Blues fail to close ground in playoff race

~ St. Louis sits in ninth place, one point out of the postseason.

CHICAGO -- Nikolai Khabibulin made 16 saves, and Jonathan Toews, Samuel Pahlsson and Colin Fraser scored for the Chicago Blackhawks, who beat St. Louis 3-1 on Wednesday night and snapped the Blues' five-game winning streak.

The Blackhawks moved within one point of clinching their first playoff berth since 2001-02 and their second in 11 seasons. Chicago also jumped one point ahead of Calgary and into fourth place in the Western Conference.

Khabibulin lost a bid for his second shutout when St. Louis' Jeff Woywitka scored a power-play goal with 1.5 seconds remaining. The Blackhawks, who had lost their previous two games, dominated and limited the Blues to their second-lowest shot output this season.

Chicago forward Martin Havlat assisted on Toews' goal to give him a career-high 69 points.

Blues goalie Chris Mason blocks a shot by Chicago's Dustin Byfuglien during the first period. (NAM HUH ~ Associated Press)

St. Louis remained in ninth place in the Western Conference, one point behind Anaheim and Nashville at the playoff cutoff.

The Blues were last in the Western Conference on Feb. 18, but have gone 13-5-2 since then.

St. Louis goalie Chris Mason stopped 27 shots in his 28th straight start. He made several tough, point-blank saves to keep the game close.

Chicago outshot St. Louis 11-3 in the first period, and jumped ahead 2-0 after 20 minutes on goals by Toews and Pahlsson.

Toews opened the scoring with 8:15 left in the first when he drove across the slot from the right circle and fired in a low shot.

Pahlsson, acquired from Anaheim on March 4, scored his first goal with the Blackhawks just over four minutes later to make it 2-0.

Although the Blackhawks limited the Blues to four shots in the second, Khabibulin stopped Keith Tkachuk on a breakaway with four minutes left.