ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Pierre Turgeon's back problems are ancient history.

After missing four games with back spasms, Turgeon scored all three goals as the St. Louis Blues beat the sagging Nashville Predators 3-1 Thursday night.

"He has such a knack with the puck," teammate Scott Pellerin said. "Having him back, you realize how much we missed him."

Turgeon had eight shots, including three in the second period and four in the third. He leads the Blues with 13 goals and 27 points.

"We got beat by one guy," Predators coach Barry Trotz said. "He was the best player on the ice."

The Blues are 4-0-2 in their last six home games and 9-1-2 in the last 12. They've outscored their opponents 47-19 since losing their first two games at home, and also tied Detroit for first place in the Central Division. Last season, St. Louis was 18-17-6 at the Kiel Center.

Robert Valicevic scored his eighth goal for the Predators, who have lost a franchise-record seven in a row. Nashville has been outscored 25-12 during the slump.

"Rome was not built in a day," defenseman Dan Keczmer said. "We're not going to get out of the spot we're in to first place overnight."

Turgeon was among the league leaders with 24 points in 20 games when he was injured. He scored on a breakaway in the first period, and snapped a third-period tie with his 12th goal on a deflection. He added an empty-netter for his 14th career hat trick, and first since Nov. 10, 1998 against Chicago, with 32.1 seconds to go.

Turgeon said he didn't miss a beat because he was able to ride the exercise bicycle.

"If you miss a week and don't do anything and come back, it's pretty hard," Turgeon said. "I just felt good out there."

Pellerin won a faceoff on the go-ahead goal and dropped the puck to Ricard Persson at the point. Turgeon redirected the puck from about 15 feet out and it fluttered off goalie Mike Dunham's glove and into the net at 2:06.

The Blues have beaten Nashville twice during that franchise-worst slump, also winning 3-2 in overtime Nov. 22 at home.

Turgeon took a pass from Al MacInnis at center ice and skated in alone for several strides before pulling up for a slap shot at 5:34 of the first period. Valicevic tied it only 56 seconds later, scoring from the side of the net off a one-time pass from Scott Walker.

Most of the rest of the first two periods was a defensive struggle with the Blues holding a 19-11 advantage in shots.

"They don't really give up much," Blues captain Chris Pronger said. "We waited for our chances and tried to bury them."

Both goalies made big saves in the second, with the Blues' Roman Turek denying Greg Johnson on a breakaway at about 10 minutes. Dunham stopped Jochen Hecht in front with about a minute to go.

"I thought he had a great game," coach Joel Quenneville said. "He saved two or three glorious opportunities."