Elliott blanks Sharks in Blues' 1-0 victory

ST. LOUIS -- Brian Elliott made 24 saves for his fourth shutout of the season, and Kevin Shattenkirk scored in the St. Louis Blues' 1-0 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night.

The Blues have won seven of the last nine games to improve to 11-2-3 since Ken Hitchcock took over as coach following the firing of Davis Payne. St. Louis has points in 14 of the last 16 games.

St. Jose lost for the fifth time in seven games. The Sharks were 10-2-1 in their previous 13 games in St. Louis.

Elliott, who is tied with Los Angeles' Jonathan Quick for the NHL shutout lead, has won eight of his last nine starts to improve to 12-2. He has allowed two goals or fewer in 13 of 14 starts. Elliott, who has 13 career shutouts, also beat the Sharks 4-2 on Oct. 15 in his first start of the season.

Shattenkirk, who sat out Thursday night against Anaheim because of the flu, put St. Louis ahead on a power play with 26 seconds left in the first period. It was Shattenkirk's fourth goal of the season and the Blues' first 5-on-3 power-play tally this season.

The Sharks were 0 for 6 on the power play and have one goal in their last 26 chances.

The game was the first head-to-head meeting between David Perron and San Jose center Joe Thornton since Perron sustained concussion-like symptoms from a high hit by Thornton on Nov. 4, 2010.