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Elliott stays clean as Blues top Preds

Mar 28, 2012 - 3:44 AM St. Louis, MO (Sports Network) - Brian Elliott made 24 saves to earn his third straight shutout and his league-leading ninth of the year as the St. Louis Blues downed the Nashville Predators, 3-0, at Scottrade Center.

Elliott surpassed the Rangers' Henrik Lundqvist and the Kings' Jonathan Quick, who both have eight clean sheets on the season. The goaltender also set a franchise record with his streak of 186 minutes and 33 seconds without allowing a goal.

"It's something to be proud of, but we still have work to do," Elliott said about his streak.

Jamie Langenbrunner celebrated his 1,100th career game with a goal, while David Perron and T.J. Oshie also scored for the Blues, who improved to 30-4-4 at home on the season to set a new franchise mark in home victories.

Pekka Rinne allowed all three goals on 24 shots as Nashville had its two-game win streak snapped. With the loss, the Predators' lead over Chicago for the fifth seed in the Western Conference shrank to three points after the Blackhawks earned a point with a shootout loss on Tuesday.

Langenbrunner gave the Blues all the offense they would need at the 6:35 mark of the second period when he grabbed a pass from Jason Arnott in the slot before ripping a quick wrister past Rinne's glove side.

Perron then put St. Louis ahead by two goals 4:47 into the third when he received a pass to the right of the net and cut across the goal mouth before backhanding a shot past a prone Rinne.

After Oshie had a goal negated near the midpoint of the final stanza because of goaltender interference, he was able to light the lamp with 4:00 remaining in the contest, gathering an Alex Pietrangelo dump-in behind the net before skating around to the left side and backhanding a shot through the far side.

Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk was whistled for cross checking with 1:59 left in the game and the Predators turned it into a two-man advantage for the majority of the final minute after pulling their goaltender, but they still could not solve Elliot as he blocked all four shots he faced in the final stanza to complete the shutout.

"The goals that they got were gritty goals we knew that we were going to have to get gritty goals against the St. Louis Blues," Nashville head coach Barry Trotz said. "We had a couple of chances and when we did, we weren't able to get the second and third opportunities that you need to do that."

Game Notes

Nashville is still a point shy of clinching its seventh trip to the playoffs in the past eight seasons...The Predators won the season series against the Blues, 4-1-1...Langenbrunner became the 21st American-born skater to play in 1,100 NHL games....Both teams went 0-for-1 on the power play.