Mason's big push to the play-offs

The in-form St Louis Blues goaltender Chris Mason has started the last 27 games and has no intention of taking a rest any time soon as the club fight to hold on to a Stanley Cup play-off spot. Mason was named the NHL's "First Star" for last week after posting a 4-0-0 record that lifted the Blues (37-30-9) into the eighth and final Western Conference play-off spot with six games left in their regular-season schedule.

"I'm getting good rest on the off days," Mason said. "So I'm definitely saving my energy for the games. At this point in the season, you just find the energy. When you go out on the ice and you're playing these games that mean so much, you just find the energy. "All of the other players are expected to do it, so I don't see why the goalies can't, too." St Louis pushed one point ahead of the Anaheim Ducks after their perfect week, with the Edmonton Oilers a further point adrift.

The Blues trail seventh-placed Nashville Predators by one point in what promises to be a tight finish to the campaign. Mason, 32, has been a huge part of the surge, registering a 20-7-5 record in his last 32 games, with four shut-outs. The Canadian, traded by Nashville before the season, is aching for a chance to prove himself in the play-offs. "I think the games we are playing right now is a great preparation for it," he said. "We have definitely been in play-off mode for quite a while.

"Most of our games are one-goal games and they are coming down to the third period where you need that urgency in your play. You need those plays and saves at the end of the game." Mason said the team is driven to succeed. "I think we are a bunch of underdogs in that room, and we are fighting to prove ourselves," he said. "We are fighting for recognition, and basically to get in the play-offs. That's our goal, and we are hungry and we want this so bad."

* Reuters