Blues extend win streak to four

ST. LOUIS -- Paul Kariya had a goal and an assist against his former team, leading the St. Louis Blues to a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators on Monday night.

Brad Boyes scored his team-leading 12th goal for the Blues, who have won four straight. St. Louis also won 3-2 in Nashville on Saturday night.

Kariya, who played the last two seasons with the Predators, broke a scoreless tie in the second. He tipped Erik Johnson's shot from the point between the pads of Nashville goalie Chris Mason at 9:32 of the second for a power-play goal.

It was Kariya's fifth goal of the season.

Boyes, who also scored Saturday against the Predators, gave the Blues a 2-0 lead when he banged home Kariya's tip pass 6:40 into the third period. Keith Tkachuk set up the play when he skated between the circles and fired a shot that Mason stopped, but Kariya tipped the rebound to Boyes, who beat Mason from the right side of the goal.

Radek Bonk scored for Nashville at 18:57 in the third to cut it to 2-1, but the Predators could not get the equalizer after pulling Mason from the goal.

Notes: Blues D Christian Backman skated in his 200th career game.

Predators G Chris Mason skated in his 100th career game. Predators C Jason Arnott sat out with a neck strain sustained Saturday night on a shootout loss to the Blues. He is listed as day to day. Kariya has been on the winning side in 18 of the last 19 games in the Nashville-St. Louis series dating to the 2005-06 season. Kariya was with the Predators in each of the last two seasons in which Nashville owned a 15-1 mark (8-0 in 2005-06 and 7-1 in 2006-07). Blues D Jay McKee was a healthy scratch for the fourth straight game. Of Boyes' 12 goals on the season, 11 have come at home. St. Louis has killed 19 consecutive penalties after the Predators were 0-for-5 Monday.