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Red-hot Blues host Lightning

Feb 3, 2015 - 5:33 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The St. Louis Blues try to extend an 11-game point streak with a sixth straight victory on Tuesday evening as they take on the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Blues have not lost in regulation since Jan. 2 at Anaheim, posting a pair of five-game winning streaks around an overtime setback to Detroit on Jan. 15. St. Louis kept its latest win streak intact on Sunday with a 4-3 victory over the Washington Capitals.

Alex Steen remained hot with a pair of goals and an assist. The forward has nine goals and 21 points over his last 13 games.

Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and an assist, Dmitrij Jaskin lit the lamp and T.J. Oshie added three assists for the Blues, who played the majority of the game without defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk and a large part minus forward David Backes.

Backes was ejected and given a five-minute major for boarding just over five minutes into the second period, while Shattenkirk exited early in the game with a lower-body injury.

Brian Elliott, though, was strong with 33 saves to help have a chance to win six in a row for the first time since a season-high seven-game run from Oct. 25-Nov. 6.

"We worked really hard for these points," said Oshie. "It's great that we came away with two here and hopefully we learned something about how to win on the road."

The news on Shattenkirk wasn't good on Monday as the 26-year-old blueliner will undergo abdominal surgery within the next 7-to-10 days. He will be listed as week-to-week following the procedure.

Shattenkirk has 32 assists and 40 points in 49 games this season. He has recorded 20 helpers on the power play.

St. Louis is currently second in the Central Division with 68 points, two back of the Nashville Predators, while Tampa Bay has a one-point lead over both Montreal and Detroit for the top spot in the Atlantic Division.

The Lightning are set to play two in a row on the road beginning tonight after extending their franchise-record home winning streak to 10 in a row with Saturday's 3-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Ben Bishop made 34 saves to help Tampa Bay to its fifth victory in six games overall.

"Another solid game out of him," Lightning forward Ryan Callahan said of Bishop. "I thought we played a really good game."

Cedric Paquette, who posted a hat trick in Thursday's win over the Red Wings, scored to give him five goals in three games, while Brett Connolly and Valtteri Filppula also lit the lamp.

While the Lightning have been streaking at home, they have struggled in St. Louis since becoming an NHL franchise. The Blues are 12-3-0 as the hosting club in this series all-time.

St. Louis has won three of the previous four meetings overall and will likely start Elliott, who is 3-2-1 versus the Lightning with a 1.96 goals against average, .918 save percentage and two shutouts lifetime in the series.

Bishop, meanwhile, is 1-1-0 with a 2.53 GAA and .914 save percentage versus the Blues. He is the likely starter tonight and will be backed up by the recalled Andrei Vasilevskiy after veteran netminder Evgeni Nabokov was put on waivers.

Signed to a one-year contract on July 1, Nabokov is just 3-6-2 with a 3.15 GAA in 11 games for the Lightning this season.

Vasilevskiy, 20, has appeared in four games with the Lightning this season, posting a record of 3-1-0 to go along with a 1.76 GAA and a .937 save percentage. He was the 19th overall pick of the 2012 draft.