Blues win third straight game

ST. LOUIS -- Pavol Demitra scored his 21st goal 1:01 into overtime to give the St. Louis Blues a 3-2 win over the New York Islanders on Tuesday night.

Keith Tkachuk and Alexander Khavanov scored power-play goals for St. Louis and Chris Osgood made 22 saves as the Blues extended their unbeaten streak to four games.

Shawn Bates and Mark Parrish scored for the Islanders, who made the most of their limited opportunities against Osgood. Parrish scored his 17th goal on the Islanders' only shot of the second period. Bates scored his ninth on New York's next shot, 1:26 into the third period.

St. Louis has recorded six points in its last three games against Eastern Conference opponents and 24 points overall, which is more than any other team in the Western Conference.

The two points moved the Blues into eighth place in the West with 75 points. St. Louis is two points ahead of Los Angeles pending the outcome of the Kings' game with Phoenix.

New York has won just once in its last eight games and is winless in its last five.

Demitra won it when he broke in on right wing and surprised New York goalie Rick DiPietro with a wrist shot. The puck trickled through DiPietro and over the goal line.

With the game tied 1-1, Bates got behind the Blues' defense and broke in alone on Osgood. He lifted the puck over Osgood to give the Islanders the lead.

But Khavanov tied it again on his second goal of the season when he banged the rebound of Eric Weinrich's shot past DiPietro, who made 36 saves.

Tkachuk broke the ice with a power-play goal 57 seconds into the second period. With the Islanders' Roman Hamrlik serving a roughing minor, Tkachuk worked a perfect give-and-go with Christian Backman. Tkachuk split the Islanders' defense and lifted a backhander over DiPietro for his 28th goal.

The Blues outshot the Islanders 12-1 in the period. The Islanders' shot was a wrist shot by Parrish from the right circle, which beat Osgood to the far side to tie the game 1-1.

Notes: Blues defenseman Murray Baron was a late scratch with the flu. ... New York beat Florida 2-1 in its home opener on Oct. 18. Since then, the Islanders have not won a game in which they have scored less than three goals. ... Prior to Tuesday, St. Louis had not beaten the Islanders at home since Dec. 19, 1995 (0-1-2-2).

Blues 3, Islanders 2

N.Y. Islanders 0 1 1 0 -- 2

St. Louis 0 1 1 1 -- 3

First Period--None. Penalties--Pronger, StL (hooking), 13:17; Hamrlik, NYI (roughing), 19:24.

Second Period--1, St. Louis, Tkachuk 28 (Backman, Pronger), :57 (pp). 2, N.Y. Islanders, Parrish 17 (Scatchard, Blake), 8:33. Penalties--None.

Third Period--3, N.Y. Islanders, Bates 9 (Asham, Peca), 1:26. 4, St. Louis, Khavanov 2 (Mellanby, Weinrich), 5:59 (pp). Penalty--Scatchard, NYI (kneeing), 4:39.

Overtime--5, St. Louis, Demitra 21 (Backman, Pronger), 1:01. Penalties--None.

Shots on goal--N.Y. Islanders 16-1-7-0--24. St. Louis 14-12-11-2--39.

Power-play opportunities--N.Y. Islanders 0 of 1; St. Louis 2 of 2.

Goalies--N.Y. Islanders, DiPietro 16-15-5 (39 shots-36 saves). St. Louis, Osgood 24-22-7 (24-22).

A--16,376 (19,260). T--2:21.

Referees--Mick McGeough, Stephane Auger. Linesmen--Mark Wheler, Dan Schachte.