Steve Mason saved 39 of 40 shots in a 5-1 victory Friday night. Maybe it's the fact that Mason is finally wearing pads that fit him or maybe it's something else entire, but either way, he's been great lately. Mason has allowed two or fewer goals in six of his last eight starts. He's still a big gamble going into the 2012-13 campaign, but he should be worth a late round draft pick in standard leagues.

Steve Mason will get the start in goal for Columbus on Friday. With Curtis Sanford out for the remainder of the season, coach Todd Richards will not commit to playing back up Allen York even once in the final nine games. Mason lost for the first time in five starts on Tuesday but has finally started to play better of late. He is 13-24-3 this season with a 3.30 GAA and a .894 save percentage. The numbers would be a lot worse without the recent winning streak.

Steve Mason was beaten five times on 27 shots in the Blue Jackets' 5-1 loss to Chicago Tuesday night. The loss snaps a four-game winning streak for Mason, who had finally put together a nice stretch of play prior to tonight. With Curtis Sanford out for the rest of the season, Mason should get a lot of work in goal.

Steve Mason has a four-game winning streak and so he'll be back in net when the Columbus Blue Jackets entertain the Chicago Blackhawks tonight. Mason has bounced back from a subpar start to the season. He is 13-23, with a 3.26 goals-against average.

Steve Mason's four-game winning streak was snapped in the Columbus Blue Jackets' 4-3 setback to the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night. All things considered, the 34-save effort wasn't a terrible showing against one of the league's better offenses. Mason allowed two goals on 11 shots in the first, but gave up just two more on 25 in the final two periods. The keeper has a 12-23-3 record with a 3.31 goals-against average and .894 save percentage on the season.

Until recently, Steve Mason has been playing with goaltending equipment that didn't fit him. "There were times with the old stuff when I was getting hit in the ribs and was full of bruises," Mason said. "You almost become scared of getting hit with the puck so you're turning your body, and . that's not the right way to play. With the new stuff you have confidence that pucks aren't going to hurt you, and because it is larger, some pucks that might have squeaked through before are now hitting a piece of equipment." So if the old equipment was so bad before, why didn't he make the switch sooner? Well, the answer to that is simple: he didn't know he could and no one ever told him. That's...well, on the plus side, he has a 7-3-1 record, 2.67 GAA, and .922 save percentage since making the switch. After three rough seasons, he might finally rebound in 2012-13.

Look for Steve Mason to start against Vancouver Saturday. He will likely oppose Cory Schneider and the rest of the Canucks Saturday night as he has recovered from a cut to his finger.

Steve Mason will dress as Curtis Sanford's understudy on Wednesday night. He has been sidelined with a deep cut to his finger since last Thursday's game against Los Angeles.

Updating a previous post, Steve Mason suffered a cut hand to the bone on Thursday.http://www.bluejacketsxtra.com/ The injury happened when his defenseman John Moore fell into him and Moore's skate cut him on his blocker hand. The possible good news is that Mason said that he didn't think there was any ligament damage. He will be re-evaluated Friday.

Steve Mason will be out at least several days with a cut hand suffered Thursday. Mason's hand was sliced by the skate of his defenseman John Moore with 11:08 gone in the second period. He picked up the win, his fourth straight. It is a shame that the injury occurred at this stage of the season as Mason had been playing his best hockey in a long time. Consider him day-to-day for now and he will be re-evaluated Friday.