Win over Blues is good news

The Blue Jackets will miss the playoffs for the sixth straight season.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Fredrik Modin and the Columbus Blue Jackets hope their three-game winning streak is a sign of better things to come next season.
Modin scored his 20th goal of the season -- and 400th point of his career -- in the Blue Jackets' 4-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues Sunday night.
"It is always nice to play good hockey and, even though the playoffs are out of the picture, it is good to know in the back of your head for the start of next season that we can play well and put some wins together," Modin said. "And that is what we are looking to do, to build off this and play solid hockey for the rest of the year."
Supporting cast
Manny Malhotra added a goal and an assist for the Blue Jackets, who got 25 saves from Fredrik Norrena. Derrick Walser and Geoff Platt also scored, and Jason Chimera had three assists.
The Blue Jackets, who will miss the playoffs for the sixth straight season, are trying to catch the Blues and finish third in the Western Conference's Central Division. The Blue Jackets have 69 points, five behind St. Louis. The teams meet again Tuesday night in St. Louis.
Doug Weight scored for St. Louis, which has lost three of four.
"They deserved to win obviously," St. Louis coach Andy Murray said. "They played better than we did. I think our whole team was not as good as we needed to be. We're trying to get better everyday and today we didn't make a step ahead, we kind of went back."
Modin scored 4:57 into the second period when he took a pass from David Vyborny and roofed the puck with a backhand shot to give the Blue Jackets a 3-1 lead. Alexander Svitov, who carried the puck past three Blues defenders and into the offensive zone, earned an assist on the play.
It is the fifth time that Modin has scored at least 20 goals in a season.
"It feels good. Milestones are always nice, especially when you win," Modin said.
It was also a milestone night for Chimera, although not to the same degree. His three assists were a career high for a game. He now has 32 points, also a career high.
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