• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Predators beat Blues for 14th straight time

Jan 28, 2007 - 6:45 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Steve Sullivan and Martin Erat helped the Nashville Panthers continue their dominance of the St. Louis Blues.

Erat and Sullivan scored two goals apiece as the Predators extended their winning streak against the Blues to 14 games with a 6-3 triumph.

Scott Hartnell and Jason Arnott also tallied for Nashville, which improved to 5-0 against St. Louis this season. The Predators are unbeaten against the Blues dating to April 3, 2004.

"We had big contributions from everybody today," Predators coach Barry Trotz said. "I thought it was a real character win for us. We're playing one of the hottest teams in the league and a team that is playing in their building."

Nashville has won four straight and 10 of its last 11 games overall and leads the league in wins (36) and points (75).

Sullivan scored his first goal at 2:15 of the second period, a power-play tally that tied the game at 2-2.

Just over three minutes later, Sullivan set up Arnott's goal to give the Predators the lead for good.

Erat found the back of the net with 60 seconds left in the second period, extending the advantage to 4-2.

"I think the goal that they scored at the end of the second period was a momentum shifter big time," Blues goaltender Cutis Sanford said. "I thought we were putting some good pressure on them a few times especially in the third period but it seemed that goal was the back breaker."

After Petr Cajanek tallied with 3:50 remaining to bring St. Louis to within 4-3, Erat scored just 32 seconds later to restore a two-goal advantage.

Sullivan added an empty-net goal with 1:55 left for his 50th point of the season.

"We're just going to try to play within ourselves," Sullivan said. "We're not too worried about what other people are talking about. We've been playing under the radar for most of the year."

Lee Stempniak scored his 15th goal of the season and Sanford made 18 saves for the Blues, who had a four-game winning streak stopped.

"We're disappointed," Blues coach Andy Murray said. "The bottom line is that we had set a standard for the way we were capable of playing.

"Tonight we had the effort, we had the energy, we had the enthusiasm, but another part of the equation is hockey smarts. Tonight we weren't as smart as we needed to be."