ability."

Malhotra, Rick Nash and Jason Chimera each scored goals while defenseman Adam Foote added a pair of assists for Columbus, which won for the fifth time in six contests.

"The confidence level is there," Malhotra said. "Just being able to trust one another and everybody's doing their part and fulfilling their role."

The Blue Jackets got on the board first with the benefit of an extra skater.

Columbus, which is 5-0-0 when leading after the first period, was able to control the puck for 52 seconds and had four shots on goal during a delayed call on Bryce Salvador's hooking penalty.

"(Scoring the first goal) just validates the way you want to play the game," Hitchcock said.

Malhotra then ended a barrage of attempts at the Blues' goal and scored with a backhand over the right shoulder of St. Louis goaltender Hannu Toivonen at 15:41 of the first period. Malhotra took a centering pass from Foote for his second goal of the season.

"A great pass from Adam and I just waited for the goalie to go down and I tried to get it up and it went in," Malhotra said.

Nash scored his 10th goal of the season late in the second period, giving the Jackets a 2-0 lead. He took a pass from Nikolai Zherdev in the right faceoff circle and muscled his way between the face off circles and put a backhand in stickside past Toivonen.

"The goals are nice but we are winning, so that makes it better," Nash said. "We are playing with a lot of confidence now and we are getting some great goaltending. We are on a nice roll and would like to keep it going."