Chicago, IL (Sports Network) - Backstopped by Pascal Leclaire, who made 30 saves, the Columbus Blue Jackets blanked the Chicago Blackhawks, 1-0, at the United Center.

Leclaire improved to 19-9-3 on the season, while recording his league-best eighth shutout of the campaign and ninth of his NHL career.

"No shutout is easy," said Leclaire. "We're all fighting for the playoffs. We just kept pushing, got a few breaks and a victory. Shutouts are a bonus to me. It's more important to win, whether it's 9-8 or 1-0. You have to stay positive with this team. It's the first time in Columbus history we're still in the playoff hunt at the All-Star break, so we have to keep playing strong."

Jared Boll had the lone tally for Columbus, which closed out a five-game road swing and has won six of eight overall. It marks the Jackets' first winning road trip since going 2-0-1 from February 27-March 3 of last season.

Nikolai Khabibulin allowed just the one goal on 27 shots for Chicago, which has dropped two straight on the heels of a four-game win streak. The struggling netminder fell to 0-7 in the month of January, but the Blackhawks have managed to score just 10 goals in those games, while allowing 28.

Khabibulin is rumored to be on the trading block with the improved play recently of Patrick Lalime, and one newspaper earlier in the week had him departing for his old team, the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The game was a goaltender's clinic early on, as Khabibulin stopped 10 shots and Leclaire nearly matched the effort with nine saves in the first period.

Columbus finally broke the scoreless contest at 7:20 of the second period, as Boll redirected Ole-Kristian Tollefsen's shot from along the left boards, tipping the puck over Khabibulin's shoulder.

That was all the offense the Blue Jackets would need, and Chicago couldn't muster the tying goal despite throwing seven shots at Leclaire in the second stanza and 14 in the third.

Khabibulin was pulled in favor of the extra attacker with 50 seconds left, but the Blackhawks couldn't get any sustained pressure in the waning moments.

"They boxed things up and took things away," said Chicago defenseman Brent Seabrook. "We just couldn't get the puck through. We know we can play well, but tonight we couldn't get things going. Their goalie played real well. After the All-Star break we've got to come back hungry and refreshed and work to get to the playoffs as a group."