ST. LOUIS, March 4 (UPI) -- Justin Papineau scored his second goal of the season on a breakaway 1:45 into the extra period Tuesday night as the St. Louis Blues beat the Nashville Predators, 2-1, despite registering only 12 shots.
Papineau took a lead pass from defenseman Bryce Salvador and beat goaltender Tomas Vokoun over the left shoulder to give St. Louis its third straight win.
The result kept rookie goalie Curtis Sanford perfect in his brief NHL career. He stopped 18 shots to improve to 4
0.
The loss ended Nashville's team record-tying four-game winning streak, but the Predators picked up a point and pulled within two of eighth-place for the final Western Conference playoff spot.
Nashville came within inches of taking the lead with 2:44 left in regulation as Greg Johnson tried a wraparound. The puck deflected off Sanford's stick and trickled behind him, but video replays showed that it did entirely cross the goal line.
The first two goals were scored in a 12-second span of the first period. Scott Hartnell gave the Predators the lead at 6:15, ending Sanford's shutout streak at nearly 123 minutes. But Pavol Demitra answered quickly for the Blues.
Demitra has scored St. Louis' last three goals after netting both in Saturday's 2-0 blanking of Minnesota.
The Blues pulled within two points of first-place Detroit in the NHL Central Division.
