Right winger Vladimir Tarasenko gave Ken Hitchcock exactly what the St. Louis Blues' coach wanted for his birthday on Thursday -- a victory.

Tarasenko snapped a 1-1 tie with a power-play goal with 5:20 to play in the third period to lift St. Louis to the 2-1 win over the Nashville Predators, giving the Blues back-to-back wins for the first time since they won three in a row from Nov. 4-10.

The goal was Tarasenko's 20th of the season, tying him with left winger Jamie Been of the Dallas Stars for the league lead. It also was his fourth consecutive game with a goal, equaling the longest streak of his career.

It was the second consecutive win for the Blues after trailing at the end of the second period. Center David Backes tied the game with his 10th goal of the year 2:38 into the period, off a deflection of a shot from defenseman Alex Pietrangelo.

Backes also was in front of the net when Tarasenko lined up his shot, just 26 seconds after Nashville left winger Viktor Arvidsson was called for tripping.

The Blues have outscored their opponents by 17 goals in the third period.

They fell behind 7:14 into the game on a power-play goal by defenseman Roman Josi, his eighth of the year. The goal came when right winger Troy Brouwer was off the ice for interference.

It ended a streak of 23 consecutive penalty kills for the Blues and was the first power-play goal they had allowed in 10 games. The Blues lead the league in percentage of penalties killed.