ST. LOUIS _ Goalie sensation Jordan Binnington won again and so did the Blues, getting goals from Vince Dunn, Vladimir Tarasenko and Mackenzie MacEachern in a 3-2 victory over the rival Nashville Predators on Saturday afternoon at Enterprise Center.
It was the Blues' fifth victory in a row, their longest winning streak since a six-game streak from March 17 through March 27 of last season, when they desperately _ and unsuccessfully _ were trying to work their way into the playoffs.
At 26-22-5, good for 57 points, the Blues stayed in the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Nashville, which made things interesting with a late goal by Ryan Johansen, fell to 33-20-4.
The teams will do it again Sunday in Nashville.
Nashville entered the game last in the NHL on the power play at 12.8 percent, but Mattias Ekholm's power-play goal cut the Blues' lead to 2-1 at the 7:28 mark of the second period with Oskar Sundqvist in the penalty box for tripping.
That snapped Binnington's scoreless streak at 110 minutes 37 second.
But it took only 3{ minutes for the Blues to regain their two-goal cushion on MacEachern's second goal of the season at the 10:58 mark. MacEachern, in his 10th Blues game, pounced on a Robert Bortuzzo rebound to beat Pekka Rinne net front for a 3-1 lead.
The Blues outshot the Predators 18-6 in the period.
The Blues started fast Saturday.
Pat Maroon dropped gloves with Cody McLeod just 2 minutes 3 seconds into the contest. That fight got everyone's blood flowing, and then Dunn and Tarasenko scored goals to give the Blues a 2-0 lead after one period.
The last time the Blues played Nashville in St. Louis, the day after Thanksgiving, Maroon fought Austin Watson just 2 seconds into the game. (And then Brayden Schenn and Ryan Hartman went at it just 75 seconds into the game.)
Saturday's officiating crew let Maroon and McLeod go at it for a while _ the fight was pretty much a draw.
With under five minutes to go in the period, Sundqvist started a rush, passed to Robert Thomas, who then fed Dunn. Dunn shot and then pounced on his own rebound to score his seventh goal of the season and his fourth in his last 10 games. The Blues led 1-0 at the 437 mark.
Late in the period, it became 2-0 Blues when Schenn made a behind-the-back pass to Tarasenko who went top shelf on Rinne for his 19th goal of the season. The goal came with just 1:15 to play in the period, and was the seventh in the last 11 games for Tarasenko. It also extended his points steak to seven games.
